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Book 2

Best of the Web: Ex-NYT reporter publishes new anti-lockdown book, calls out '90% of media' on parroting same lines on Covid responses


RT
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 18:36 UTC
covid protests
© REUTERS/Bryan R Smith
Alex Berenson's latest chapter in a series of books about Covid-19, the first of which was briefly censored by Amazon, questions both the media's coverage of the pandemic and the effectiveness of lockdowns.

"I think it's really important, at a time when 90 percent of media... is saying the same thing, with very little pushback or smart questioning, to get different perspectives," Berenson told Fox News about the self-published 'Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns: Part 2: Update and Examination of Lockdowns as a Strategy.'

"Even if you disagree with me completely, it's always good to know what other people are thinking," he added.

The first part in the reporter's series of Covid-19 books was censored by Amazon for allegedly spreading misinformation about the pandemic. The e-commerce company refused to publish the work, which questioned the hysteria around coronavirus, but ultimately folded after many blasted the company, including SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who accused the company of being a "monopoly."

The main theme of Berenson's second book is questioning whether lockdown measures taken by various states in the US are a good strategy in battling the spread of a virus.

Comment: See also: Amazon backs down after many, including Elon Musk, slam it for censorship of book questioning Covid-19 threat

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Marijuana

Best of the Web: This reporter took a deep dive into the science of smoking pot and the facts are frightening

Stephanie Mencimer
Mother Jones
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 21:44 UTC
Alex Berenson reporter marijuana book
© Craig GellerAlex Berenson
Alex Berenson's new book delves into research linking heavy use with violent crime and mental illness.

It's been a few years since Alex Berenson has "committed journalism," as he likes to say. As a New York Times reporter, Berenson did two tours covering the Iraq War, an experience that inspired him to write his first of nearly a dozen spy novels. Starting with the 2006 Edgar Award-winning The Faithful Spy, his books were so successful that he left the Times in 2010 to write fiction full time. But his latest book, out January 8, strays far from the halls of Langley and the jihadis of Afghanistan. Tell Your Children is nonfiction that takes a sledgehammer to the promised benefits of marijuana legalization, and cannabis enthusiasts are not going to like it one bit.

The book was seeded one night a few years ago when Berenson's wife, a psychiatrist who evaluates mentally ill criminal defendants in New York, started talking about a horrific case she was handling. It was "the usual horror story, somebody who'd cut up his grandmother or set fire to his apartment — typical bedtime chat in the Berenson house," he writes. But then, his wife added, "Of course he was high, been smoking pot his whole life."

Berenson, who smoked a bit in college, didn't have strong feelings about marijuana one way or another, but he was skeptical that it could bring about violent crime. Like most Americans, he thought stoners ate pizza and played video games — they didn't hack up family members. Yet his Harvard-trained wife insisted that all the horrible cases she was seeing involved people who were heavy into weed. She directed him to the science on the subject.

Comment:

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Fire

Best of the Web: Michael Tracey: 'Media won't report on riot damage in US cities - Immigrant & minority residents furious at rioters and left-wing activists'

Yael Halon
Fox News
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 12:07 UTC
Michael Tracey says mainstream media has overlooked those affected by summer's violence
michael tracey tucker carlson riots
Mainstream media outlets have failed the public by declining to spotlight the devastation left behind by rioters in cities across America, independent journalist Michael Tracey said Tuesday on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

In a self-published article titled "Two months since the riots and still no 'National Conversation,'" Tracey traveled to cities affected by violent protests and documented his findings using photographs and conversations with store owners and residents.

"I wanted to see for myself how communities were dealing with the aftermath, what the attitudes toward what transpired were," Tracey told host Tucker Carlson. "I just wasn't really getting that toward the mainstream organs that you would expect to be covering a story of such reported significance.

"If you go to The New York Times, you go to The Washington Post or any of these other outlets, it's not as though there is an easily accessible tally anywhere where you can find out what the precise quantification is of the amount of destruction that's being wrought in these purportedly historic events," he added.

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Bomb

Best of the Web: July 31: Israeli defense minister threatens to bomb Lebanon infrastructure

Yoni Weiss
hamodia.com
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 11:23 UTC
israeli IDF Lebanon Gantz
© Ariel Hermoni / Defense MinistryDefense Minister Benny Gantz with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, threatening just 5 days ago to 'attack Lebanese infrastructure'
Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Thursday instructed the IDF to bomb Lebanese infrastructure if Hezbollah harms IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians.

A senior defense official told Yisrael Hayom that Gantz issued the order to prepare such a response during meetings on Thursday with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi and other members of the general staff.

Tensions have rapidly escalated between Israel and the terrorist organization since the death of Hezbollah terrorist Ali Kamel Mohsen Jawad, along with two other terrorists, during an airstrike on Damascus International Airport earlier this month.

Hezbollah has vowed revenge for Jawad's death, leading the IDF to move reinforcements to the northern border in preparation for an attack by the Shiite terror organization.

In Thursday's meetings, Kochavi presented the IDF's position on the matter, saying Israel must hold Hezbollah and the Lebanese government responsible for any future attack and its consequences.

Comment: 4 days later:

Lebanon Braced For High Number of Casualties as Absolutely Gargantuan Explosion Obliterates Port Area of Beirut​​​​​​​

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Star of David

Best of the Web: Netanyahu rattles the saber some more: Lebanon's 'Hezbollah is playing with fire'

Lahav Harkov
The Jerusalem Post
Tue, 28 Jul 2020 17:46 UTC
Gantz Netanyahu Hezbollah Lebanon border
© IDF Spokesperson's UnitPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz hold discussions after IDF thwarts Hezbollah terror cell infiltration along border with Lebanon on July 27, 2020
Netanyahu warned that Israel will hold Hezbollah and Lebanon responsible for any attacks from Lebanon into Israel.

Any attack from Hezbollah will have a strong response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said hours after the IDF thwarted an attack on northern Israel by the Lebanese terrorist organization.

"Hezbollah has to know it's playing with fire," Netanyahu warned in a statement to the press. "Any attack will be met with great force. [Hezbollah leader Hasan] Nasrallah is greatly mistaken about Israel's determination to defend itself, and Lebanon has paid a heavy price for this mistake."

Comment: Hezbollah had denied Israel's claim that it breached Israel's borders
In a statement the Hezbollah movement has officially denied earlier allegations it made an unsuccessful attempt to "infiltrate" Israel from Lebanon that resulted in border clashes with the IDF, the Tasnim News Agency reported. The group also dismissed reports of them sustaining casualties as a result of Israeli air raids, calling them "absolutely not true".

The exchange of fire was followed by the crash of an Israeli military drone on Lebanese territory on 26 July, which was reportedly caused by a malfunction. The following day, armed clashes happened along the border between the two countries, with Israel reportedly shelling the settlement of Kfarchouba in the country's south. On the same day, the IDF claimed that it thwarted an "infiltration attempt by a Hezbollah terror squad" without sustaining casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in turn, warned Lebanon against "playing with fire" on the border.
Lebanon in turn highlighted the fact that Israel violates Lebanese borders and airspace on a nearly daily basis:
"Yesterday, Israel violated the sovereignty of Lebanon one more time and breached the UN Resolution 1701, by carrying out dangerous military escalation", Diad said, addressing to the country's Supreme Defence Council.

The prime minister also warned that the relations between the two countries may "deteriorate in light of the severe tensions on our borders.

"The government will file a complaint with the Security Council tomorrow to hold [Israel] and the international community accountable for what happened yesterday, as there is a clear [act of] aggression", Hitti said in a statement to media following the cabinet session. "We adhere to the UN Resolution 1701 [issued by the UNSC in 2006] and Lebanon's right to protect itself".

The announcement is taking place after the incident occurred on Monday on the Israeli-Lebanese border in the vicinity of the disputed lands of Shebaa farms, with explosions and exchanges of gunfire being heard.



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Cow

Best of the Web: Investigations task force possible after more cattle mutilations in eastern Oregon

Anna King
Jefferson Public Radio
Sun, 02 Aug 2020 18:11 UTC
cattle
A fog of dust is kicked up from hooves as cowboys quietly push cattle into a corral from a big draw on Silvies Valley Ranch near Burns, Oregon, in 2019.
Two more cattle have been mysteriously killed in rural eastern Oregon. This follows a number of unexplained killings of cattle in the region over the past year.

A black-coated cow was found dead in July outside of Fossil, found sitting with her legs tucked under her body with her head off the ground. Pictures show her eyes bulging out with flies around the body. The cow's tongue and genitals were removed.

"It was a clean cut, so it wasn't wildlife," Wheeler County Sheriff's deputy Jeremiah Holmes said. "There were upwards of 80 cows milling around there ... so signs of tire tracks, boot tracks were pretty much non-existent." Holmes later followed up with the Northwest News Network to say there was no official cause of death determined yet, but a "partial boot print" was found about 100 yards from the cow.

Comment: Also see this from October of last year: Mysterious rash of cattle mutilations in Oregon.

See also:

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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Boris Johnson gives wide range of powers to local councils to demolish contaminated buildings, even homes, to stop second coronavirus 'wave'

Gordon Rayner
The Telegraph
Tue, 04 Aug 2020 21:29 UTC
boris johnson
© Andrew Parsons/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Local authorities will be able to order the demolition of buildings at the centre of coronavirus outbreaks under draconian powers to contain a potential second wave.

Cars, buses, trains and aeroplanes could also be destroyed subject to the approval of magistrates.

Boris Johnson remains determined to avoid a second nationwide lockdown and has given a broad range of powers to local councils to contain outbreaks as soon as they are detected.

Councils will be able to draw on six separate Acts of Parliament to impose lightning closures of public buildings, order mass testing, ban events or shut down whole sectors of the economy.

Comment: The British govt is apparently REALLY serious about 'resetting the economy'.

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Red Pill

Best of the Web: These 'inconvenient' data patterns destroy the established coronavirus narrative

Scott Morefield
Townhall
Mon, 03 Aug 2020 20:23 UTC
face mask
© AP Photo/Jae C. HongA woman walks out of a liquor store past a sign requesting its customers to wear a mask Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in Santa Monica, Calif.
No matter what position you take on lockdowns, masks, Hydroxychloroquine, or any other COVID-related issue, there's a doctor or expert out there whose opinion you can easily grab and use to bolster your case. Indeed, most people have formed their opinions on what should be done about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and consequently have decided which "experts" they want to listen to, follow on social media, and share material from.

For better or worse, to a large degree, we're firmly entrenched in our own echo chambers. So to a degree, appealing to authority is almost a moot point at this point in the game, whether your "authority" is the CDC and WHO, who have consistently been wrong more than they have been right, or that group of doctors who were censored and even dismissed from jobs last week for daring to express an unpopular yet sincerely held medical opinion.

What isn't a moot point, however, is observable patterns, which exist independently of what any of the "experts" have to say. Now I'm no doctor, and neither are most of you, but I am a functioning, thinking adult with at least half a brain (some of you may dispute this, and you're certainly entitled to your opinion!).

I'm also capable of analyzing statistics, reading charts, and noticing patterns. And the patterns I'm noticing have me scratching my head. As someone who doesn't sit well with cognitive dissonance, media gaslighting, and especially governmental overreach, if I'm being told I shouldn't or can't go out and that I'm not allowed to breathe free air when I do, the evidence on the ground should damn-well comport with the "logic" they are giving us to justify their extreme measures. But they aren't, not in any observable, logical way.
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Book

Best of the Web: The science and law of refusing to wear masks: Texts and arguments in support of your civil rights

Simon Elmer
Architects for Social Housing
Fri, 24 Jul 2020 06:14 UTC
This article was first published on 11 June, when advice on wearing masks was restricted to Government Guidance and had no legal force. On 15 June the article was updated in response to The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020, which are analysed in Addendum 1. Today, 24 July, it has been updated again in response to The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings in a Relevant Place) (England) Regulations 2020, the analysis of which can be found in Addendum 2. This is unlikely to be the last update on Government legislation on the mandatory wearing of masks. The science remains the same.
mask wearing people

'The only truly political action is that which severs the nexus between violence and law.'

— Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception
Table of Contents
  1. Government Guidance and the Law
  2. Benefits and Dangers of Wearing Masks
  3. Asymptomatic Transmission of Coronavirus
  4. Surveillance and Compliance
  5. Civil Disobedience
Appendix: Medical Advice against Wearing Masks
Addendum 1: New Regulations on Wearing Masks on Public Transport
Addendum 2. Further Regulations on Wearing Masks in Shops and Other Places

1. Government Guidance and the Law

On 30 March, former Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption, QC, in a widely-reported condemnation of the abuse of legal regulations by UK police forces in enforcing Government guidance on social distancing, reminded the British people that:
'Policemen are citizens in uniform. They are not members of a disciplined hierarchy operating just at the Government's command. The police have no power to enforce Ministers' preferences, but only legal regulations, which don't go anything like as far as the Government's guidance. This is what a police state is like. It's a state in which the Government can issue orders or express preferences with no legal authority and the police will enforce Ministers' wishes.'
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Red Flag

Best of the Web: Seattle's Bolshevik Revolution

Mike Whitney
The Unz Review
Fri, 31 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Bolshevik Revolution
Here's a question for you: When a young man dressed entirely in black, uses a racial justice protest to conceal himself so he can break windows, incinerate retail shops and cafes, pelt cops with bottles, rocks and fireworks, and spread mayhem across the city, what is the political message he is trying to send?
  1. He is honoring the death of George Floyd
  2. He is expressing his support for racial justice
  3. He is attacking the system that protects ordinary people from criminal violence
  4. He is a paid agitator funded by liberal organizations that seek to intensify social unrest for their own political objectives
If you chose 3 or 4, you're probably right, there are undoubtedly paid agitators operating on behalf of wealthy outsiders, just as there are many "true believers" who see the riots as a springboard for a broader revolt that will topple the existing system. In other words, there are competing agendas at play in these violent outbursts. The least likely answer is Number 1, that "He is honoring the death of George Floyd." The riots have nothing to do with George Floyd, he's merely the fig leaf that hides the true motives of the perpetrators.

Isn't it odd that - after 60 days of protests and riot - the media has never once asked what these activists want, what their actions mean or who they are?
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