Month: October 2021
Pro-Europeans Caught Lying Over Shortages
Community Masking: Where did ‘The Science’ Come From?
Before 2020, evidence for the efficacy of community masking – that is, asking ordinary members of the public to wear cloth or surgical masks when going about their business – was shaky at best.
This evidence was reviewed in detail by Jeffrey Anderson, a former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. He notes that:
of the 14 RCTs that have tested the effectiveness of masks in preventing the transmission of respiratory viruses, three suggest, but do not provide any statistically significant evidence in intention-to-treat analysis, that masks might be useful. The other eleven suggest that masks are either useless—whether compared with no masks or because they appear not to add to good hand hygiene alone—or actually counterproductive.
In another piece that’s well worth reading, Professor Steve Templeton provides a list of quotations from what he calls “the BP era” (Before Things Got Political). Each quotation, taken from one or other expert, testifies to the lack of evidence that community masking works against respiratory pathogens.
For example, in a systematic review published early last year, Jingyi Xiao and colleagues “did not find evidence that surgical-type face masks are effective in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza transmission, either when worn by infected persons… or by persons in the general community to reduce their susceptibility”.
This is presumably why, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, health authorities in both the U.K. and the U.S. advised against community masking.
For example, on 4th March 2020, Chris Whitty told Sky News that “wearing a mask if you don’t have an infection reduces the risk almost not at all”. And as late as 3rd April, Jonathan Van Tam said “there is no evidence that general wearing of face masks… affects the spread of the disease”.
Likewise, in a tweet sent on 27th February, the CDC said that it “does not currently recommend the use of facemasks”. And two days later, the U.S. Surgeon General urged people to “STOP BUYING MASKS” because they are “NOT effective” at preventing the general public from catching coronavirus.
In a video interview from May of 2019, Anthony Fauci actually laughed at the notion of wearing a face mask. The interviewer asks him, “The best way for me to prevent getting an infectious disease… is what? Wearing a mask?” To which Fauci replies, “No, no no… you avoid all the paranoid aspects.”
Yet by the summer of 2020, the health authorities in both countries had done an about-face, and were now recommending face masks to the public. These recommendations subsequently became mandates.
‘The Science,’ in other words, had changed. But what prompted this change? The charitable answer is that new evidence emerged suggesting that community masking does work against SARS-CoV-2. However, this new evidence looks just as shaky – if not shakier – than the pre-Covid evidence.
I suspect that something else happened. Back in the spring of 2020, all Western countries were on the same upward trajectory, with cases doubling every few days. Meanwhile, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore had all manged to ‘flatten the curve’, despite eschewing draconian lockdowns.
Commentators were searching around for an explanation, and ‘masks’ seemed like a good one. After all, Western health authorities had advised against masks. Yet many East Asians had been wearing them for years.
If you were on social media at that time, you probably remember seeing a version of this chart, which went viral numerous times:
Putting ‘correlation doesn’t equal causation’ aside, it appears to suggest that masks are the crucial factor for bringing COVID under control. Of course, the subsequent imposition of mask mandates in Western countries didn’t forestall large winter outbreaks, which rather undermines the mask theory.
Nonetheless, it seemed plausible enough at the time. And articles began appearing in major newsoutlets that questioned the West’s reluctance to wear face masks. On social media, commentators asked why we shouldn’t follow the East Asian countries, given their far greater success in handling the pandemic.
I suspect this pressure had more to do with the health authorities’ about-face than any fundamental change in the quality of evidence. It was another case of ‘politician’s logic’. ‘Something must be done; mask-wearing is something; therefore we must do it.’
In a matter of weeks, ‘The science’ went from ‘don’t do X’ to ‘do X’. And yet it took another whole year for the first RCT of community masking to be published. The theory I’ve outlined is speculative, of course. But I don’t see what else can account for such a sudden shift in public health advice.
https://dailysceptic.org/2021/09/28/community-masking-where-did-the-science-come-from/
Covid vaccines: Romanian judiciary investigates Ursula van der Leyen
The will of the European Union and some national governments to impose mass vaccination, including mRNA injections, on all Europeans is collapsing in the face of opposition from Central Eastern European countries, which are once again on the front line fighting for fundamental freedoms and respect for their sovereign identity.
The Romanian prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the procurement of the Covid vaccine and has also closed the country’s vaccination centres because people rejected the experimental vaccines.
As previously reported, the European Union has opened an investigation into secret talks between the President of the European Commission and the CEO of Pfizer about the sale of vaccines. The European Ombudsman has asked Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to explain how she lost the text messages she exchanged with Pfizer’s CEO during talks on the purchase of vaccines.
Now Romania’s National Anti-Corruption Agency (DNA) has also announced that it has opened an investigation into the circumstances under which Romania bought Covid vaccines. There were far too many of them, Romanian prosecutors seem to say.
“As far as I know, the procedures for buying [vaccines] were the same in all EU countries and were handled by the European Commission,” said Valeriu Gheorghiță, head of the national vaccination campaign, according to Hotnews.ro.
Prosecutors said investigations had been launched to uncover possible “abuse of power” [related to personal benefits derived from those yet to be named].
France: Islamist plotted attack on synagogue with Kalashnikov
The discovery of the police officers is a cause for concern. According to information obtained by Radio RTL on Friday the 1st of October, the man arrested in September 2021 carrying a Kalashnikov and a large quantity of jihadist literature was plotting an attack on a synagogue. Investigators from the Anti-Terrorism Department (SAT) of the Paris Criminal Investigation Department and the Directorate General of External Security (DGSI) discovered on the phone of the 27-year-old suspect information about places of worship of the Jewish community in Paris.Other information gathered by this dangerous person: the modalities of leaving for Syria to fight the jihad.
There is a reasonable suspicion that this S-registered person (register of persons suspected of terrorism, editor’s note) was preparing an attack and, given the scale of the threat, he was arrested in Noisy-le-Sec (Seine-Saint-Denis). The arrest was made public and the man was charged on September 5 with engaging in a criminal terrorist organisation, in particular for the jihadist texts found in his flat. In police custody, the man did not tell the police officers much. He stated that he had ordered the weapon on the Darknet for sport shooters.The investigators do not believe this to be true. Since then, he has not been questioned by an investigating judge.
French Communist presidential candidate recommends haram meals to be eaten away from Muslim owned shops (VIDEO)
It is a simple anecdote, but it is indicative of the view of assimilation developed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon (presidential candidate of the French Communists, editor’s note). During a conference at the ESCP Business School, a young man told the president of La France insoumise (LFI). “Last time I came from rugby practice and wanted to go to the bistro with my friends. I stopped at a bakery to buy a ham roll. The female baker looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘We don’t sell ham sandwiches here anymore’,” he says. Surprised, he asked the baker why, as he told the conference. “Because it’s haram, but if you want, I have chicken with mayonnaise,” she replied.
“I know Eric Zemmour is talking rubbish, I know the great population exchange doesn’t exist, but my ham and butter have been replaced by chicken and mayonnaise. And so I wanted to know: If I vote for Mélenchon, can I eat ham sandwiches again in Paris? The latter evades and pretends not to understand the question. “Are we fighting it?” asks his interlocutor.”Yes, we go outside their door and eat ham,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon replies.
“When you come to a country, you have to adapt and assimilate to the culture of that country. You have to tell it: when you are in France and you make pastries, you serve ham sandwiches to those who ask you, because that is our culture,” the young man explains. Once again, Jean-Luc Mélenchon dodges the question. “Jews in France don’t eat ham sandwiches, and they have been French for over a thousand years,” he exclaims. He will always give preference to “creolisation” over assimilation.
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Pro-Israel fans targeted with anti-Semitic abuse during Maccabi Haifa match against Berlin
A pro-Israel group has spoken out about anti-Semitism its members were subjected to during Union Berlin’s Conference League win over Maccabi Haifa.
During Union Berlin’s 3-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa in the first UEFA Conference League (UECL) home game of the 2021/22 season, a group of fans carrying Israeli flags said they were targeted with anti-Semitic abuse from Union Berlin fans, Deutsche Welle reported.
The youth division (“Junges Forum”) of the German-Israeli Society (“Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft” or JuFo DIG) said they had beer thrown on them and were called “f****** Jews.”
Policer also restrained another Union Berlin fan who was attempting to burn one of their Israeli flags.
“In the mixed block we were threatened by Union fans, pelted with beer and insulted, among other things, as ‘s****y Jews,’” said JuFO DIG on Twitter. “A Union fan tried to light the Israeli flag on one of our spectators, which fortunately was quickly prevented by plainclothes police.”
JuFO DIG added: “There were also Union fans who spoke out against this behavior. To be on the safe side, we switched to the Maccabi block.”
The FARE network, an organization that combats racism in EU soccer, reported that at least one Union Berlin fan performed a Nazi salute in the direction of the Maccabi Haifa side of the stadium.
“In Berlin where Union played Maccabi Haifa in the UECL eye witnesses were shocked by the levels of anti-Semitism,” FARE tweeted. “[A] man made nazi salutes towards the Maccabi fans and abused those who called him out.”
Union Berlin released a statement asking fans to send them information about the location and seat numbers of the fans responsible for the anti-Semitic behavior.
The match was the first time an Israeli team has played at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. The stadium was constructed by the Nazis when Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics.
Nearly 200 French firefighters in one department suspended for refusing jab
In Alpes-De-Haute-Provence, 199 firefighters have been suspended due to their refusal to comply with the vaccine obligation against Covid-19, which has been in force for this profession since September 15.
On September 30, on news outlet BFMTV, the director of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service of Alpes-De-Haute-Provence Christophe Paichoux declared that 199 firefighters – out of the more than 1500 in the department – had been put on leave due to their refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19 .
“To date, in the SDIS of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, we have 199 firefighters who remain suspended for reasons of non-compliance with the vaccination obligation […] Two weeks ago, we had 280 firefighters who did not fulfill the vaccination obligation,” announced Christophe Paichoux, who interpreted this drop as a sign that “the commitment is stronger than the concerns related to this vaccination”. His mention of a “committment” is somewhat ridiculous, since it concerns the livelihood of firefighters.
“It’s too many though,” he added. The vaccine obligation against Covid-19 came into force on September 15 for 2,7 million first-responder professionals: hospitals, retirement homes, private caregivers, home helpers, firefighters, ambulance attendants. According to the law of August 5, offenders who do not comply “can no longer exercise their activity”.