Gestalt #203

Vlad’s futile warnings

Putin is issuing scary nuclear war warnings on almost a daily basis. I don’t think he is bluffing. I think he may actually use tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. However, his warnings will not achieve his goal of influencing the US public for one simple reason – the US media isn’t reporting them. Had these same warnings been given by a Russian leader back in the 1950s through the early 1990s, they would have received tremendous publicity. Americans would have been digging fallout shelters and moving out of cities or launching massive “give peace a chance” rallies depending on their individual inclinations. Now, the American public has no idea what is going on in Europe other than that there is a war in Ukraine. The days when you would have news bureaus staffed with knowledgeable reporters in foreign capitals are over. Now, you have the occasional trust fund recipient playing foreign correspondent to impress his friends who reports whatever he wants when he wants because he doesn’t cost the Networks anything. Even simple web searches would provide far more information than you will see on the news. A true picture of the threats facing us would be bad for advertisers, and most News organizations won’t cover anything that would disturb the buying public. So, Vlad, threaten away. Then watch our news. Your bone-chilling warnings won’t be covered. Instead, you can relax and watch yet another scintillating report about Taylor Swift.

Hiding H5N1 Human Cases – Biden administration policy?

The CDC has prohibited studies of wastewater from hospitals which would allow us to determine if H5N1 is infecting people as well as animals. The CDC only monitors wastewater from locations where the source of H5N1 could have been animals or people. The CDC and FDA are deliberately creating barriers to clinical testing for H5N1. Is it possible that the Biden administration is not simply doing a bad job of tracking H5N1 cases in humans, are they actively attempting to prevent the US public from finding out how many H5N1 cases in humans are occurring? Is this an attempt to keep a lid on bad news until after the election in November? I think this is possible.

First a whimper, then a bang

I have recently done a personal study of fast food restaurants. It started with one bad experience and then became an intentional survey of multiple chains in multiple States. Something is going on, in my opinion. Food quality has decreased dramatically and orders are frequently screwed up. It is clear that the quality control measures that used to be in place in chain restaurants, which is the only reason anyone ever ate at them, have been abandoned. Restaurants are not being inspected by health agencies. This is apparent to anyone who has seen what their kitchens look like or gotten sick after eating at one of these formerly safe restaurants. This erosion of quality and safety extends to many domains. Predatory businesses are preying on older people and the less well-educated without restraint or fear of prosecution. Prescription drugs are more expensive than they need to be and harder to obtain. So hard, that some people may actually be dying while jumping through unnecessary hoops to get them. What is the Bureau of Consumer Protection doing? What is the Attorney General doing? What is OSHA doing? Nothing, as far as I can tell. When such and such country is labeled as “third world”, many people mean an unsafe place with low standards and a lot of corruption. This increasingly describes the United States. The perception of the US in other countries is not what most Americans think it is. People in many other countries are increasingly viewing the US as lacking in the rule of law, as unsafe and corrupt. Our enemies sense weakness in our low standards and increasing disunity. This may encourage them to attack us. Whimper now, bang later.

References

Putin Issues Nuclear Warning to West. June 21, 2024. Isabel van Brugen. Newsweek.
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-nuclear-doctrine-weapon-use-west-nato-1915765

From sewage to safety: Hospital wastewater surveillance as a beacon for defense against H5N1 bird flu. May 1, 2024. Denis Nash, John Dennehy, Monica Trujillo, and Leopolda Silvera. STAT.
https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/01/h5n1-bird-flu-hospital-wastewater-surveillance/

Experts blast CDC over failure to test sewage for signs of H5N1 bird flu virus. Susanne Rust. Los Angeles Times. May 10, 2024.
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-05-10/experts-blast-cdc-over-refusal-to-test-sewage-for-signs-of-h5n1-bird-flu-virus

‘We’re Flying Blind’: CDC Has 1M Bird Flu Tests Ready, but Experts See Repeat of Covid Missteps. June 20, 2024. Amy Maxmen. KFF Health News.
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/cdc-bird-flu-tests-covid-repeat-concerns/

My Health Insurance Company Is Trying To Kill Me. Jonna Jerome. The Huffington Post. June 22, 2024.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/health-insurance-no-surprises-medical-debt_n_665cdbb5e4b01ea28f32c18f

How PBMs Are Driving Up Prescription Drug Costs. Rebecca Robbins and Reed Abelson. The New York Times. June 21, 2024.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/business/prescription-drug-costs-pbm.html

Gestalt #199

H5N1 in water

H5N1 has been found in wastewater, at very high levels, in multiple cities. In at least some cases, this is probably not from farms. It could be coming from food processing centers that receive milk as input and produce various dairy products. That in itself is concerning, although we hope that pasteurization will make the dairy products produced with contaminated milk safe to consume. However, there are other concerns. We don’t know for sure where H5N1 in city wastewater is coming from. At this time, we cannot exclude the possibility that it is coming from infected humans.

Large positive spikes in human wastewater need to be followed through to the source to verify a major spillover event has not gone undetected in the human population as was seen multiple times with COVID-19 where wastewater results were often sentinels for viral circulation in advance of clinical outbreaks.
Moderators JH/TG ProMED. May 18, 2024

There has been at least one proposal to test wastewater from hospitals, but the CDC has prevented this from going forward. Why? Is a major announcement coming, but one under the control of the CDC with assurances that H5N1 infection is “mild”?

If H5N1 is in wastewater, it is also possible that it is in ground water. Cows and other animals poop and pee on the ground. Various milk products may be dumped on the ground. Fluids on the ground will flow down and join rainwater that percolates into ground water. City water is chlorinated, which should kill H5N1. However, the methods used to clean well water vary. People with wells should be warned that their well water should treated sufficiently to kill viruses.

The Phony Civilization

What we call our modern civilization is based on false premises. Almost everything we are told about its basis is false. Most “jobs” have no intrinsic importance. If people stopped doing them, nothing bad would happen. Indeed, fewer resources would be wasted on useless activity. Many of the jobs that are the most important are poorly or inadequately paid: security – law enforcement officers and military personnel; food production – real farmers (not Big Ag), farm workers and meat packers; health care – most health care workers receive far less than they deserve (even doctors are not as well-paid as people think due to the many years of education they undergo before they start receiving a significant income); transportation – truck drivers, railroad workers, flight attendants and even pilots; education – teachers get little, administrators get a lot; and others.

The jobs that are included under the term “essential workers” are the people who are the basis for our civilization. Most everyone else, all the people who work in giant office buildings, are doing nothing of importance. They spend their days doing useless box checking, not knowing that their “jobs” are make-work activities jointly planned by the government and company CEOs. They aren’t really paying taxes because their jobs only exist because the small number of people doing real work are being taxed to pay the entire salaries of the workers with fake jobs.

How can such a system continue to function such that a small number of real (essential) workers support a vast number of fake jobs? I don’t think it can. That is why we have an ever expanding national debt. Many companies would immediately go bankrupt without government subsidies, including, by the way, Big Ag. How then does this end? What is the endgame for all the “nonessential workers”. Are these deemed “nonessential people”?

The road to safety and freedom ends in self-sufficient farms

At the end of the day, you will only be safe if you have your own land, grow your own food, purify your own water and can protect what you have. Good health in these circumstances is essential. Children are your best back up plan for safety should you fall ill. You will have to know a tremendous amount to live self-sufficiently. Education in this world means both book learning and practical skills. This is not only the path to safety, it is the path to freedom. Otherwise you are dependent on individuals and groups who regard you as “nonessential”. Don’t assume these people will put a priority on keeping you alive. Here is a simple question to determine whether or not you are free. Can you afford to say No!, no matter who orders you do something that endangers your life?