Corruption Is Profitable. But Does It Have To Be This Profitable?
Aduhlem, a drug that is supposed to slow Alzheimer's effects, had failed to show efficacy in two trials. It showed some reduction of plaques in the brain which may or may not be significant.
Ten of the eleven advisors of the Federal Drug Administration voted "no" when asked if there was enough evidence that the drug is useful. One voted "uncertain". Last week the FDA approved the drug and claimed that the plaques reduction effect is somewhat meaningful.
Three of the advisors resigned.
The cost per patient per year for the drug will be some $56,000. There are some 6 million people in the U.S. with Alzheimer's. Medicare and Medicaid, which will have to pay for the drug because it is FDA approved, will have to bear the costs. The company which makes the drug, Biogen, will gain ginormous profits from it. As will physicians who prescribe the drug, administer the infusions and bill 6% of the drug's price for it.
The above is a portrait of a deeply corrupt system in which all incentives are set in the wrong direction.
Now, corruption in national medical systems is not unusual and can be found all over the world. But what I find astonishing with the U.S. system is how little money companies like Biogen actually have to pay to get deals done that will make them billions.
The man who pushed for the FDA approval was no other than President Joe Biden. As the American Conservative, linked below, writes:
Less than two weeks prior to the approval, President Joe Biden said that “if we don’t do something about Alzheimer’s in America… every single [hospital bed] will be occupied in the next 15 years with an Alzheimer’s patient.” Guess which 2020 candidate was the largest recipient of campaign funds by a large margin from Biogen and affiliated parties? Joe Biden, with $76,241.
How cheap is that?
Within the next few years Biogen will make a million times more money than it paid to Joe Biden's campaign. Couldn't he have asked for 10%, 1% or an already cheap 0.01%? It would still have been a great deal for the company. But Biden is so downright cheap that he sold out for 0.000001% of Biogen's gain.
What a lowlife.
---
Sources:
- If the FDA approves Biogen’s Alzheimer’s treatment, I won’t prescribe it - STAT
- Three experts resign as FDA advisers over approval of Alzheimer’s drug - Ars Technica
- Three F.D.A. Advisers Resign Over Agency’s Approval of Alzheimer’s Drug - New York Times
- ‘Simply unacceptable’: Alzheimer’s Association blasts Biogen over the price of its new medicine - STAT
- The Drug That Could Break American Health Care - Atlantic
- The Regulatory Capture of the FDA -
The mega-profit pharmaceutical industry relies on connections with the agency tasked with regulating it. - American Conservative
Posted by b on June 14, 2021 at 15:12 UTC | Permalink
next page »Maybe Biden has some personal reason to quickly approve an Alzheimer's disease drug?
Posted by: m | Jun 14 2021 15:24 utc | 2
Good to see someone resign.
No point in hiding corruption if there is no cost.
Side note: Goigle and Epple and Farcebook need state intervention...to compete with Tiktok and Wechat? So funny. How many workers does the USG employee to preach and enforce the capitalist gospel? Keeping in mind that Disney, e.g. is a part of the executive branch.
Posted by: Rjb1.5 | Jun 14 2021 15:46 utc | 4
thanks b...good work..
lobbying is a huge problem, as is 'the profit motive' without oversight... downsizing gov't , downsizes the oversight...
this video goes over some of the same ground and well worth the watch... How to save the world, in three easy steps... mina and i linked to this in the open thread @ 81 and 91... focus is on the covid vaccines, but a similar conclusion is reached.. it seems profit is the over riding agenda..
Posted by: james | Jun 14 2021 15:48 utc | 5
Anyone care to guess how the AMA, AARP vel sim will respond to this? Alzheimers is known to make people drool...
Posted by: Rjb1.5 | Jun 14 2021 15:48 utc | 6
Great report and catch on the Biden connection. Lays bare the lie of 'public health.' Or Public anything really.
Posted by: gottlieb | Jun 14 2021 15:49 utc | 7
saw a news report on this the other day. they had a desperate patient to provide a "both sides" sound bite about how "even if there's a tiny chance it does anything i want it". oddly enough, this was a few days after another report on how low doses of radiation therapy were showing actual results for alzheimer's patients. there's also preemptive changes to lifestyle and diet that can prevent or slow it but that's usually a non-starter for the fatties in the US.
doctors there are basically drug dealers anyway. look at how long the pricks of the sackler family got away with opioid mass murder. never mind manchin's twat daughter and her epipen gouging. it seems fitting that WV is a major blast zone for opioid addictions.
at one point the Rx industry had bigger profits than oil companies and defense contractors. doubt that will change much in a business-run country like the US.
Posted by: the pair | Jun 14 2021 16:26 utc | 8
The whole of the Covid-19 saga says everything you need to know about "science based" western medicine in the 21st century. The Biogen approval is only another manifestation. It is not just in the USA, it is worldwide (but every aspect of every defect is worse in the USA).
Western medicine is profoundly corrupt at every level. The corruption is insidious. When a medical student starts studying at university he already gets exposed to "gifts" and sweeteners of every kind by the pharma industry. Throughout his studies, and throughout his career, he gets bribed and incentivised to conform to the interests of Big Pharma.
"Science" is no longer science. The current editors of both The Lancet and the New England Medical Journal - the two top medical journals worldwide - complained during the Covid saga, after a major study published by the Lancet was shown to be fraudulent - that publishing medical science is impossible due to the extreme power of the pharmaceutical industry. An earlier editor of the Lancet some years ago published an article in which he claimed that he could no longer have confidence in any medical paper, because the quality and trustworthiness of scientific research had been so profoundly degraded.
The vast majority of medical "research" is funded by industry. Results which do not match industrial interests are not published. Many drugs (especially cancer chemotherapy drugs) manufactured by the top Pharma companies have minor or non-existent benefits, are extremely dangerous, and have had grossly inadequate or scientifically invalid testing. This is especially true for cancer therapies for non-mainstream cancer types. By contrast, herbal treatments or pharmaceutical products from small non-influential companies are sometimes very effective, very rigorously tested for safety, very safe, and yet denied approval and hounded by the industry because they threaten the interests of the biggest companies.
The entire foundation of western medicine is corrupt. Western chemical medicine was essentially founded by Rockefeller, who was looking for ways to increase sales of chemicals. He funded medical colleges, with the condition that his people must be on the board and guide what is taught in the syllabus. He funded, if I remember correctly, the foundation of the FDA (or its precursor organisation?), with conditions attached as to what it could do and how. He funded a publication produced by the FDA which was influential in the use of drugs. He funded hospitals, on condition that his people be on the board... and so on, at every level of the medical industry. He ensured at every level that only chemical medicines were permitted, use of herbal medicines was not permitted.
Yet the interesting thing about Rockefeller is that he himself refused to take chemical medicines at all, he used only herbal medicines
Western medicine today has been so thoroughly corrupted and so thoroughly degraded, it is incurable. It is a terminal disease. It needs to be replaced by a new type of medicine. We need a new start.
For decades (from memory I think the first major study was about 1976) numerous rigorous scientific studies have found that medical practice is - overall - harmful to health.
# Whenever there is a hospital strike, deaths are reduced during that period. When the strike finishes, deaths increase to their former level.
# On average, cancer patients who accept conventional cancer treatment have a survival expectancy of about 5 to 7 years after diagnosis. On average, patients who have no conventional treatment at all (chemotherapy, surgery or radiology) have a survival expectancy of about 10 years. This advantage has been found consistently in major review studies over several decades, and no satisfactory explanation has ever been advanced in terms of conventional western medicine.
# Over the last 80 years, incidence of cancer and the proportion of deaths due to cancer have increased dramatically and relentlessly; in the 1940's it was a rare disease. Even up until the 1980's, child cancer was so rare it could virtually be dismissed as almost zero risk. Today child cancer is extremely common. The cancer industy worldwide is many trillions of dollars per year. Big Pharma make more money out of dead patients than cured patients - they have a financial incentive not to cure patients. They make far more profit by poisoning patients than by curing them. Is it any wonder the medical industry is so corrupt?
# Life expectancy in the early period after WWII increased quite dramatically in the West, but it has been shown that this increase is attributed exclusively to better nutrition and better sanitation. There is absolutely no evidence for any increase in life expectancy in the West due to advances in medicine, despite all the hyped "medical advances". On the contrary, (if I am not mistaken) there has been a slight decline in life expectancy over the last several decades (probably due to increasing poverty).
Many years ago there used to be a very different model for medicine in China in rural areas (maybe this model still exists in some places, I have no idea). All the villagers would pay a regular fee to the local doctor, as long as they are healthy. As soon as they get sick, they stop paying until they are cured by the doctor, who is obliged to treat them free. Notice that the vested interests of the doctor are reversed compared to the western model: the doctor has a vested interest in the good health of the patient, he profits from their good health. By contrast, the western doctor has a vested interest in the sickness of his patients, he profits from their disease!
Another alternative model comes from India and Sri Lanka, where traditionally an Ayurvedic doctor would charge no fee. Instead, he relies on donations from his patients*. If he is a good doctor and treats his patients well, he will be well rewarded. If he is incompetent and disinterested in the welfare of his patients, he will get very little income. Again, the vested interests are reversed relative to the western model. He has a vested interest in the recovery of his patients. These alternative models cannot simply be transplanted directly into the western context - the western society is too degenerate for these models to work - but they illustrate the paucity of the western model for medicine, and that other incentive models do exist.
* This is still true today to some extent, but not universally.
Posted by: BM | Jun 14 2021 16:36 utc | 9
Fat... gurgle... I can take you b.
Sincerely, Joe Beezelbub
Posted by: David G Horsman | Jun 14 2021 16:41 utc | 10
The simple mechanism of "regulatory capture" is a well understood and accepted concept. It works in all industries. The only real protections against its happening seem to be bodies such as the Communist Party of China, a learning entity with huge membership and a system of refining best practices based on metrics of testing and evaluation through peer review.
In other words, it takes a dynamically intelligent regulatory body to prevent regulatory capture. The kind of body that most societies, to my limited knowledge, don't seem to feel necessary or feasible to create simply to regulate a specific industry. On the macro scale, science and medicine used to be such things, and even they have been and are being subverted.
And beyond this of course, there has always been outright corruption and such tools as bribery and blackmail.
It took Boeing to show us how the FAA was captured, and it took COVID-19 to show us how FDA, NIH and WHO were similarly captured.
~~
It no longer takes a deep or wild conspiracy theory to point out how the medical industry has been so captured. We've just lived through more than a year of watching that industry control the public narrative and crush dissent or alternative information to the business model of western Big Pharma.
We still live through this today, as the incitement continues to marginalize the unvaccinated against Covid, and to make the vaccine compulsory, despite its being an unapproved treatment - as well as the current push to get it approved by FDA, despite its lack of clinical performance.
And the propaganda continues unabated against existing and now globally well proven treatments for the disease that would render the Emergency Use Authorization for the "vaccines" void.
With the vaccines, the people are being lied to, threatened with death, exploited and ripped off in order to make $100 billion for the pharmaceutical industry, at the societal cost globally of trillions.
~~
I'm glad that b is finding the way to show how this works. And as to the cost of corruption, this has long been astonishing. These political whores sell themselves so cheaply it bewilders an observer.
Someone made a study, maybe a decade ago, of the profit margin of corruption, based on how cheaply politicians could be bought with donations, versus the subsidies granted in return. The profit was easily in the Ten Thousand Percent range (10,000%) - maybe much more. I can't find the study now. It may have been done by a newspaper.
Posted by: Grieved | Jun 14 2021 16:42 utc | 11
Ginkgo biloba and Centella asiatica have both been scientifically proven to significantly reduce memory deterioration in Alzheimers. Both are traditional Ayurvedic medicines. Either one alone has a benefit, but if taken together the benefit is greater as they have a synergistic effect. They are also beneficial in rebuilding nerve connections after a stroke.
They can't be patented, so for western medicine they are disqualified.
Posted by: BM | Jun 14 2021 16:50 utc | 12
In Western politics, 'donors' rhymes with 'owners' and means the same thing.
All political candidates should be independent of political 'parties' < irony. But with bullshit perfectly legal in the West, it's extremely difficult for an independent candidate to counter the lies and smears to which they're subjected if they seem 'threatening' aka 'competent' to the corrupt Mainstream Parties.
People in Oz were waking up to the fact that political parties are a waste of space and as useless as tits on a bull. But the Major Parties quickly squashed that trend and now smear campaigns are normal and, more often than not, successful.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 14 2021 17:00 utc | 13
Evidently, the declared USD 76,000.00 donation is just the signal. The true "donation" is much greater (sinecures for the families of the DNC, fidelity to the DNC in the form of perennial funding etc. etc.).
@ Posted by: BM | Jun 14 2021 16:36 utc | 9
Not my area of expertise, but, from what I've heard through some historians of medicine and elsewhere:
1) life expectancy of the homo sapiens "in the wild" (i.e. the original hunter-gatherers living during the Ice Age) is circa 38 years, which is more or less the same life expectancy of a horse. This seems precise to me (both fossil evidence and the analysis of present-day hunter-gatherer tribes corroborate with that estimate);
2) what made the first huge leap of life expectancy for the homo sapiens as a species (old people already existed since Antiquity, but we only have the data for the elites) was sanitation and nutrition brought up by the Second Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, human population skyrocketed to never-seen-before levels, and it didn't happen because women started to have more children - on the contrary, birth rates immediately plummeted; population growth happened mainly through a dramatic lowering of infant mortality rates. Sanitation played a decisive role in that;
3) after the sanitary revolution (which came with the discovery of "germs"), life expectancy continued to rise, but by small increments;
4) modern medicine extended life expectancy, but more by keeping the old people alive than anything else. 80-year people continue to be as old as they get, and so on: there are no 80-year people with a physique of 50-year people; new medicine just keep the body alive and nothing else. To put it simply: "useful" ("quality") life expectancy didn't rise.
Some simple inventions dramatically rise human useful life expectancy. The most obvious example are eyeglasses, which keep over 40-year-old people useful in professions that requires both experience and precision (e.g. surgeons, dentists, artisans) for many decades more (the eye naturally loses capacity to focus after the 40-year barrier, irrespective if you have myopia, astigmatism etc. etc.). But lowering mortality (specially infant mortality) has been, historically, the main road for rising useful life expectancy.
Ironically, the strictly medicinal inventions which drastically rose human useful life expectancy were mostly vaccines - precisely the technology which is hated by the Covidiots. Penicillin was revolutionary (before it, a flu was often fatal for anyone) - but it was clearly an once in in an era discovery. But besides the exceptional case of Penicillin, the most revolutionary medicinal discoveries were vaccines (polio, tetanus, measles etc.). Before those inventions, a couple had to make 5-6 children minimum if they realistically wanted to see two of them reaching adult life; after those inventions, a couple can easily have two children (or even only one) and realistically expect all of them to reach adulthood. Yes, this lowers genetic variety, but it frees time for the adult couple to be socially productive in their respective professions (provided the woman is emancipated from being a housewife, an issue which does not pertain to the area of medicine).
The leading lights in both Oz mainstream political parties are Good Friends Of "Israel" so on the Moral High Ground Scale, you know your Liberal or Labor vote is wasted before you cast it. Thus despite the short-term 'success' of smear campaigns, voter turn-out is declining.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 14 2021 17:21 utc | 15
That was my thought as well, james, and the next step on that issue is for FDA approval to lock the US vaccines for covid in place. Totally scary scenario. Thanks for posting the link.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 14 2021 17:36 utc | 16
Sorry, that was to james @ 5. My thought is Biden is influenced by his age. Not a good decision on the Alzheimers front.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 14 2021 17:39 utc | 17
I have a great deal of personal experience in caring for an Alzheimer's patient--my mother--for the entirety of her affliction and did substantial research into its cause and extensive lack of effective treatments of which there are essentially none. Indeed, there is still a debate raging as to the specific cause, which I believe to be malformed prions--proteins that are deformed during replication.
As for the existence of massive corruption within the USA's federal government, that dates back to the Sweetheart Deal between Congress and George Washington for the purchase of some swampland the latter owned for the future site of the District of Columbia. That expanded into the Department of War and the Navy Department during Adams term and his undeclared war against France. Corruption on a much larger scale occurred during the Civil War, and has continued to escalate ever since, but really became institutionalized with the advent of Railroads and the manner in which they were subsidized during Grant's terms. Corruption within large cities began well before the Revolution as well as within whole industries prior to there really being industries--in this case the Maritime Industry that began during the Elizabethan Era of National Piracy and skyrocketed with the slave trade. Of course, greasing the skids has long existed and in some places is still expected to be performed. As for regulation, within the Outlaw US Empire it was the Conservatives in the late 1880s that saw the need to assure the public about the safety of consumer items as the economy shifted and urbanization rapidly escalated. But The Triumph of Conservatism was shortlived and "normalcy" returned with the creation of the Federal Reserve System and massive WW1 corruption by the Merchants of Death.
Grieved outlines above how the Chinese have mostly solved the problem, which is one of the reasons why China is vilified--its governance is highly superior to that of the West so it must be denigrated lest other nations copy China's success.
Related:
'Ever Onward to Victory': How Che Guevara & Fidel Castro's Legacy Helping Cuba Fight COVID-19
so many good comments...in reality, all diseases are psychiatric. haven't you had enough capitalist shock therapy to realize that?
due to an almost fatal condition, I have had to go to the local hospital complex repeatedly. is any of the medical staff feigning surprise when I don't roll up in a gigantic SUV? no, they are not. there are 10000 cars in the parking lot, and one "no smoking" sign for every 40 cars.
we don't eat food. doctors could care less. what about the stress of work? what about living w/the constant threat of homelessness, hunger, or freezing to death? think the medical profession gives a shit? nope.
is your doctor going to tell you that your cardio-pulmonary condition is caused by 1) wildfire smoke, pollution and sitting your fat ass in a car for decades or 2) smoking cigs or other totally individual lifestyle choices, which, if not bad in themselves (like drinking Pepsi, not bad in itself), is a problem of "balance"?
maybe they need more science? maybe, but how is it that the top-trained medical professionals in the world working at the VA *never* find DU even exists? or agent orange? why can they only see Saddam's burn pits, but not the ones in every US military base and installation in the world?
how are they going to get senile Joe to take the meds he approved when he's wasting away his last days? maybe get some of the nurses, the younger the better, to play dress up (by dressing down) and talking naughty to him? it's not an accident that this piece of shit is "in charge." "I don't remember" is the only truthful thing he's said in a long time.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 14 2021 18:03 utc | 20
@DGH 10
Not Joe .. he just forgot about, or takes m for b like Libya for Syria. SCNR
Posted by: aquadraht | Jun 14 2021 18:07 utc | 21
Besides being touted by Trump, the biggest hurdle for HCQ was the fact that it doesn't cost enough and is easy to make.
Something that works, that's cheap? We can't have that, now can we?
Posted by: ian | Jun 14 2021 18:08 utc | 22
I already posted some of this on the The MoA Week In Review - OT 2021-045 but I am posting it here again ...
'Follow the Science'?
"Although a great majority of ivermectin-based studies have indicated real promise, one particular study conducted by a small trial site in Colombia received unprecedented media attention when the study results indicated negligible impact. What hasn’t been disclosed by media is the seriously questionable pharmaceutical industry support of this one trial site. During the study, a handful of some of the largest drug companies in the world gave this site money ...
Merck expressed their intent on competing against the ivermectin generic approach. Why would this company be funding this small trial site operation in Colombia? ... How could JAMA even think about publishing an article sponsored by 5 drug companies centering on a study targeting a generic competitor? Any layperson seeing this could think that this was highly suspect ..."
'Follow the Money'?
"Another brilliant corporate showcasing enterprising business prowess or yet another example of crony capitalism on display for the world to see? That’s the question many are asking as Merck continues to progress its agenda to finally monetize the pandemic with an experimental drug that’s been around for many years. The company just announced it secured a $1.2 billion public commitment for up to $1.7 million courses of its still experimental antiviral drug Molnupiravir to the United States government ... Merck, along with Roche, Pfizer, and a few others, continue their quest to capture what is a highly lucrative COVID-19 early-onset, mild-to-moderate symptom antiviral treatment market ..."
After $356M in Federal Funds in Dec, Merck Secures $1.2B Federal Commitment to Buy its Experimental Drug Upon Key Milestones Trial Site News
Corporate capture (corruption) may be cheap in relation to the profits made, but in this case the cost is immeasurable ...
Civil war has broken out in India over Covid-19 treatment
Civil war over the use of generic low-cost repurposed drugs for Covid, with the neo-colonial neo-liberal WHO warning against the continued use of Ivermectin in favour of its big pharma instigated democratic 'Vaccinate-the-World' policy
Watch Dr Pierre Kory of the FLCCC fearlessly wade into this
Vanakkam Tamil Nadu: Not Banning Ivermectin Could Have Saved More Lives
Explosive breaking news
The Indian Bar Association has extended its legal action against the WHO's life endangering obstruction of Ivermectin to now include its Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for aggravated offences against humanity
LEGAL NOTICE FOR CONTEMPT_JUNE 13 2021
The Virus and the Parasite
Posted by: Hemiola | Jun 14 2021 18:12 utc | 23
Any barflies with knowledge of studies conducted on autophagy and alzheimers
Posted by: ld | Jun 14 2021 18:42 utc | 25
Grieved at #11
It's gone far beyond mere "regulatory capture" involving specific industries. It is an overall systemic capture of the overarching political and governmental structures.
Unfortunately, this is due to the central core of our political system, namely elections, and their entirely corrupting campaigns.
How do we get rid of the "campaign contribution?" Public funding of elections? This won't stop aid of various types from being funneled in to a campaign one way or the other.
As long as politicians have to posture and pander for both votes and contributions, I don't see how this can be resolved.
Bring back the Kings!
Antoinetta III
Posted by: Antoinetta III | Jun 14 2021 18:57 utc | 26
ld @25--
This paper is but one result I got from using autophagy and prion together as search terms. You could easily spend the remainder of the day reading just a fraction of the results. According to the research I'm aware of, the malformation of prions isn't connected to the autophagy process, although it appears to be hypothetically plausible. Nor does there seem to be any genetic connection explaining why some people are more susceptible than others to the generation of malformed prions that leads to the plaque related to Alzheimer's and other dementias.
Hark, is that the ripping up of the Dumbementia card Joe carried. Wut? He's been cured? The new miracle drug you say? Oh,oh,oh. The laying on of Putins hands was the cure. Hmm. No, not bio baby gean cytology, ok.
Well, when it comes to liberal political systems, 'corrupt' is pretty much synonymous with 'democratic', imo.
And since we're all admirers of 'democratic' and opponents of 'authoritarian', corruption is something to be happy about. Personally, I demand more of it.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jun 14 2021 19:14 utc | 29
@ 16/17 juliania... we see that the same... as i see it the whole system, no matter which leader - is corrupt.. as soon as one accepts lobbying, one is accepting legalized bribery... biden and every other leader on down is guilty of this...
@ BM - thanks for your posts...
Posted by: james | Jun 14 2021 19:23 utc | 30
good and recent video on ivermectin (discussing an Israeli study)
https://youtu.be/YV2H6_0i4f0
Posted by: Mina | Jun 14 2021 19:29 utc | 31
Yes, this lowers genetic variety, but it frees time for the adult couple to be socially productive in their respective professions (provided the woman is emancipated from being a housewife... vk @14
I don't mean to nit pick a good post but I have heard that many times and disagree for a few reasons.
The argument seems based on the idea that smaller families leads to lower genetic diversity. This is true in isolation.
If the same number of adult children are the result it's likely they have more varied DNA. The reason being that it is not constrained by first being resistant to these diseases.
Now, eugenics fans would argue that we are breading for weak humans. IE. in a SHTF scenario where civilization falls they will be poorly adapted for various reasons. Perhaps.
However, that ignores that greater diversity we gain from having millions of people alive that otherwise would not be. In that mix we only a need a genius or ten to revolutionary change our future for the better. The same thing could be said for bringing folks out of poverty or providing free education.
Sure we need tough folks, smart or otherwise, but it could be some of these other folk would survive a future pandemic or environmental degradation. So there's that to consider to.
I think that lacking actual studies this is speculative but I am also fairly sure it will confirm my statements. We are much more diverse having dramatically reduced child mortality while improving nutrition and sanitation.
Covid:
I also feel we owe much of this to child vaccination to prevent some truly horrid, deadly diseases. However your Covidiot remarks betray a certain arrogance on your part.
Covid does not qualify in any of these criteria. You employ a false equivalence. Further, mRNA vaccines are purely experimental and there are numerous concerns about down stream effects, assuming you are not one of they unlucky ones that drops dead, gets brain damage or a worsening of heart and circulatory problems.
May of us are quite happy to wait for the treatments that are now appearing. We appreciate you contribution to experimental science and it could well reduce our risks. I am all about human experimentation, using informed consent of course. Within limits that have in this case been exceeded.
But, we as a group see a peculiar irony when b or yourself, very intelligent people, refer to us a Covidiots. My caution is idiotic? You believe you made the smart choice here? Who knows. Time will tell that tale.
Posted by: David G Horsman | Jun 14 2021 19:38 utc | 32
Less than two weeks prior to the approval, President Joe Biden said that “if we don’t do something about Alzheimer’s in America… every single [hospital bed] will be occupied in the next 15 years with an Alzheimer’s patient.”
This sounds eerily similar to the fear campaign surrounding Covid19 when that campaign was first launched.
Posted by: Hal Duell | Jun 14 2021 20:05 utc | 33
Any barflies with knowledge of studies conducted on autophagy and alzheimers
Posted by: ld | Jun 14 2021 18:42 utc | 25
Sort of. But anecdotal.
My slim, fit, active 80-ish mother contracted Az after spending several months in rehab after suffering a sudden near-fatal illness. Occasionally she'd fall and bump her head and the bump restored some of her sparkle for a week or so. My theory is that Az-shrunk brains shed particles which settle in crevices. Shaking them up provides temporary relief.
All the doctors and nurses I bounced this theory off rejected it without hesitation. But I didn't imagine the improvements associated with a bump to the skull, and only a bump to the skull. Nothing else produced a lull in the decline.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 14 2021 20:05 utc | 34
Hoarsewhisperer @34--
Actually, IMO there's merit in your hypothesis, particularly when looking at images of Amyloid plaques it appears that a clump of plaque might get displaced by the force of a nearby bump to the skull. I've heard stories of Alzheimer's patients feeling better after beating on their skull to "shake up the cobwebs." And those plaque clumps do look very much like cobwebs.
Biden should be thankful he got anything: after all isn't acting on behalf of vested interests the job of government nowadays? You should see what they do in my state (NSW in Australia). Recently the Premier said publicly and with a straight-face when challenged that pork-barrelling was just a normal part of the democratic process. Why go into government if you can't help out your mates?
Was it not ever so?
Posted by: Patroklos | Jun 14 2021 20:34 utc | 36
Hoarsewhisperer @ 34:
Curious to know if your mum had to undergo surgery and have general anaesthesia for that near-fatal illness. I have heard that having general anaesthesia can hasten dementia that would otherwise develop slowly.
Perhaps bumps to the head could be replaced by daily exercises in which the head and neck are sometimes level with or lower than the heart? I would not want to risk concussion or bleeding in the brain with head bumps. Maybe even a head massage might do as well for your mum.
Posted by: Jen | Jun 14 2021 20:49 utc | 37
@ Posted by: David G Horsman | Jun 14 2021 19:38 utc | 32
Yes, my mistake. It is natural selection that intensifies (theoretically and ceteris paribus), not genetic variety.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 14 2021 20:17 utc | 35
(An Hypothesis with merit)
A few years ago I toyed with the idea of opening a clinic quackery offering Az relief. In Oz almost anything is legal so long as you're making money, paying some tax and not killing ppl or robbing them blind for more than 3 or 4 years in a row :-)
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 14 2021 21:09 utc | 39
Aduhlem (Aducanumab) is not the first amyloid-β-targeting therapy for Alzheimer disease, and so far none of these treatments have been found to produce clinical benefits.
A recent review (A critical appraisal of amyloid-β-targeting therapies for Alzheimer disease) put forth the following key points:
-Over the past 15 years, several drugs that decrease amyloid-β (Aβ) production, antagonize Aβ aggregation or increase brain Aβ clearance have been tested in patients with mild to moderate AD but without success.
-Anti-Aβ drugs have also produced disappointing results in individuals at earlier stages of the disease who have biomarker evidence of Aβ brain deposition.
-This series of clinical failures has raised the possibility that Aβ accumulation represents an epiphenomenon rather than a cause of AD, casting doubt on the prevailing amyloid cascade hypothesis of AD.
In other words, these drugs may be, albeit successfully, targeting an aspect of Alzheimer disease that is unimportant in regard to the actual symptoms of the disease.
This is a poorly understood disease which takes years to develop and for which truly accurate animal models do not exist, which makes the development of an effective anti-Alzheimer drug a daunting task. Other proteins known to be involved in the disease may make better therapeutic targets, but that remains to be seen.
At this stage it appears that we are still a long way from anything remotely resembling a cure, but it seems that lifestyle choices such as regular exercise, a healthy diet, and engaging in mentally stimulating activities can reduce ones risk of developing Alzheimer disease in the first place.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Jun 14 2021 21:31 utc | 40
Joanie @ 28
"The new miracle drug you say? Oh,oh,oh. The laying on of Putins hands was the cure. Hmm. No, not bio baby gean cytology, ok."
None of that has worked and he has resorted to bathing in the blood of briwn infants while sucking back on a fetal stem cell milkshake.
How tasty. Pass the grapes.
Posted by: David G Horsman | Jun 14 2021 21:42 utc | 41
All the doctors and nurses I bounced this theory off rejected it without hesitation. But I didn't imagine the improvements associated with a bump to the skull, and only a bump to the skull. Nothing else produced a lull in the decline. - Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 14 2021 20:05 utc | 34
Stick to your guns I would say. Anecdotal evidence leads to studies and new treatment.
I am the one person on the planet "cured" of a significant illness by Gabapentin for 12-24 hours. Both neurological pain and and hyper manic episodes. Unbelievable. But it seems you cannot cure stupidity, much less madness. What a pity.
Posted by: David G Horsman | Jun 14 2021 21:55 utc | 42
@ 26 Antoinetta III says 'Bring back the Kings!'
When Covid broke out, and we were under lockdown, I noticed that Canada's CTV News website featured some articles with suggestions for preventing Covid. There were 2 articles, one which told us to take 2,000 mg of Vitamin C daily (which I still do and I'm not vaccinated), and another which espoused the benefits of burning herbs (like smudging) to clear the air of nasty micro-creatures. There was also a report on vitamin D deficiency leading to hospitalizations from Covid. Now - if you follow Canadian news, you'll see that many times these suggestions are expressed in a very indirect 'Onion-esque' manner, but it's possible to find the meaning (especially if you're used to this style). It seemed that when the authorities were genuinely scared of losing their populace, suddenly these treatments which had been lambasted consistently in MSM, were presented in a new light. I thought about this and it has to have some from Her Majesty the Queen, doesn't it? To your point.
The Vitamin C article was altered a bit but here it is --
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jun 14 2021 22:01 utc | 43
just noting that in the US at least, one must endure a decade of torture or more while piling on the debt in order to earn the privilege of being a prescriber, an authority, in this thoroughly corrupt system. what is the value of years of sleep deprivation?
unfortunately, any US medical professional is still only a lowly service worker, like a janitor, plumber, farmer, nanny or door-holder-opener. 3000 dead in the last year in the US doesn't even register. none of the real economic "innovators" had such death rates. but big pharma & co still have to "add value" to worthless labor like youtube adds "value" to Mahler or the Clash. what is valuable to them is wasting people's time. if you want to pay off your medical student loan debt before you die, you better take in a big pharma junket annually.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 14 2021 22:07 utc | 44
Human beings as a species are comparatively very low in genetic diversity compared to other species.
Mutation will bring about genetic diversity, which means the passage of time will solve this "problem." The relatively recent origin of people is why the low genetic diversity, which is greatest in the longest extant population (i.e., Africa.)
As for natural selection in humans, it seems to me that God, the Great Abortionist, stands in for natural selection. People are afraid to measure the rate of failed conceptions/natural abortions. But it is extremely high compared to other mammals so far as I can tell, which means most natural selection/God takes place before birth. Anything after is more chance than survival of the fittest. But reactionary halfwits hypnotized by modern scientific racism abound.
A person commits to the proposition that Biden is caught in the throes of senility. But somehow, *at the very same time* the same person cannot imagine that Biden is desperate clutching at the reputed magic of medicine, but claims the only motive is greed. And the same person thinks touting bleach or Ivermectin or hydrochloroquinone is not worth indignation while declaring *Biden* is the lowlife?
No, no, either give up the senility mantra (which is a remarkable double standard to live by anyhow,) *or* give up the claim Biden was bought for $80 000. Can't have both and common decency at the same time, it has to be two of the three.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jun 14 2021 22:15 utc | 45
Jamison's anecdotes on bipolar, "An Unquiet Bank Account" or whatever is the perfect example of pathologization, rank dishonesty and success going hand in hand.
Is Jamison funded by big Pharma? she is an expert in this subject area, mania, because she technically receives no funds, otherwise one might question her expertise. but what about the lab at Hopkins that employs her?
forgetting that for a second, how does she separate her experience of mania from her environment, specifically grad and med school?
her expertise is in separating a condition from the social environment, for which she is considered a trailblazing hero of honesty and insight. laughable bullshit almost universally lauded as science in the US.
are *any* "behavioral disorders" in the US attributable to the national environment? Oh, asthmatic kids today...asking that kind of crap...
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 14 2021 22:31 utc | 46
Why do you think U.S. politicians - overwhelmingly very smart lawyers who could be making order of magnitude more money in private practice - fight so hard to get elected and then to keep that seat? To serve the people? Yeah, no.
Posted by: Venom | Jun 14 2021 23:01 utc | 47
@james, 5
many thanks for that link. It was a very informative discussion covering topics such as the biodistribution of the injected material with the target being the ovaries and the bone marrow, the toxicity of the spike protein, regulatory capture and the failure to obtain informed consent.
Posted by: cirsium | Jun 14 2021 23:04 utc | 48
As someone who has healed a traumatic brain injury, PTSD and anxiety disorder, I highly recommend trying the QEEG neuromodulation therapy for any and all mental health disorders.
The QEEG approach is to take a baseline reading of ones brainwaves and compare that with normative for age/sex. While our brainwaves are considered epiphenomena and not really representative of the brain working they tell neuromodulation providers where the over/under stimulated areas are and at what frequencies. The neuromodulation providers use operant conditioning and other neuromodulation techniques to re-regulate our neural networks and, given what I have read along the path of this healing, neuromodulation therapies can effect most mental health conditions.
And QEEG is non-invasive, non-drug related, leaves the patient healed instead of drug dependent and therefore the profit motive keeps this sort of therapy hidden but evolving anyway because it is the "right direction".
If you want to know more about neuromodulation therapies, go to my web site and click on the neuromodulation link to a crude presentation outline that I keep wanting to update....I need to include auricular neuromodulation for example in the list of therapies I have used.....but I am too busy being healed....GRIN!
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 14 2021 23:06 utc | 49
Speaking of corruption, or it's consequences:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/cdc-caught-cooking-books-covid-vaccines/5747593
"Now, as over 100 million
Americans have been “vaccinated” against COVID-19, the CDC is lowering
the CT from 40 to 28, but only when diagnosing vaccine breakthrough
cases — cases where fully vaccinated individuals are diagnosed with
COVID-19.
To make matters worse, the CDC
also will no longer record mild or asymptomatic infections of those who
were immunized as “COVID cases.” The only cases that now count as COVID
cases for someone immunized with the COVID-19 vaccine are those that
result in hospitalization or death."
I know this is a repeat but has anyone noticed this results in the CDC losing track of the virus? It is already endemic but this guarantees it. Like the (magically extinct) colds and flu, seasonal Covid-19.
It is extremely foolish to not collect data at a minimum.
I expect 28 or lower is better in either case. Nonetheless, pretending a mild case isn't a case is idiocy, nevermind the corruption. Yikes.
Posted by: David G Horsman | Jun 14 2021 23:08 utc | 50
@ BM 9
" Many years ago there used to be a very different model for medicine in China in rural areas (maybe this model still exists in some places, I have no idea). All the villagers would pay a regular fee to the local doctor, as long as they are healthy. As soon as they get sick, they stop paying until they are cured by the doctor, who is obliged to treat them free. Notice that the vested interests of the doctor are reversed compared to the western model: the doctor has a vested interest in the good health of the patient, he profits from their good health. By contrast, the western doctor has a vested interest in the sickness of his patients, he profits from their disease!"
This got me thinking. It is not much different from the Private Health Insurance Model except that there the Insurance Company still gets paid even if you are ill.
Maybe with a few tweaks an optimal system can be devised.
Posted by: Ike | Jun 14 2021 23:28 utc | 51
Here are several definitions and examples of corruption. Investopedia, Legaldictionary, and this lengthy article by Our World in Data. I hope barflies will take a few minutes to peruse all three, pause, and ponder just how long corruption has existed--some will say since the Garden of Eden. Then to the specific corruption b brings up in his article and the fact that every single one of us is poisoned by industrial pollutants to differing degrees for which BigPharma has concocted a series of "elixirs" it says will act as a cure-all, some of which are called vaccines--but they are all made with an eye to profit from the corruption of our bodies.
I see Typepad doesn't want one of the links I used to be immediately posted, so I'm removing them from my comment as they can be found by the interested:
Here are several definitions and examples of corruption. Investopedia, Legaldictionary, and this lengthy article by Our World in Data. I hope barflies will take a few minutes to peruse all three, pause, and ponder just how long corruption has existed--some will say since the Garden of Eden. Then to the specific corruption b brings up in his article and the fact that every single one of us is poisoned by industrial pollutants to differing degrees for which BigPharma has concocted a series of "elixirs" it says will act as a cure-all, some of which are called vaccines--but they are all made with an eye to profit from the corruption of our bodies.
@ cirsium | Jun 14 2021 23:04 utc | 48.. thanks! i agree...
Posted by: james | Jun 15 2021 0:36 utc | 54
The S & L scandal in the 1980's was due to deregulation. (No lessons learned from that $1 trillion fiasco, apparently.) The main person responsible for this deregulation was Rep. Rostinkowski, who chaired the relevant committee. He was paid $130,000 for this service, as I recall. None of this will stop the "exceptional nation" from lecturing other countries about how to organize their governments.
Posted by: Edward | Jun 15 2021 1:08 utc | 55
My basic feeling is the U.S. is run by criminals and has been for a long time.
Posted by: Edward | Jun 15 2021 1:09 utc | 56
Mr. karlof1 | Jun 14 2021 17:56 utc | 18
Unfortunately, the Amyloid plaques hypothesis has been attracting the bulk of research funds, and the drug companies had to fall in line behind the dominant paradigm.
The scientists, and their funders, are not necessarily committed to the discovery of Scientific Truth, in as much as their learning or talent permits them to do so.
They are carrerist, for the most part, just like the cadres of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Posted by: Fyi | Jun 15 2021 1:26 utc | 57
Edward @54&55--
Has long been so as you assume. Jefferson and other Revolutionaries decried what were then called Stock Jobbers and other types of speculators, particularly those in land, and here is an indictment they surely must have read, The villainy of stock-jobbers detected, and the causes of the late run upon the bank and bankers discovered and considered from 1701 by Daniel Defoe, who charges them with the destabilization of the British nation through their corrupt actions. In 1791, Madison wrote to Jefferson:
"The stock-jobbers will become the pretorian band of the Government, at once its tool and its tyrant; bribed by its largesse, and overawing it by clamours and combinations."
Truer words about the future I've yet to discover. You and others ought to find this essay revealing, particularly when using the ctrl-F function to search for speculators and stock-jobbers. The big debate over the soundness over the First Bank of the United States is very revealing for the very real fears of corruption it was rightly assumed would follow in its wake.
Grieved is right. It’s not just Biden or the US govt that has been captured.
It goes deeper…. It’s the whole American system … regime … culture …. society …
See eg https://www.pharmacychecker.com/askpc/pharma-marketing-research-development/#!
Pharmaceutical companies systematically spend more on marketing than R&D for drugs. Marketing on doctors … and govt officials … in back rooms … in conferences … private lunches and dinners …
Yet these special interests still can justify big patents on their supposed R&D.
A little off topic here. But are the guys American vaccines really that effective and safe? Or is it just more “marketing” than reality?
America is corrupt. Europe too is hopeless if it doesn’t find a way to extricate itself from the Anglosaxon orbit.
Posted by: Allen | Jun 15 2021 2:21 utc | 59
The scientists, and their funders, are not necessarily committed to the discovery of Scientific Truth, in as much as their learning or talent permits them to do so.
They are carrerist, for the most part...
Posted by: Fyi | Jun 15 2021 1:26 utc | 56
That's a bit harsh. I am sure that the vast majority of scientists try their best to objectively understand nature and hope that their work will in some way benefit mankind. What many of us are guilty of, though, is reluctance to let go of a hypothesis even as observations against it mount and/or more sensible interpretations exist. Such inflexibility runs counter to scientific ideals, but on the other hand it is human nature to cling to something into which one has invested a great deal of time and effort.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Jun 15 2021 2:43 utc | 60
Thank you for the article, b. The corruption gets even more profitable than what appears. This year, an article was published in an open-access journal, the Journal of Alzheimer’s Research and therapy by the title of: “Network medicine links SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 infection to brain microvascular injury and neuro-inflammation in dementia-like cognitive impairment.” [13:110; 2021; doi:10.1186/s13195-021-00850-3]
In it, the authors did a networked-based comparison of neurologic complications between COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s and concluded there is a significant mechanistic overlap between AD and COVID-19. What this means is that this sort of “research” paves the way for using Alzheimer’s drug on any and all diagnosed/tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 as preventive therapy. Extremely profitable.
What is even worse is this: In the “competing interest” section of this published article, one of the authors, James B. Leverenz, states having received consulting fees from Biogen (the manufacturer of the drug for Alzheimer’s that just got FDA approval). His role as the contributing author was to discuss and interpret all results.
Beyond vaccines and related paraphernalia, COVID-19 is a gift that keeps on giving for a very long time in the future.
Posted by: m.t. | Jun 15 2021 2:43 utc | 61
karlof1,
The U.S. just seems to be going backwards all over the place. The hard-won lessons of history are being discarded one by one just for short-term, selfish gains. Especially since 9-11, our constitution has been trashed.
I think there is a similar history concerning corporations, which Ralph Nader has spoken about. When they were first chartered in the U.S., it was with limitations, because the public was concerned about abuses, but over time those limitations vanished.
Posted by: Edward | Jun 15 2021 3:02 utc | 62
Allen @58,
This article discusses problems with the mrna vaccines:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/alarming-casualty-rates-mrna-vaccines-warrant-urgent-action/5746343
Posted by: Edward | Jun 15 2021 3:07 utc | 63
@52 karlof1 - poisoned by industrial pollutants to differing degrees for which BigPharma has concocted a series of "elixirs"
In a recent thread talking about the virus, a commenter (apologies, can't remember who) dropped a brief comment that he wouldn't be surprised if Big Pharma has been seeding the world with flu variants every year.
In the light of what we're seeing with Covid, and the undoubted venality of that industry, it now makes sense to question a lot of our modern diseases. The business case is simply too compelling for Pharma not to be active in cultivating new customers. I must rethink some things.
And as described above by BM @9 in that magisterial comment, the income of the industry and the medical profession derives from illness rather than wellness.
Posted by: Grieved | Jun 15 2021 3:38 utc | 64
Mr. farm ecologist | Jun 15 2021 2:43 utc | 59
There have been alternative hypothesis put forward, I recall reading a out one such 14 years ago. The poor chap could not get much of funding.
The old principle investigators and the grant reviewers have not deviated much from the Amyloid hypothesis in the United States. May be the situation is better in Europe.
I personally suspect that Alzheimer's disease is caused by a viral infection which, in turn, causes an immune over-reaction; leading to Amyloid over production.
There must be some sort of an inflammation and a cause for it, just like, I suspect, there is in atherosclerosis.
Posted by: Fyi | Jun 15 2021 3:58 utc | 65
Posted by: Fyi | Jun 15 2021 3:58 utc | 64
There have been alternative hypothesis put forward...
Recently, two new hypotheses have been proposed. The first one is that AD is "type 3 diabetes". This idea is based on two facts. First, obese people, who are often diabetic, have a higher incidence of AD. Second, the spread of the disease through the brain (I've forgotten how they can track that) proceeds from the most energy-using parts to less energy-using parts. If insulin resistance arises in the brain, cells runs out of fuel and die.
The second hypothesis is that AD is an out-of-control reaction to an infection. The facts here are that AD brain tissue contains gingevitis (gum disease) bacteria and/or herpes virus. What is interesting is that the amyloid protein seems to be anti-bacterial. For decades no one knew what amyloid was for, so even if this hypothesis is wrong, the purpose of amyloid may finally become clear. Perhaps the previously discovered hole-punching rings were a defense against bacteria. This hypothesis leads to treatments with anti-bacterial and/or antiviral drugs. It might be important to intervene more strongly than normal when an older person gets an infection.
Finally, there is the ISRIB hypothesis, which applies to many more brain conditions than AD.
Posted by: groucho | Jun 15 2021 4:26 utc | 66
If we are going to write about corruption, how about one about financial corruption reported by Wall Street on Parade
Bezos is featured in the article a bit because of the mystery of Amazon going from a business loser for 20 years to putting Bezos ahead of Gates on richest list.
The punch bowl of global finance is corrupt and the shit show extends from there. We are seeing a civilization war right now because China is standing up to that form of top/bottom jackboot social organization. It feels good to me to read postings like the one linked to above coming from other Americans so I don't feel as "alone" in America.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 15 2021 5:11 utc | 68
What does Obama care have to do with anything, Cadence calls?
Obama care tried to correct the inadequacies between the poor and the rich. True, it's NOT perfect, far from it but guess what, I'm alive 5 times over because of it. Without it, I would have been dead. I have had numerous surgeries(kidney stones, gallbladder stones, pancreatic inflammation, eye cataracts surgeries on both eyes) and the only reason I was given care is because I had Obama care coverage. SO FUCK YOU, asshole. The MIC/Israel/etc can get trillions for free but Gd forbid the poor get free medical care in the freedom loving democratic USA.
Posted by: Zapekk | Jun 15 2021 5:24 utc | 69
oh yeah, and all you assholes, can bitch how horrible Western medical care is, but Im still alive 5 times over because of it. So FUCK ALL OF YOU HYPOCRITES!
You think people in the 3rd world can get the same high quality care as it is on USA? I was living in Eastern Europe and had began developing colon polyps that were almost pre cancerous, and I would have died if I had stayed there. I moved to USA and paid a low price of 1500 dollars to get them removed. I am grateful to Western medical care.
Posted by: Zapekk | Jun 15 2021 5:28 utc | 70
@BM | Jun 14 2021 16:36 utc | 9
Thank you for this and other contributions. I don't have the strength right now to comment on the specifics, but I would like to express my appreciation for this and other posts of yours. I feel my existence is now under siege and your post proves there is still sanity to be found in places.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 15 2021 5:57 utc | 71
UPDATE
URGENT VIDEO STATEMENT from Dr Pierre Kory. "The US is going to commit $1.2 billion of taxpayer money in order to enrich Merck for a drug that is not yet available, which has already been the source of a whistleblower complaint, and which has already failed in hospitalised patients"
The Virus and the Parasite
Posted by: Hemiola | Jun 15 2021 6:27 utc | 72
@Posted by: Zapekk | Jun 15 2021 5:28 utc | 68
It is not Western medical care that posters have a problem with, it is specifically the deeply corrupt US medical industrial complex. I have lived in both the UK and Canada and have received excellent care through their much more efficient systems, provided as a social service rather a than a corrupt cash cow for corporations. You will find the same in Western Europe and Scandinavia. Many US citizens travel to places such as Ecuador, Thailand etc. to get medical care that they can afford because the US elites refuse to allow for a single payer system. Others struggle to afford basic medicines such as Epipens and insulin, which are extremely cheap just north of the US border.
I understand your angst, and am happy that you were able to find proper care, but insulting people when you have not taken the time to properly understand their point of view does not add to the discussion.
Posted by: Roger | Jun 15 2021 7:07 utc | 73
If there is one thing with no limit in the world, it is the greed.
Greed is by far the worst sin/behaviour of the human race, and from greed, every other sins come forth (lust, sloth, gluttony, pride/ego, etc).
Posted by: Smith | Jun 15 2021 7:08 utc | 74
As long as politicians have to posture and pander for both votes and contributions, I don't see how systemic capture can be resolved. by: Antoinetta III @ 26 <= I gave the answer <=a 2nd government. A government made up of ( 8 billion humans in the world - less all persons who are in government, who work for government or who contract with government)= remainder humans.
The remainder humans should assume the power to prosecute everyone who is the subtraction without exception of rank or serial number (subtraction = all persons who are in government, all persons who work for government and all persons who contract with the government).
The remainder humans have a separate human rights court and separate penal systems. The remainder humans hold meetings, develop laws, and find ways to enforce them. But the laws of the remainder humans relate only to those who are in the subtraction( those who have moved from the governed group to the governor group). The 2nd government would be funded by 10% of the tax the first government collects.
Anyone not in the subtraction would be eligible to, and be expected to, investigate, bring charges, indite and prosecute anyone in the subtraction. The human rights court would hear the prosecution and listen to the defense.. and if the Court ruled the subtraction member guilty, the court would order a penalty and the remainder humans would develop prisons to keep and execute those members of the subtraction that were found guilty in accord to the orders of the human rights court. Corruption is a crime against humanity.
To straighten this world out, We don't need to revise any government (after all those governments are part of the collective nation state system and they are very capable to straighten out their own), but we need a 2nd government to keep the governors in the first government honest with respect to the needs, wants and expectations of those humans that are to be among the governed.
Posted by: snake | Jun 15 2021 11:43 utc | 75
Ok, so the FDA (that of the revolving door with Pharma management jobs) seems to have approved a drug that does little, as they have done with countless other dodgy drugs and even those that harm.
But at least we know that the "emergency approvals" they gave the gene therapy drugs (as per their patents) often incorrectly called vaccines, was 100% honest and absolutely correct. This despite a 9 month limited trial that is generally 10 years and no animal studies. To date there are 9 new Pharma billionaires and according to .gov websites at minimum 15,000 deaths, but hey, nothing to see here.
You can't cherry pick, the FDA like many .gov regulators (remember Boeing?) is corrupt to the core or it isn't. If it isn't then this is a wonderful new drug to help humanity.
Posted by: Gravel Rash | Jun 15 2021 12:25 utc | 76
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 15 2021 5:57 utc | 71
Some days I only scroll through the comments list on the right in the hope that you have posted a comment. Same goes for BM. Your existence IS under siege which only makes your ongoing existence all the more critical for the sanity of so many of us. Thanyou
Posted by: Australianian | Jun 15 2021 12:41 utc | 77
Mr. Zapekk | Jun 15 2021 5:28 utc | 70
100% in agreement.
When one is experiencing 99% blocked LAD, one really appreciates intervention with the drug-eluding stents and antiplatelet drugs.
Likewise for dental care; ever noticed all those people with missing front teeth in Africa and in Asia?
Posted by: fyi | Jun 15 2021 13:25 utc | 79
Mr. Roger | Jun 15 2021 7:07 utc | 73
A country that constantly accepts immigrants cannot have socialized medicine.
Corrupt immigrants in the United States have abused the Social Security system of the United States already - just look at how many foreign-born US residents are receiving SSI, Food Coupons, and Subsidized housing.
Middle Class immigrant from China or the Middle East has her parents living in subsidized apartments...
Posted by: fyi | Jun 15 2021 13:28 utc | 80
Mr. Zapekk | Jun 15 2021 5:24 utc | 69
100% agree.
I watched this young ditch digger being told - essentially - to go and die because he could not afford - on a ditch-diggers wages - to pay for his heart medicine. A young man, 37 years old.
Then there is the matter of rural clinics that are being shut-down, in emergency cases such as sever injuries, stroke and heart attack, such patients are in sever distress.
But as you say, the Judeo-Christians have no problems spending USD 8 trillion to fight Muslims over the control of Palestine.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Boris Johnson are both alive today because they received excellent medical care and attention in socialized institutions. Both of them had been committed enemies of socialized medicine previously and their constituency with them.
Posted by: fyi | Jun 15 2021 13:35 utc | 81
Mr. Edward | Jun 15 2021 3:07 utc | 63
The way I read this article, the potential source of the adverse side effects of this vaccine is in the structure of nano-particle used for its delivery, namely that one of the layers is made of polyethylene glycol, or PEG, as adjuvant and not the mRNA-based vaccine itself.
The use of layered nano-particles for drug delivery is not new, it has been in practice for many years now although I do not know for how long.
I think there clearly could be an allergic reaction to something and we need further research but, at the same time, I do not think we can avoid taking risks because we have to live. We cannot shut-down the planet.
I once suffered mild reaction to horse-serum-based tetanus shot after receiving a head injury. I think allergic reactions are more common that is publicly known in all classes of medicines. Even aspirin allergic reaction can kill some people.
Posted by: fyi | Jun 15 2021 13:46 utc | 82
@ BM
Spot on.
I remember reading somewhere - possibly Dmitry Orlov's writings - about the difference in Western, private, for-profit healthcare (specifically US) and Eastern public healthcare (specifically but not limited to Soviet).
The Eastern model is focused on preemptive care, as the best patient and the least expensive for the State, both in terms of actual health expense and of lost productivity from the sick citizen, is the one who doesn't get sick at all in the first place. Keeping them healthy pays in the long run.
The Western model is diametrically opposite, as a healthy patient doesn't consume medicines and can't be billed for treatment, so the focus instead is on palliative care, treatment that makes you feel somewhat better but never actually heals you at all. The geriatric, pediatric and cancer care side of the industry is especially predatory, as it keeps incurable patients in a state of half-life for years in order to milk as much money as possible or pumps children full of psychoactive drugs from a very early age and turns them into hopeless addicts for the rest of their lives (remember the Ritalin scandal several years back? School officials were handing the stuff like candy and making up increasingly ridiculous "tests" in order to diagnose the children with ADHD and push more and more drugs on the kids)
Posted by: SumGuy | Jun 15 2021 13:54 utc | 83
groucho | Jun 15 2021 4:26 utc | 66
AD being somehow linked to diabetes has been known for quite some time. I remember reading about nasally administered insulin showing promising results over 10 years ago. The problem was more or less due to the technical limitations of areosolizing insulin. It's rather preposterous to think drugs are still in development for amyloid plaques, a sequelae that was never shown definitively to be causative. What a waste.
But then, I shouldn't be surprised. We've spent years chasing down cholesterol for heart disease and every oncogene and carcinogen for cancer, only to get nowhere. Very few have noticed that the big three, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are all in some shape or form metabolic disorders. Many of the sequelae, such as the DNA damage in cancer, are likely down stream effects of oxidative stress. Alas, any such admission would negate decades of research and drugs, and turn the whole kit and kaboodle upside down.
I'm not holding my breath, someone wake me up when we find dark matter. Oh, wait...
Posted by: Justin | Jun 15 2021 14:16 utc | 84
Correction: There is no evidence that amyloid plaques cause AD and there are many cases of AD with no amyloid plaques. The way I wrote it sounded as if they may or may not cause AD.
Posted by: Justin | Jun 15 2021 14:35 utc | 85
Posted by: Fyi | Jun 15 2021 3:58 utc | 65
You have hit upon an important point. Competition for grants can be fierce, and although innovation and originality are important factors in how an application is ranked, ideas that are far from the consensus tend to receive funding only when very strong evidence is presented to support those ideas.
You may be on to something with your viral hypothesis. Indeed, the idea that infections can promote AD has been debated for years. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5652018/
Posted by: farm ecologist | Jun 15 2021 14:50 utc | 86
fyi @ 82, if you go to the link provided by james @ 5 you will see around the middle of the discussion a graph which shows that this vaccine has way more potential for harm than any previous vaccine. The graph takes into account such adverse reactions as you describe that other vaccines have produced, and then at the end the line takes a leap upward when encountering these current covid US vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, which are the main ones producing these adverse reactions. (The graph is reporting deaths.)
The discussion also notes that due to similarly adverse repression of statistics and non-tracking on the part of US officials, the actual count is most assuredly higher. On a previous open forum, the one before last I believe, commenter John presented a shorter read including the graph from the main participant in the discussion.
His motivation was disclosed near the end of the discussion. He did himself take the vaccine, and I think had his three daughters take it also - this was before he had investigated and found his data. He is understandably distraught throughout the conversation, frequently interrupting the other two participants.
My thanks to all who have taken the time to look at this video. It is compelling.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 15 2021 15:03 utc | 87
@ 73 roger... thanks for your comment.. ignore the riff raft here.. cheers..
Posted by: james | Jun 15 2021 15:30 utc | 88
I will add to Edward's link @ 63 that an important part of the discussion at the link James provides deals with what has been found in tracking the spike protein which the vaccine produces as it is administered. The expectation was that this would remain localized to the site of the injection. What they discovered was that instead that protein travels throughout the body, concentrating in different areas, the brain or lymph glands, liver, etc. It doesn't stay viable for long, but that it even goes where it shouldn't is cause for alarm. And in women, it concentrates in the ovaries.
And as I noted in an earlier post, a passing but strong statement that virus mutations are occurring as these vaccines are administered was made during the video discussion. It wasn't developed but we have discussed this previously on an open forum.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 15 2021 15:34 utc | 89
karlof1 @ 52, with respect to the 'elixirs' we should doff our hats to John Grisham and John Le Carre' for their fictional accounts apprising us of the mendacity of lawyers and their associates along with vaccine shenanigans, in early stages of this game. Those two authors did meaningful work in a spellbinding way, showing that it is possible to profit from alerting the public to mendacity - c'mon, fiction writers: follow in those footsteps!
(The final solution being touted by the moderator in the 'Save the World' link ought to interest somebody -- the above mentioned authors succeeded with their works; you can too! Sharpen those pencils!! There's a Great American Novel out there panting to be written!)
Posted by: juliania | Jun 15 2021 16:20 utc | 90
Great idea, Ike @ 51! And of course, China had it first. Reversing the incentives is such a good idea, and certainly we see that the incentives are all wrong when it comes to health care in the US.
(As you can see I've been reading in reverse here as well ;)
Posted by: juliania | Jun 15 2021 16:26 utc | 91
Apologies, kudos to BM for the original quote above! ( Thanks, Ike for pointing to it.)
Posted by: juliania | Jun 15 2021 16:29 utc | 92
Hoarsewhisperer@15
Thus despite the short-term 'success' of smear campaigns, voter turn-out is declining.
Voting is compulsory in Oz federal elections, so "voter turnout" is a meaningless concept there, unless you are referring to deliberately spoiled ballots. Is it really the case that more and more people who are forced to turn up at the polling station write "Fxck youse all!" or similar on their ballots?
Having said that, the highly bureaucratic and efficient Australian state ("the Teutons of the Anglo-Saxon world", as I call its functionaries) failed to catch and prosecute my father, who swore he would never vote again after being betrayed by Fraser and Howard in the 1970s.
Posted by: Herr Ringbone | Jun 15 2021 17:15 utc | 93
@Australianian | Jun 15 2021 12:41 utc | 77
Wow. Many thanks! I highly appreciate your support, it is very moving.
At this stage, the fight must simply go on. Today I told my boss the actual truth after they have refused us access to the office since November last year. It is total insanity. He called to say they are "slowly opening up" and wanted to ask if I would come back now. I told him as I have repeatedly told them before, that I need to work at the office and I have no changed my mind at any point on that question. However, they have changed the conditions, and asking me to come back with any kind of "face mask" rule in effect is asking me to betray my own conscience, and that is not going to happen. Call me again when those requirements are abolished. We shall see, but I am not giving a millimeter on that question as it is a question of conscience.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 15 2021 18:12 utc | 94
Yesterday's Watercooler @ nakedcapitalism.com (I will link to it at the bottom here) posted in the 'health' section the following third paragraph:
“Risks when trying to optimize a Complex System (any Complex System) : Global vaccination during a pandemic might not be such a good idea…” [systems perestroika – éminence grise]. “The Bossche paper can be found here. The gist of the paper is that it might be a very bad idea to force an extremely fast paced vaccination program upon the entire population of the world, *during* an ongoing pandemic – the overall result of such a strategy might end up being a virus that learns how to defeat *all* human immune system defense mechanisms. Basically, an arms race where the virus eventually will break the last remaining component of human immune defense. At which point the entire human race is in really deep sh*t.” • Well, we’re hardly vaccinating the “entire population of the world.” So that’s alright, then. Some responses to Bossche here and here.
These are the links (obviously not viable in my quote) that John and others were discussing when they first appeared in March, so nothing new but worth remembering in light of my post @ 89 above.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 16 2021 15:31 utc | 95
Here is the linkage to the specific watercooler I mention above - I didn't check comments, but there were not any related to this at the time I read it last night
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/06/
200pm-water-cooler-6-15-2021.html.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 16 2021 15:37 utc | 96
I haven't finished reading it but there is an important segment of today's Links @ nakedcapitalism.com in the comments section pertaining to my posts above,beginning with several from IM Doc. I will just quote this from his first comment:
...I will reiterate again. I have just as many blue liberal folks in my world that are vaccine hesitant as I do red folks.And fun fact – the past two weeks in my own practice, every single positive covid patient has been vaccinated. I have not had a single unvaccinated positive patient...
Going back now to read the entire discussion. But before I do, please those who can do so, respond to b's request for assistance. He doesn't often make it, and we benefit so much from his work on this forum - I don't have much excess to offer but I intend to do so as soon as I can.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 16 2021 16:15 utc | 97
Forgive me for repeated posts - I read the comments I mention above @ 97, am heartened that commenters are becoming aware of the important video which james has linked @ 5 here. And here it is again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_NNTVJzqtY
Posted by: juliania | Jun 16 2021 16:40 utc | 98
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-press-conference-transcript-after-meeting-with-putin
Biden: Let’s get this straight. How would it be if the United States were viewed by the rest of the world as interfering with the elections directly of other countries and everybody knew it? What would it be like if we engage in activities that he’s engaged in? It diminishes the standing of a country that is desperately trying to make sure it maintains its standing as a major world power.
Hmm… does Biden really us to agree with him that the US does not meddle in the internal affairs of other countries?
Also, why is Russia autocratic and not democratic anyway?
Biden’s - and the US’s standing - if there was any - had just all but evaporated…
Posted by: Allen | Jun 17 2021 1:04 utc | 99
Corruption, Censorship and COVID
"I have spent the last eight months attacking another insidious Covid myth. It holds that there is no early treatment ...
Second is a media campaign ... that makes doctors, medical journals and other media fearful of a backlash."
Mary-Beth Pfeiffer
Somewhat journalistic but to the point. It's not anti-China, it's pro-early treatment and anti-censorship.
They Denied a Lab-Leak at Wuhan. They are wrong about other things. Trial Site News
As the narrative unravels will, the censorship increase?
The Virus and the Parasite
Posted by: Hemiola | Jun 17 2021 10:50 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Come on man.... it wasn't that low... There were some board positions and stock options granted to family members that we weren't aware of.
Posted by: MapleLeaf | Jun 14 2021 15:15 utc | 1