quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:


At the height of it I went grocery shopping at our local Schnucks. They required masks. I didn't wear one. I went through the store with people staring at me like a leper. Eventually, a store clerk approached me and said, "Sir, you have to wear a mask." I said, "I don't have one." So he gave me one. I wore it around the store like a chin strap on a football helmet, not over my nose or mouth, further pissing them off.

I have a good one and suspect we all do; was in a Dunkin Donuts DRIVE-THRU and as I'm picking up my coffee, the woman handing it to me says "Just so you know, you have to have a mask on next time!"

I looked at her and said something like "Are you shitting me, lady?"

She was 100% serious and pointed to a sign at the window

I laughed and said "Nope!" and never went back to that one

I fly for work fairly often, and it was a guarantee by the time I get home I’d be sick for a week.

Even though I am literally the only person I see with an N 95 mask on, I found that wearing one in the airport and on the airplanes have seemingly prevented me from coming home sick 100% of the time.

I feel stupid as hell, but I don’t mind not coming home sick.

quote:

At the height of it I went grocery shopping at our local Schnucks. They required masks. I didn't wear one. I went through the store with people staring at me like a leper. Eventually, a store clerk approached me and said, "Sir, you have to wear a mask." I said, "I don't have one." So he gave me one. I wore it around the store like a chin strap on a football helmet, not over my nose or mouth, further pissing them off.

That's not so tough. I once went in the opposite direction of the arrows in the aisles. Now that's tough. I can't remember when I last felt so liberated.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

https://www.newsmax.com/us/fda...dkt_nbr=01050271ip70

FDA's Makary: Fauci Orchestrated 'Massive Cover-Up' of COVID

Former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, initially a media darling of the COVID-19 pandemic, might have been the orchestrator of a "massive cover-up," according to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.

"One thing that's extremely obvious that very few people realize, and certainly hardly anyone in the medical establishment where I come from realized, is that [Fauci] was involved in a massive cover-up of the origins of COVID, a massive cover-up," Makary, a former Johns Hopkins School of Medicine professor, told "Pod Force One."

"Whether or not he was involved in the experiments or funding the experiments that led to the origins of COVID, he was clearly 100% involved in the cover-up."

Makary said Fauci commissioned scientific articles dismissing the lab-leak theory and later cited them publicly.

After President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 – largely campaigning on the mishandling of COVID – he elevated Fauci to White House chief medical adviser.

Before leaving office in January 2025, Biden issued a slew of preemptive pardons to his operatives, including Fauci, albeit by autopen rather than by hand.

Makary linked Fauci's 2024 presidential pardon to the alleged suppression efforts, calling the episode "an American tragedy."

Fauci has long denied wrongdoing.

"Only recently did Anthony Fauci take it to the next level of using science as political propaganda," Makary told host Miranda Devine. "He commissioned the pieces that lied about the COVID origins.

"The author who submitted the article said this was commissioned by Dr. Fauci [and Dr. Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health] in that cover letter."

The House Oversight Committee released evidence in 2023 showing Fauci commissioned and gave final approval for "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2," written in February 2020, to try to disprove the Wuhan, China, lab leak having spread the virus that killed more than 7 million worldwide.

Fauci then stood alongside President Donald Trump at a White House news conference eight weeks later, claiming the lab leak theory had been deemed implausible, citing the paper he had orchestrated as evidence.

"If you think back to the end of January, just before COVID became a thing in the news in the United States, January, February, what was Dr. Fauci doing? He was frantically engaging in a massive cover-up with 3 a.m. emails and phone calls," Makary said. "He was convening people.

"And the notes from those meetings reveal that all these virologists he convened had told him, 'We think it came from the Wuhan Lab,' and the output was days later, those same scientists wrote a letter in the medical journal saying it definitely did not come from the lab."

Fauci then went on to grant the authors "millions of dollars in funding from Fauci's agency," according to Makary.

"This is not rocket science. It's a no-brainer where it came from."

The campaign to cover for the origins of COVID and the potential U.S. complicity during Fauci's reign was ultimately shockingly effective in spinning doctors and scientists, Makary marveled.

"What I'm shocked by coming from the faculty at Johns Hopkins, is none of my colleagues knew any of this," he said.

"I could not believe that my colleagues had no idea of the origins and the facts surrounding the origins and the massive cover-up that Fauci and Collins led."

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...A5ytn8sYHWYg%2Bd0%3D

FDA Investigating Deaths Potentially Linked to COVID-19 Vaccines Across Age Ranges

The probe followed a health official’s memo indicating that the vaccines could be tied to the deaths of 10 children.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is looking into the potential links between COVID-19 vaccination and deaths in various age groups, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The FDA investigation is being carried out as part of a safety review, a HHS spokesperson said on Dec. 9.

The probe follows a Nov. 28 memo by Dr. Vinay Prasad, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), which revealed that COVID-19 vaccines were likely implicated in the deaths of at least 10 children.

The spokesperson did not provide details on which age groups will be covered or what criteria the FDA will use to determine which cases fall within the scope of the investigation.

Data published by the World Health Organization showed that more than 700 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the United States since December 2020.
The Epoch Times reached out to the HHS for further comment, but did not hear back by publication time.

Prasad said in the memo that the findings were based on a review of 96 death reports voluntarily submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) between 2021 and 2024. The memo did not disclose the health conditions of the children or the vaccine manufacturers involved.

“If anything, this represents conservative coding, where vaccines are exculpated rather than indicted in cases of ambiguity. The real number is higher,” he stated in the memo. “This is a profound revelation.”

Prasad, head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, was one of the early opponents of keeping COVID-19 vaccines available for younger people. He has has supported COVID-19 vaccination for seniors and younger people with underlying conditions.
The investigation was spurred by concerns that the previous administration misled the public about harms COVID-19 vaccines can cause, including myocarditis, or heart inflammation, Prasad indicated in the memo.

The memo states that the FDA never required manufacturers to demonstrate—through randomized controlled trials—that vaccinating children reduced hospitalization or death. Available data, Prasad wrote, are deeply limited, rely on methods with notorious biases, and fail to establish whether the vaccine saved more children than it harmed.

Prasad criticized common assertions that COVID-19 infection posed a greater myocarditis risk than vaccination, saying that this claim is wrong, that existing studies use “a false denominator,” and fail to evaluate risk-benefit trade-offs for healthy adolescents and young adults.

“Finally, the FDA has failed to properly enforce many required post market commitments for COVID-19 vaccines, including for pregnant women and to document subclinical myocarditis,” he wrote.

Prasad said that CBER will take swift action on the safety concerns and will no longer grant marketing authorization for vaccines in pregnant women based on “unproven” surrogate antibody endpoints.

He added that the agency will shift vaccine regulation toward evidence-based standards and revise its annual flu vaccine framework.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...mpaign=new&utm_term=

Stanford Study Pinpoints Cause of Vaccine-Linked Myocarditis and a Possible Fix

New research uncovers the immune reactions behind rare heart inflammation cases following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination.

Myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccines is caused by two chemicals acting together, according to a new Stanford study published on Wednesday.

“As a cardiologist, we get asked all the time, ‘How exactly does [the vaccine cause myocarditis?]’” Dr. Joseph Wu, the study’s lead author and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, told The Epoch Times. “We thought it was a very important scientific and clinical question to spend resources [on] and tackle.”

When an mRNA vaccine is given, immune cells release a surge of cytokines called CXCL10 and IFN-gamma, which damage heart muscles and cause immune cells to enter the injury site.

The study was done in human cells and mice.
Previous studies have also shown these two chemicals to be high in people injured by the mRNA vaccines.
A 2-Step Process

Myocarditis from the vaccine is caused through a two-step process, the study authors wrote.
When administering the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to human cells, the first immune cells to encounter the vaccine, called macrophages, release CXCL10 to recruit more immune cells to the area.

In the second phase, more specialized cells come to the area, releasing IFN-gamma in response, and it’s these two chemicals together that directly injure heart cells. This damage encourages more inflammatory cells to enter the heart, causing myocarditis.

Wu said that the immune cells are likely releasing these two chemicals because they detect foreign mRNA from the vaccines.

Mice given the vaccine experience heart damage, a rise in these two chemicals, as well as higher levels of inflammation in other organs, such as the liver and kidneys.

Wu noted that they had to use higher concentrations of the mRNA vaccine than what a person would get per dose in the study. Therefore, the reactions may be more severe than what is observed in real life.

“These two cytokines cause inflammation to the blood vessels. They could cause inflammation to the heart,” Wu said, adding that they can also cause inflammation in other areas like the muscles and joints, which may be why some people experience joint and muscle pains.

He said that myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccinations is rare and that the viral infection is of greater concern.

Soy as Prophylactic

Giving mice a dose of genistein—a natural plant compound from soybeans—ahead of vaccination blocked the heart damage from happening while still allowing the vaccine to do its job.

Mice that were given genistein continued to release antiviral signals in their body when given the vaccine, which indicates that their immune system recognized the vaccine.

Genistein is anti-inflammatory and acts like estrogen inside the body. Since myocarditis primarily affects young men, Wu said that they thought estrogen, a female hormone, may be protective against myocarditis.

“But we can’t be giving estrogen to boys, right? So here we give genistein, which is a weak phytoestrogen—plant-based estrogen, very weak.”

Dr. Joseph Varon, a professor at the University of Houston College of Medicine and president of the Independent Medical Alliance, told The Epoch Times that the study allows for a medical option where damage from the vaccine can be prevented.
Still Searching for the Root Cause

The study only explored one potential cause of myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccinations, Wu said, which is myocarditis caused by an inflammatory response to the vaccine.
Other studies have also speculated on other causes of myocarditis from vaccination. One potential reason is autoimmunity, which occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Because the spike protein produced by the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine has certain features that are the same as those in human proteins, when the immune system attacks these spike proteins, some of the antibodies it produces may also attack the body’s own tissues. This can lead to attacks on the heart and result in myocarditis.

Further research has also speculated on other causes of myocarditis from vaccination, such as spike proteins made from the vaccine causing damage or hormone-driven reasons.

Cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough said that the study did not look into why mRNA vaccines could cause the release of chemicals, such as the presence of mRNA and spike proteins, which he considers to be the root cause of myocarditis from vaccinations.

Previous studies have detected the presence of mRNA and spike proteins in the heart tissues of people who suffered from myocarditis post-vaccination.

That article cleverly avoids mentioning that the root cause is the mRNA traveling all around the body when injected, and sometimes it invades heart cells. That's when the mechanism begins which the article describes, of the immune system attacking heart cells.

Dr. McCullough's response hints at that, and he's been very specific about it in the past. I presume he stated it clearly to the author, who then left that detail out.

The message the article sends is, "Yay! We can keep injecting mRNA if we also give people some estrogen at the same time!"

I've followed this Virus: SARS-CoV-2 since before it was known to be circulating in the US, back in 2019. I am convinced now that it was already circulating here several months before it was known to be.

I've followed it on many different sources but I'm thankful for you, my Sigforum friends, for all of the information we have shared in this thread. This thread was initiated on January 21, 2020.

It has kept me sane for the last 5+ years knowing I am not alone in resisting the vaccine and the "official narrative" and protocols. It's really opened my eyes to our top-down and really screwed up medical system.

Thank you all. I remain, unvaccinated.

quote:

The message the article sends is, "Yay! We can keep injecting mRNA if we also give people some estrogen at the same time!"

It's one of the things my good friend who's a paramedic always complains about, especially as it pertains to the elderly:

You have somebody who's taking 20 medications. 3 to address the original health issues, and 17 which address the side effects of the original medication and the side effects of those used to treat the side effects.

Never forget.

^^^ Those were maddening times!

And some days, I’m still quite mad about it.

Occam's Paradox
Steve Bennett

What is the Best Explanation for COVID-19 Pandemic Response Policies?

Abstract

This article uses the familiar “Occam’s Razor” heuristic to introduce the colloquial term “Occam’s Paradox” and present the “Nexus Hypothesis,” arguing that the global response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was a coordinated, multi-domain operation.

This operation leveraged a public health crisis to advance long-standing objectives of a transnational technocratic elite, herein termed “the Nexus.” The hypothesis synthesizes evidence from virology, economics, information science, and political science to demonstrate coherence across events often analyzed in isolation.

We trace a sequence from preparatory exercises and viral origin through to the weaponization of public health policy, information censorship, economic transformation, and electoral manipulation. The article concludes that the observable evidence is inconsistent with a theory of mere policy failure or coincidence and is best explained by a coordinated exploitation of crisis. Areas for crucial further empirical research are identified.

https://fyndera.substack.com/p...rue&utm_medium=email

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...2FO5jtW2ykDtwxRyI%3D

Texas Attorney General Backs Doctor Against State’s Own Medical Board Over Ivermectin Use

Dr. Mary Talley Bowden sued the Texas State Medical Board after it cited her.

In an unusual move, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is backing a Texas doctor in her fight against the state’s medical board, which reprimanded her for treating COVID patients with ivermectin.
The Texas Medical Board (TMB), which licenses Texas doctors, reprimanded Dr. Mary Talley Bowden in October 2025 after a formal complaint was filed against her in 2023.
Paxton announced Feb. 12 that he intervened on Bowden’s behalf in the civil suit she filed against the board in January to reverse the reprimand.

“I will not stand by as Dr. Bowden has her Constitutional rights trampled and ability to serve her patients impeded with an illegal reprimand,” Paxton said in a statement. “Dr. Bowden has been a champion for health freedom, selflessly served her patients, and acted in full accordance with the law. “
“That’s why I’ve filed this intervention in support of Dr. Bowden and to ensure administrative agencies don’t violate the rights of licensed professionals in Texas.”
In his legal brief, Paxton asked the court to declare the board’s reprimand of Bowden void and permanently bar the board from taking further action against her for taking “life-saving measures” on behalf of her patient in November 2021.

“The laws of this State, the Texas Constitution, and the United States Constitution aim to prevent the astounding miscarriage of justice to which Dr. Bowden has been subjected by TMB and demand an immediate reversal of the sanction imposed by the Texas Medical Board,” the brief reads.
In 2021, the family of a hospitalized COVID victim got a court order directing Bowden to give ivermectin to the patient, who was on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma. However, unbeknown to Bowden, an appeals court blocked the district court’s order shortly afterward.
When Bowden’s nurse appeared at the hospital to administer the ivermectin, the hospital staff refused entry and called law enforcement.
Paxton said in a statement that, despite Bowden acting in good faith to care for a potentially dying patient and believing she had the legal authority to administer the medication, the board penalized and publicly reprimanded her.
In a social media post on X, Bowden simply said, “Thank you,” followed by three prayer emojis, under an announcement posted by the Health Freedom Defense Fund.
“Dr. Bowden has been a champion for health freedom, selflessly served her patients, and acted in full accordance with the law,” the defense fund stated.

Bowden’s Houston attorney, Steve Mitby, told The Epoch Times that he was pleased with Paxton’s involvement, adding that the reprimand was the result of a political vendetta against his client.

“I’ve never heard of a case like this, where, you know, a state agency has gone so rogue that no lawyer could defend what they’re doing,” he said. “She was trying to follow the law, not break the law, as the attorney general pointed out.”

Bowden was one of several doctors who sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for urging the public not to take ivermectin to treat COVID-19.
In a settlement, the FDA agreed to remove such guidance from webpages. Likewise, it agreed to remove negative comments on social media such as: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
The comments referred to the fact that in addition to its established use in humans as an antiparasitic agent, ivermectin also has veterinary applications.
The FDA didn’t admit any wrongdoing, saying that currently available clinical trial data didn’t show ivermectin as effective against COVID-19.
“The agency has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19,” the agency stated.

quote:

The FDA didn’t admit any wrongdoing, saying that currently available clinical trial data didn’t show ivermectin as effective against COVID-19.
“The agency has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19,” the agency stated.

Uhhh, there was NO clinical trial data that showed the COVID Vaccine was 'effective' against COVID-19 either! Meanwhile, during the same time frame, there were MANY countries where Ivermectin was in use as an 'essential medicine' (as classified by the WHO, CDC, etc) for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.

quote:

The Texas Medical Board (TMB), which licenses Texas doctors, reprimanded Dr. Mary Talley Bowden in October 2025 after a formal complaint was filed against her in 2023.

So, who filed the formal complaint causing the Board to issue the formal reprimand? Certainly not the family of the patient.

I don't like this BS!

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...FVuqPwRsU%2BNmcl0%3D

FDA Agrees to Consider Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine

‘We look forward to making our flu vaccine available later this year,’ Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said.

The Food and Drug Administration has agreed to review a revised application from Moderna for its experimental influenza vaccine.

Moderna executives and FDA officials recently held a meeting, and after discussing the FDA’s recent refusal to consider an application for approval of the flu shot, Moderna filed an amended application.

“Discussions with the company led to a revised regulatory approach and an amended application, which FDA accepted,” Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an email on Feb. 18.

“FDA will maintain its high standards during review and potential licensure stages as it does with all products.”

“We appreciate the FDA’s engagement in a constructive Type A meeting and its agreement to advance our application for review,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement.

“Pending FDA approval, we look forward to making our flu vaccine available later this year so that America’s seniors have access to a new option to protect themselves against flu.”

Regulators recently declined to accept the original application for review. They took issue with how Moderna used in an efficacy trial a different flu vaccine that, while already approved by the FDA, is a standard dose rather than a high dose.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends high-dose influenza vaccines for older adults.

“Your control arm does not reflect the best-available standard of care in the United States,” Dr. Vinay Prasad, head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a Feb. 3 letter made public by Moderna.

“Moderna exposed participants age 65 and over to increased risk of severe illness by giving them a substandard of care against the recommendation of FDA scientists,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Prasad said that officials recommended Moderna. If it disagreed with the refusal to accept the application, it should request an urgent meeting, known as a Type A meeting.

In the meeting, Moderna proposed the FDA grant full approval for the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) shot for adults aged 50 to 64. Regulators should give accelerated approval for adults aged 65 and up, along with the requirement that Moderna carry out a new trial for that age group, the company said.

The meeting led to the submission of the revised application, which Moderna said was accepted.

Regulators in Europe, Canada, and Australia previously agreed to consider approving the flu vaccine.

If the application is approved, the mRNA vaccine would be available in the United States for adults older than 49 in the fall of this year. No mRNA vaccines against the flu are currently available in the country. The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are still cleared for many people, but are only advised after consultation with a health care professional due to concerns about side effects and waning effectiveness.

I don’t currently get the flu vaccine, so this isn’t a concern for me and mine, but I feel for those that get them annually for piece of mind.

My fear is that the medical cabal will gradually try to replace ALL vaccines with this gobbledygook. I’m about to finally get the shingrix shots soon, but beyond that can’t think of any other I’d need.

My niece works at Moderna. Nobody that works there would ever put that mRNA garbage in their bloodstream. She started in 2021 and the majority of the employees there "in the know" didn't go anywhere near the clot shot.