In a poetic moment of triumph for science, reason, and sanity, Jay Bhattacharya has been nominated to lead the NIH. The NIH whose former head Francis Collins called for a “quick and devastating take-down” of Jay, Martin Kulldorff, and Sunetra Gupta’s Great Barrington Declaration. In the same email, Collins smeared Dr. Bhattacharya as a “fringe epidemiologist.” We know about these emails only because of a FIOA request. What unfolded in the days after the Declaration was nothing less than a coordinated attack from government, media, and academia to smear the man who had the gall to simply make a statement that summarized one of the most fundamental realities of epidemiology.
As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.
The Great Barrington Declaration was authored on October 4th, 2020, and called for an end to the already-failed lockdown policies, focused protection for the elderly and disabled, and for the young and low-risk to return to just making their own decisions about risk. Read the Declaration here.
Immediately after the Declaration was released to the public, a barrage of attacks from media, academia, and government officials ensued. “Anti-lockdown,” “Let it rip,” “pro-infection” were phrases commonly used. Even today, the headlines describe Jay as a “Contrarian” and “Lockdown Critic” and my favorite: “Unorthodox.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. The history of evidence-based pandemic policy, epidemic mitigation, and public health practices supported the approach outlined in the GBD. The views espoused by the authors were mainstream. Marc Lipsitch, a Harvard epidemiologist wrote in 2011 after the H1/N1 response:
“Ideally, data on the economic costs (including indirect costs for socially disruptive measures such as school dismissals) and the public health and economic benefits of interventions would be formally weighed within a cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness framework to inform policy decisions.”
This paper typified the analysis of experts in pandemic policy and epidemiology in the decades preceding Covid. Yet Dr. Bhattacharya calling for cost-benefit analysis somehow makes him “Fringe.” […]
— Read More: brownstone.org
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
