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Showing posts with label pandemic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pandemic. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Sunday, August 9, 2026
The Fauci Files (Conspirituality podcast #320)
During an extraordinary career, Dr. Anthony Fauci led the federal response to HIV-AIDS, SARS, H1N1, Ebola, and Zika. He always advocated funding for pandemic preparedness, vaccine development, immunology and pathogen research. Then came COVID-19, which, unlike outbreaks past, was trapped in a politicized online disinformation and conspiracy-mongering stew.
As he was pushing 80, Fauci rode the dragon of a novel coronavirus pandemic that was leaving piles of bodies in Italy, India, and New York. He served as the interface between scientists, government, and the public, all while learning about the virus in real-time. Like any good public health communicator, he sought to save lives using the best available knowledge. Like any good scientist, he kept an open mind about what was not yet known.
But the pandemic-grievance industry made him the face of a conspiracy theory. Did he cause a catastrophically deadly pandemic, decimate American freedoms, or ruin the economy over a largely harmless flu? Today we discuss the release of his “diaries” and tune into last week's Senate hearings, where crackpots bullied, berated, and slandered the 85-year old public servant.
Interview:
As he was pushing 80, Fauci rode the dragon of a novel coronavirus pandemic that was leaving piles of bodies in Italy, India, and New York. He served as the interface between scientists, government, and the public, all while learning about the virus in real-time. Like any good public health communicator, he sought to save lives using the best available knowledge. Like any good scientist, he kept an open mind about what was not yet known.
But the pandemic-grievance industry made him the face of a conspiracy theory. Did he cause a catastrophically deadly pandemic, decimate American freedoms, or ruin the economy over a largely harmless flu? Today we discuss the release of his “diaries” and tune into last week's Senate hearings, where crackpots bullied, berated, and slandered the 85-year old public servant.
Interview:
Friday, August 7, 2026
The Fauci Witch Hunt: Accountability or Political Theater? (Dr. Zachary Rubin; From Bench to Bedside podcast and YouTube, episode #16)
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a contentious Senate hearing about the COVID-19 pandemic. Does that suggest wrongdoing—or has one scientist become a convenient scapegoat for an extraordinarily complex global crisis?
In this episode of From Bench to Bedside, Dr. Melanie Matheu and Dr. Zachary Rubin examine Fauci’s scientific legacy, the mistakes made during the pandemic, and the difference between legitimate criticism and political theater.
We discuss:
• Why no single person controlled America’s pandemic response
• What public-health officials got wrong about masks and messaging
• The vaccine reactions Zach actually encountered in clinical practice
• Fauci’s complicated but consequential role during the HIV/AIDS crisis
• The evidence surrounding a laboratory leak versus natural spillover
• What gain-of-function research actually means
• Why lockdowns were intended to prevent hospitals from collapsing
• How social-media misinformation overwhelmed public-health communication
• What we should be learning before the next pandemic arrives
The COVID-19 response deserves serious, evidence-based scrutiny. But meaningful accountability requires examining the entire system—not blaming every national, state, local, hospital, school, and law-enforcement decision on one person.
*CHAPTERS*
00:00 – We’re back—and there is a lot to discuss
02:24 – Fauci’s Senate testimony and the Fifth Amendment
04:05 – Fauci’s background in science and medicine
06:55 – Pandemic decisions were a team effort
11:18 – The personal and emotional toll of COVID-19
13:38 – COVID vaccine adverse events explained
17:15 – Fauci, HIV/AIDS, and changing scientific evidence
21:10 – Masks, shortages, and failed public messaging
25:55 – The lab-leak hypothesis versus natural spillover
29:08 – What gain-of-function research actually means
33:35 – Why pandemic preparedness still matters
35:18 – Why hospitals overflowed and lockdowns occurred
38:02 – Social-media misinformation and collapsing trust
40:34 – The pandemic’s lasting impact on patients and clinicians
42:25 – What history should remember about the response
43:28 – Cyclospora and upcoming episodes
In this episode of From Bench to Bedside, Dr. Melanie Matheu and Dr. Zachary Rubin examine Fauci’s scientific legacy, the mistakes made during the pandemic, and the difference between legitimate criticism and political theater.
We discuss:
• Why no single person controlled America’s pandemic response
• What public-health officials got wrong about masks and messaging
• The vaccine reactions Zach actually encountered in clinical practice
• Fauci’s complicated but consequential role during the HIV/AIDS crisis
• The evidence surrounding a laboratory leak versus natural spillover
• What gain-of-function research actually means
• Why lockdowns were intended to prevent hospitals from collapsing
• How social-media misinformation overwhelmed public-health communication
• What we should be learning before the next pandemic arrives
The COVID-19 response deserves serious, evidence-based scrutiny. But meaningful accountability requires examining the entire system—not blaming every national, state, local, hospital, school, and law-enforcement decision on one person.
*CHAPTERS*
00:00 – We’re back—and there is a lot to discuss
02:24 – Fauci’s Senate testimony and the Fifth Amendment
04:05 – Fauci’s background in science and medicine
06:55 – Pandemic decisions were a team effort
11:18 – The personal and emotional toll of COVID-19
13:38 – COVID vaccine adverse events explained
17:15 – Fauci, HIV/AIDS, and changing scientific evidence
21:10 – Masks, shortages, and failed public messaging
25:55 – The lab-leak hypothesis versus natural spillover
29:08 – What gain-of-function research actually means
33:35 – Why pandemic preparedness still matters
35:18 – Why hospitals overflowed and lockdowns occurred
38:02 – Social-media misinformation and collapsing trust
40:34 – The pandemic’s lasting impact on patients and clinicians
42:25 – What history should remember about the response
43:28 – Cyclospora and upcoming episodes
Interview:
Sunday, June 14, 2026
The Next Plague (Conspirituality podcast #312)
A plague is coming. We don’t know when or which one, but we do know that since humans started gathering in groups numbering in the thousands, plagues became a consistent feature of existence. So a plague is always on the horizon, and public health is the response of a healthy society.
How healthy is America right now? Given that a recent NY Times investigation found that RFK Jr is laser-focused on vaccines and food dyes and not much of anything else, the news is not great. Today we look at candidates for the next plague, how unprepared the government is, and, in classic Conspirituality fashion, the wellness influencers selling products they just know will help your immune system stave off any little virus destined to become a plandemic.
In This Week in Conspirituality, Matthew checks in on someone else’s health: Donald Trump, and the online prediction market that’s emerged to appease a cultural wish fulfillment.
Interview:
How healthy is America right now? Given that a recent NY Times investigation found that RFK Jr is laser-focused on vaccines and food dyes and not much of anything else, the news is not great. Today we look at candidates for the next plague, how unprepared the government is, and, in classic Conspirituality fashion, the wellness influencers selling products they just know will help your immune system stave off any little virus destined to become a plandemic.
In This Week in Conspirituality, Matthew checks in on someone else’s health: Donald Trump, and the online prediction market that’s emerged to appease a cultural wish fulfillment.
Interview:
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Bird Flu, Measles, and Trump’s Ticking Time Bomb (Reveal podcast)
On this week’s episode of “More To The Story,” how public health emergencies and the dismantling of federal agencies are colliding.
This month marks the five-year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed 1.2 million people in the US alone. While life has returned to normal for most Americans, the threats to our health haven’t disappeared. Hundreds of people in the US continue to die of Covid each week, while millions more suffer complications from Long Covid. We’re experiencing the worst flu season in at least 15 years. There are multiple outbreaks of measles, the most serious occurring in an undervaccinated West Texas community. Then there’s the threat of bird flu, which has spread through dairy and poultry farms, sickening dozens of people and killing one so far.
At the same time, the second Trump administration has been actively reshaping and even dismantling the country’s public health infrastructure. Hundreds of employees across the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and Food and Drug Administration have been handed termination notices. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the country’s new secretary of health and human services, still questions the use of vaccines, specifically the MMR vaccine to prevent measles.
On this week’s episode of More To The Story, host Al Letson talks with infectious disease epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera about the collision course between the Trump administration’s health priorities and developing public health emergencies.
Rivera says the US is still not testing enough people to determine whether these diseases and others are spreading. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is making things even more difficult by withholding regular public health data that infectious disease experts routinely rely on to assess whether a larger health emergency is emerging. “Without good data, we can’t make good informed choices,” she says. “And it is conceivable that [a pandemic] can be happening and brewing right underneath our nose and us not pick it up.”
Interview:
This month marks the five-year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed 1.2 million people in the US alone. While life has returned to normal for most Americans, the threats to our health haven’t disappeared. Hundreds of people in the US continue to die of Covid each week, while millions more suffer complications from Long Covid. We’re experiencing the worst flu season in at least 15 years. There are multiple outbreaks of measles, the most serious occurring in an undervaccinated West Texas community. Then there’s the threat of bird flu, which has spread through dairy and poultry farms, sickening dozens of people and killing one so far.
At the same time, the second Trump administration has been actively reshaping and even dismantling the country’s public health infrastructure. Hundreds of employees across the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and Food and Drug Administration have been handed termination notices. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the country’s new secretary of health and human services, still questions the use of vaccines, specifically the MMR vaccine to prevent measles.
On this week’s episode of More To The Story, host Al Letson talks with infectious disease epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera about the collision course between the Trump administration’s health priorities and developing public health emergencies.
Rivera says the US is still not testing enough people to determine whether these diseases and others are spreading. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is making things even more difficult by withholding regular public health data that infectious disease experts routinely rely on to assess whether a larger health emergency is emerging. “Without good data, we can’t make good informed choices,” she says. “And it is conceivable that [a pandemic] can be happening and brewing right underneath our nose and us not pick it up.”
Interview:
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Mutations, Misinformation and the Mother of All Pandemics - Truthdig
We don't yet know whether we can hold the line against the avian flu virus and prevent it from sparking a human pandemic, with a fatality rate possibly much higher than that of COVID-19. Some researchers have hopes that the Trump administration, and the USDA in particular, seem to be taking the threat seriously, restoring some cuts to critical staff and at least developing strategies to deal with what many believe is a serious crisis. But that would require a plan that cuts across agencies and disciplines. "
The USDA was not fully staffed even before" Trump came into office, says Kromm. "It was chronically understaffed." Even now, she says, "we can't tell who has come back to work and who has not."…
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/mutations-misinformation-and-the-mother-of-all-pandemics/
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
There are many ways Trump could trigger a global collapse. Here’s how to survive if that happens | George Monbiot | The Guardian
If (or when) another pandemic strikes, which could involve a pathogen more transmissible and even more deadly than Covid-19 (which has so far killed 1.2 million people in the US), it will hit a nation whose defences have been stood down. Basic public health measures, such as vaccination and quarantine, might be inaccessible to most. A pandemic in these circumstances could end millions of lives and cause spontaneous economic shutdown...
Saturday, February 1, 2025
By firing inspectors general, Trump is covering up pandemic-era fraud
"Our team did an intensive staff review to look for likely fraud with input from the lending community and tips from members of Congress. We shared that information with the inspector general, who then often partnered with other federal law enforcement agencies to investigate and advance justice. These investigations had bipartisan support, and former President Joe Biden signed into law a bipartisan bill to increase the statute of limitations for pandemic fraud from five years to 10 years — meaning that the inspector general could be investigating pandemic fraud throughout the next four years of the Trump administration.
The inspector general's firing shows a shift in priorities for the new administration away from Republican talking points about getting tough on fraud. It will instead let fraudsters and criminals evade responsibility…"
Thursday, January 2, 2025
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Bird flu is a real pandemic threat. Are we prepared for the worst?
A strain now circulating in dairy cows appears to carry little risk for humans at present, but we need to develop an effective strategy before it mutates…
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Stanford Has Fallen (Conspirituality podcast)
On Oct 4, Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine, economics, and health research policy at Stanford, held a symposium at his university. Titled “Pandemic Policy: Planning the Future, Assessing the Past,” it was marketed as an open-minded series of panel discussions involving a range of experts to debate and discuss the efficacy of Covid mitigation techniques.
In reality, it was a collection of mostly anti-vax and definitely anti-lockdown contrarians that tried in vain to bait people like Dr Peter Hotez to attend in order to give the event an air of legitimacy. Held on the anniversary of the “Covid is bad for business” doctrine, The Great Barrington Declaration, the day presented an opportunity to air supposed “censorship” grievances and demands that the public should have a say in the science of future pandemics.
The rub: most everyone involved is invested in the economics of public health, not the science, though those lines were freely and falsely blurred throughout the day. Considering Stanford’s new president, economist Jonathan Levin, gave the opening remarks, the Covid contrarians took one more step into the mainstream with their business-first, science-whatever attitudes.
Interview:
In reality, it was a collection of mostly anti-vax and definitely anti-lockdown contrarians that tried in vain to bait people like Dr Peter Hotez to attend in order to give the event an air of legitimacy. Held on the anniversary of the “Covid is bad for business” doctrine, The Great Barrington Declaration, the day presented an opportunity to air supposed “censorship” grievances and demands that the public should have a say in the science of future pandemics.
The rub: most everyone involved is invested in the economics of public health, not the science, though those lines were freely and falsely blurred throughout the day. Considering Stanford’s new president, economist Jonathan Levin, gave the opening remarks, the Covid contrarians took one more step into the mainstream with their business-first, science-whatever attitudes.
Interview:
Friday, September 6, 2024
GOP-led House committee subpoenas Walz over $250m Covid pandemic fraud
Minnesota governor has conceded state education officials did insufficient due diligence to prevent scheme.
Thursday, July 4, 2024
How a quest for greater profits upended the global supply chain during the pandemic (Dave Davies; Fresh Air podcast)
Everything from disinfectant wipes to computer chips were in short supply during the pandemic. New York Times journalist Peter Goodman explains the disruptions in How the World Ran Out of Everything.
Interview:
Thursday, June 6, 2024
MTG Gets Scolded To Her Face By REPUBLICANS
Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene faced criticism from a fellow Republican lawmaker for her remarks on Monday during a congressional hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic where she questioned Dr. Anthony Fauci. Greene, known for her vocal criticism of Fauci, engaged in a contentious line of questioning during the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on the origins of COVID-19 and the federal response to the pandemic.
Friday, April 26, 2024
The serious point at the heart of Biden’s latest anti-Trump joke
"[W]hen the pandemic hit, Trump failed the most basic duty any president owes the American people: a duty to care and a duty to respond. Remember when he told us, 'Don't worry; this will all be over by Easter'? Remember when he told us, literally, inject bleach? ... Think about it. Because he failed to care, not only did people die, but millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes, their livelihoods."
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
I helped advise the US government on the next likely pandemic. What I learned is alarming
These are the challenges facing experts as we try to plan for a future pandemic. However, progress is stalling. In the meetings I've attended, the sentiment is one of frustration as political priorities have shifted away from public health. In the US, President Joe Biden has been actively engaged in global health security, and his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, invited several experts – including myself – to brief him directly on post-Covid-19 response. However, Biden now faces re-election and a fight against Donald Trump, who did not show any interest in this issue during his presidency. Here in the UK, it feels difficult to make the case for a potential pathogen that could affect the country, when the NHS is falling apart…
Friday, March 22, 2024
Large Grocers Took Advantage of Pandemic Supply Chain Disruptions, F.T.C. Finds - The New York Times
A report found that large firms pressured suppliers to favor them over competitors. It also concluded that some retailers "seem to have used rising costs as an opportunity to further hike prices."…
Friday, March 8, 2024
Opinion | Reminder: Trump’s Last Year in Office Was a National Nightmare - The New York Times
He responded to the only major crisis of his presidency with self-serving fantasies — with utter indifference to other Americans' lives in an effort to boost his image.
Are we really supposed to feel nostalgic about 2020?…
Thursday, June 8, 2023
'Complete lie': Fox News anchor allegedly fabricated story during primetime guest hosting gig - Raw Story - Celebrating 19 Years of Independent Journalism
Faulker told Fox News viewers, "You know, we didn't actually close schools in 1918, during the Spanish flu pandemic."
That's false. Provably false.
"And sometimes we make dangerously bad decisions, like pandemic lockdowns and keeping our own children home from schools when a virus was hurting them far less often than adults," she said, ignoring the fact that family transmission often started with children (see below.)
"You know, we didn't actually close schools in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic. We didn't even have penicillin back then. We did sacrifice. We suffered but then we pressed on. Our enemies hate us for surviving, but they would love to be like us."
"This is blatantly untrue and takes about 3 seconds to fact check," observed Media Matters for America's Kat Abu.
Monday, December 12, 2022
Local authorities in major cities urge indoor masking : NPR
Nearly a tenth of counties in the U.S. are advised to wear masks indoors, CDC says…
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