Latest Patreon Talk: Russian “Interference” in 2016 Election–A Dog That Won’t Hunt
Exemplifying the disinformation surrounding Ukraine, Russia et al is the remarkable charge that Putin/Russia influenced the outcome of the 2016 election. Hillary Clinton got almost three million more votes than Donald Trump. Putin/Russia did not create the electoral college. Facebook posts from Russia were 40,000 out of 3 trillion posts–a few hundreds of one percent of the posts in that period. THAT influenced the election?!! Cambridge Analytica, Peter Thiel, Facebook, Palantir helped keep potential Clinton voters at home, targeting potential Sanders voters. Ukrainian television anchor quotes Adolf Eichmann verbatim in this video from UKRAINE 24. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Mr. Emory emphatically recommends that listeners/readers get the 32GB flash drive containing all of Mr. Emory’s 43 years on the air, plus a library of old anti-fascist books on easy-to-download PDF files.
What Are the “Seeing Stones” Seeing?
We have discussed Palantir and its depredations in numerous programs. The news that Palantir–the alpha predator of the electronic surveillance landscape and inextricably linked with the most critical parts of the intelligence community–has bought millions of dollars of gold bars and will accept payment in gold bullion as payment for future transactions raises interesting questions. (The company is named after the “seeing stones” in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.) This follows the company’s relocation to Denver from the Bay Area by roughly a year. Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was a key member of Biden’s transition team, as well as a consultant to Palantir, the key player in which is Peter Thiel. Thiel is also a big part of “Team Trump”. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE.
Who Are the Brain Police? Facebook’s Building 8 and The End of Our Civilization
In FTR#718, we noted the intelligence community and fascist underpinnings of the genesis of Facebook, including the central role of Peter Thiel in the firm’s beginning. In numerous programs since, we have chronicled the anti-democratic and fascist manifestations of Facebook, including the company’s decisive role in the Cambridge Analytica gambit, in which elements of Peter Thiel’s Palantir–the Alpha predator of the electronic surveillance landscape–helped to “game” the 2016 election in favor of Trump. With contemporary discussion of attempts to “rein-in” Big Tech, we are reminded of an element of discussion in FTR#1021, among other programs. Although she has left the company, former DARPA chief Regina Dugan was working on a Facebook project to operate the social media platform by utilizing brain-to-computer interface. This work was underway at Facebook’s “secretive” R & D Building 8, described as patterned after DARPA itself. This disturbing detail suggests that the firm’s significant national security connections may well embrace the advancing of military research per se. As we noted, this technology will permit the tapping and databasing of Facebook users’ thoughts!
“FascisBook” Update
In FTR#718, we noted the intelligence community and fascist underpinnings of the genesis of Facebook, including the central role of Peter Thiel in the firm’s beginning. In numerous programs since, we have chronicled the anti-democratic and fascist manifestations of Facebook, including the company’s decisive role in the Cambridge Analytica gambit, in which elements of Peter Thiel’s Palantir–the Alpha predator of the electronic surveillance landscape–helped to “game” the 2016 election in favor of Trump. Updating that coverage, we note that an enormous Facebook bot farm, deceptively noted as “Russian,” was assembled to swing the 2020 election to Donald Trump. ” . . . . According to Paul Bischoff of Comparitech, a British cybersecurity company, the network includes 13,775 unique Facebook accounts that each posted roughly 15 times per month, for an output of more than 50,000 posts a week. The accounts appear to have been used for ‘political manipulation,’ Bischoff says, with roughly half the posts being related to political topics and another 17 percent related to COVID-19. . . .” Facebook has also implemented a low-profile, high-dollar financial support program for major news outlets that have suffered because of Facebook’s incursion into the information business. ” . . . . Less well known, and potentially far more dangerous, is a secretive, multimillion-dollar-a-year payout scheme aimed at the most influential news outlets in America. Under the cover of launching a feature called Facebook News, Facebook has been funneling money to The “New York Times”, “The Washington Post”, “The Wall Street Journal’, ‘ABC News’, ‘Bloomberg’, and other select paid partners since late 2019. . .”
Thiel and Bannon: “Yellow Peril” in Silicon Valley
Peter Thiel–lynchpin of power in the Trump administration, the top dog in Palantir (the alpha predator of the electronic surveillance milieu), a key player in Facebook–has disseminated anti-Chinese vitriol about the “yellow peril” in Silicon Valley. He has been joined in that effort by Steve Bannon, a coordinator of anti-China activity in Washington D.C. Bannon’s statements and actions are particularly ironic in light of his cynical use of remnants of “the old China” in his “Gold Farming” business the first decade of this century. “. . . . From 2007 to 2012, he had been the CEO of a multimillion-dollar video-game gold-farming scheme. “Gold farming” was a term for letting third-world laborers to do; the same repetitive tasks in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MORPGs) to acquire in-game currency. . . . . The self-proclaimed anti-globalist Bannon ran the scheme by subcontracting Chinese labor. According to Wired writer Julian Dibbel, who visited one of the Chinese business partners who employed miners for Bannon’s company in 2009, the digital laborers “slept upstairs on plywood bunks, day-shift workers sat in the hot, dimly-lit workshop.” They earned about four dollars a day with eighty-four-hour workweeks. . . .”
FTR #1134 Bio-Psy-Op Apocalypse Now, Part 9: Covid-19 Updates
As indicated by the title of the program, this broadcast updates various articles and book excerpts concerning Covid-19.
A Daily Mail Online [UK] article sets forth two bogus papers contending that the SARS CoV‑2 virus was genetically engineered by the Chinese as a bioweapon in a laboratory and that it “escaped.” Note the championing of one of the papers by a former head of MI6 and the authorship of the second by The Epoch Times, the paper of the Falun Gong cult. Linked to CIA, Steve Bannon’s anti-China milieu and the Trump administration, the organization is a fascist mind control cult discussed in numerous shows, including FTR #‘s 1089 and 1090.
1.–“A former MI6 chief was yesterday accused by Government officials of peddling ‘fanciful claims’ that coronavirus was accidentally created in a Chinese laboratory. British security agencies believe Covid-19 is not a man-made virus and is ‘highly likely’ to have occurred naturally and spread to humans through animals. And Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said there is ‘no evidence’ to back up the theory that it originated in a laboratory. But Sir Richard Dearlove, who was head of the MI6 from 1999 to 2004, cited a recent report claiming the disease was accidentally manufactured by Chinese scientists.
2.–“ ‘I do think that this started as an accident,’ Sir Richard told The Daily Telegraph’s ‘Planet Normal’ podcast. ‘It raises the issue: if China ever were to admit responsibility, does it pay reparations? I think it will make every country in the world rethink how it treats its relationship with China.’ He added: ‘Look at the stories... of attempts by the [Beijing] leadership to lock down any debate about the origins of the pandemic and the way people have been arrested or silenced.’ . . . . The paper – co-authored by Professor Angus Dalgleish, a renowned oncologist and vaccine researcher who works at St George’s Hospital, University of London, and Birger Sorensen, a Norwegian virologist – contains none of the stark allegations that originally stunned its reviewers.
3..–“The initial paper that triggered wild rumours failed stringent tests of verification and is understood to have been rejected in April by eminent international journals such as Nature and the Journal of Virology. Biomedical experts from the Francis Crick Institute and Imperial College London are said to have refuted its conclusions. Then one of the paper’s co-authors, Dr John Fredrik Moxnes, chief scientific adviser to the Norwegian military, asked for his name to be withdrawn. This week, after numerous rewrites, the paper was published by the Quarterly Review of Biophysics Discovery. And those original world-shaking conclusions have now withered to innuendo. No accusation of Chinese manipulation appears. . . .”
4.–”. . . . Back in April, a slickly produced investigative documentary, Tracking Down The Origin Of The Wuhan Coronavirus, was released online. It claimed conclusive proof that the Covid-19 virus had been created as a biological ‘weapon of mass destruction’ in a Chinese lab. . . .”
5.–“At first sight, it seemed a shockingly convincing piece of journalism. On behalf of this newspaper, I cross-checked every claim: The experts it cited and the factual evidence unearthed. I also researched the backgrounds of its makers. I then approached some of the world’s best independent scientific authorities to ask their opinion. They all agreed – this enticingly spicy story just didn’t stand up.”
6.–“It had been produced by a US based anti-Chinese government media organisation called the Epoch Times. Its ‘experts’ were veteran hard-Rightists. Most damningly, its scientific ‘facts’ were twisted out of shape.So much, then, for the Chinese-manufactured coronavirus conspiracy . . .”
Steve Bannon is at the epicenter of the anti-China effort and–to no one’s surprise–never really left the Trump White House.
When assessing Bannon as a political animal, one should never forget that among the important ideological influences on him is Julius Evola, an Italian fascist who found Mussolini too moderate and ultimately took his cues from the Nazi SS, who were financing his work by the end of World War II.
” . . . . Donald Trump’s lightning-rod 2016 campaign boss and former White House chief strategist who was banished from the West Wing in 2017 has quietly crept back into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., reestablishing ties to staffers, particularly with regard to his pet issues of China and immigration. . . . Another former administration official told The Post that Bannon never really left the White House after he was fired, maintaining contacts and keeping up regular channels of communications with officials there. . . .”
In addition, as discussed in FTR #‘s 1111 and 1112, Bannon is part of a network that includes J. Kyle Bass and Tommy Hicks, Jr. This nexus involves asymmetrical investing with regard to the Hong Kong and Chinese economies and the inter-agency governmental networks involved in both overt and covert anti-China policies implemented by Team Trump. As will be seen below, they also are networking with the mis-named “Scientists to Stop Covid-19.” In that regard, they are also helping steer policy that controls development of treatment and vaccines for Covid-19. The management of drug and vaccine development, in turn, doubles back to market-driving investment dynamics.
An interesting summation of characteristics of a “deliberate” epidemic are evaluated against the finding that New York City was the epicenter of the U.S. Covid-19 outbreak:
Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons by Kris Newby; HarperCollins [HC]; Copyright 2019 by Kris Newby; ISBN 9780062896728; p. 185.
Potential epidemiological clues to a deliberate epidemic:
Clue no. 1–A highly unusual event with large numbers of casualties: Check!
Clue no. 2–Higher morbidity or mortality than is expected. Check!
Clue no. 3–Uncommon disease. Check!
Clue no. 4–Point-source outbreak. Check!
Clue no. 5–Multiple epidemics. Check! (Global pandemic)
–Z. F. Dembek, et al., “Discernment Between Deliberate and Natural Infectious Disease Outbreaks”
The prevailing view of the Covid-19 outbreak contends that the American outbreak spread outward from New York City. The strain of SARS CoV‑2 that appeared in New York came, in turn, from Europe.
This doesn’t make sense. There were confirmed cases of the virus on the West Coast that did not come from New York. A European strain of the virus transmitted to New York City would have come in via air. In such an event, there would have been a well-documented outbreak of Covid-19 among flight attendants, who operate in close contact with passengers in cramped circumstances, as well as experiencing jet lag, which compromises the immune system.
Next, we review an aspect of the 2001 anthrax attacks. We highlighted the 2001 anthrax attacks in connection with the Covid-19 outbreak in New York City in FTR #1128.
We note that the Anthrax attacks appear to have operated in overlapping contexts, including justification for the war in Iraq.
The 2001 anthrax attacks appear to have served as a provocation that justified a ten-fold increase in spending for biological warfare development. The number of BSL‑4 labs (having dual civilian and military use) increased from two in 2001, to a dozen in 2007.
This increase occurred while Donald Rumsfeld was George W. Bush’s secretary of defense. He went to that position from being Chairman of the Board of Directors for Gilead Sciences, the manufacturer of remdesivir.
We will delve into the politics of the anthrax attacks in the future.
In the context of the above article, note that the National Institutes of Health have also partnered with CIA and the Pentagon, as underscored by an article about a BSL‑4 lab at Boston University. Note that Europe and the U.S. have twelve BSL4 labs apiece. Taiwan has two. China has one:
1.–As the article notes, as of 2007, the U.S. had “more than a dozen” BSL4 labs–China commissioned its first as of 2017. a tenfold increase in funding for BSL4 labs occurred because of the anthrax attacks of 2001. Those attacks might be seen as something of a provocation, spurring a dramatic increase in “dual use” biowarfare research, under the cover of “legitimate” medical/scientific research. In FTR #1128, we hypothesized about the milieu of Stephen Hatfill and apartheid-linked interests as possible authors of a vectoring of New York City with Sars COV2: ” . . . . Before the anthrax mailings of 2001, the United States had just two BSL4 labs—both within the razor-wire confines of government-owned campuses. Now, thanks to a tenfold increase in funding—from $200 million in 2001 to $2 billion in 2006—more than a dozen such facilities can be found at universities and private companies across the country. . . .”
2.–The Boston University lab exemplifies the Pentagon and CIA presence in BSL‑4 facility “dual use”: ” . . . . But some scientists say that argument obscures the true purpose of the current biodefense boom: to study potential biological weapons. ‘The university portrays it as an emerging infectious disease lab,’ says David Ozonoff, a Boston University epidemiologist whose office is right across the street from the new BSL4 facility. ‘But they are talking about studying things like small pox and inhalation anthrax, which pose no public health threat other than as bioweapons.’ . . . The original NIH mandate for the lab indicated that many groups—including the CIA and Department of Defense—would be allowed to use the lab for their own research, the nature of which BU might have little control over. . . .”
Pivoting to discussion and review of the political, financial and corporate connections to the development of medicinal treatments for, and vaccines to prevent, Covid-19, we recap details relevant to the extraordinary timing of a 4/29 announcement of favorable results for a trial of remdesivir. That announcement drove equities markets higher and was beneficial to the stock of Gilead Sciences.
We present a Stat News article on the internal deliberations behind the decisions to modify the NIAID study. Of particular significance is the DSMB deliberation. Note the timeline of the DSMB deliberation, combined with the announcement on 4/29 that drove the markets higher.
1.–The decision was made to cut it short before the question of remdesivir’s impact on mortality could be answered: ” . . . .The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has described to STAT in new detail how it made its fateful decision: to start giving remdesivir to patients who had been assigned to receive a placebo in the study, essentially limiting researchers’ ability to collect more data about whether the drug saves lives — something the study, called ACTT‑1, suggests but does not prove. In the trial, 8% of the participants given remdesivir died, compared with 11.6% of the placebo group, a difference that was not statistically significant. A top NIAID official said he had no regrets about the decision. ‘There certainly was unanimity within the institute that this was the right thing to do,’ said H. Clifford Lane, NIAID’s clinical director. . . .”
2.–In addition, patients scheduled to receive placebo received remdesivir, instead. ” . . . . Steven Nissen, a veteran trialist and cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, disagreed that giving placebo patients remdesivir was the right call. ‘I believe it is in society’s best interest to determine whether remdesivir can reduce mortality, and with the release of this information doing a placebo-controlled trial to determine if there is a mortality benefit will be very difficult,’ he said. ‘The question is: Was there a route, or is there a route, to determine if the drug can prevent death?’ The decision is ‘a lost opportunity,’ he said. . . .”
3.–Steven Nissen was not alone in his criticism of the NIAID’s decision. ” . . . .Peter Bach, the director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, agreed with Nissen. ‘The core understanding of clinical research participation and clinical research conduct is we run the trial rigorously to provide the most accurate information about the right treatment,’ he said. And that answer, he argued, should ideally have determined whether remdesivir saves lives. The reason we have shut our whole society down, Bach said, is not to prevent Covid-19 patients from spending a few more days in the hospital. It is to prevent patients from dying. ‘Mortality is the right endpoint,’ he said. . . .”
4.–Not only was the administration of remdesivir instead of placebo prioritized, but the NIAID study itself was attenuated! ” . . . . But the change in the study’s main goal also changed the way the study would be analyzed. Now, the NIAID decided, the analysis would be calculated when 400 patients out of the 1,063 patients the study enrolled had recovered. If remdesivir turned out to be much more effective than expected, ‘interim’ analyses would be conducted at a third and two-thirds that number.The job of reviewing these analyses would fall to a committee of outside experts on what is known as an independent data and safety monitoring board, or DSMB. . . .”
5.–The performance of the DSMB for the remdesivir study is noteworthy: ” . . . . But the DSMB for the remdesivir study did not ever meet for an interim efficacy analysis, Lane said. All patients had been enrolled by April 20. The data for a DSMB meeting was cut off on April 22. The DSMB met and, on April 27, it made a recommendation to the NIAID. . . .”
The DSMB meeting on 4/27 determined the switch from placebo to remdesivir. Of paramount importance is the fact that this was JUST BEFORE the 4/29 announcement that drove the markets higher and the same day on which key Trump aide–and former Gilead Sciences lobbyist Joe Grogan resigned! ” . . . . . That decision, Lane said, led the NIAID to conclude that patients who had been given placebo should be offered remdesivir, something that started happening after April 28. . . .”
6.–Dr. Ethan Weiss gave an accurate evaluation of the NIAID study: ” . . . . ‘We’ve squandered an incredible opportunity to do good science,’ [Dr. Ethan] Weiss said. ‘If we could ever go back and do something all over, it would be the infrastructure to actually learn something. Because we’re not learning enough.’ . . . .”
The remarkable handling of the NIAID study, the timing of the announcement of the altogether limited success of the attenuated trial and the rise in equities as a result of the announcement may be best understood in the context of the role played in Trump pandemic decision-making by an elite group of billionaires and scientists–including convicted felon Michael Milken (the “junk bond king”).
1.–” . . . . Calling themselves ‘Scientists to Stop COVID-19,’ the collection of top researchers, billionaires and industry captains will act as an ‘ad hoc review board’ for the torrent of coronavirus research, ‘weeding out’ flawed data before it reaches policymakers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. They are also acting as a go-between for pharmaceutical companies seeking to build a communication channel with Trump administration officials. The group . . . . has advised Nick Ayers, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as other agency heads, in the past month. Pence is heading up the White House coronavirus task force. . . .”
2.–” . . . The brainy bunch is led by Thomas Cahill, a 33-year-old doctor who became a venture capitalist . . . . Cahill’s clout comes from building connections through his investment firm, Newpath Partners, with Silicon Valley’s Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, and billionaire businessmen Jim Palotta and Michael Milken. . . .”
Note that Peter Thiel played a dominant role in bankrolling Newpath Partners, and the other financial angel who elevated Cahill–Brian Sheth–introduced him to Tommy Hicks, Jr., the co-chairman of the RNC. In FTR #‘s 1111 and 1112, we looked at Hicks’ networking with Steve Bannon associate J. Kyle Bass, as well as his role in the inter-agency networks driving the anti-China effort.
” . . . . At the helm of the effort: The 33-year-old and very-much-under-the-radar venture capitalist Tom Cahill, who leads life sciences-focused Newpath Partners. Cahill completed his M.D. and PhD at Duke University a mere two years ago before landing at blue-chip investment firm Raptor Group through a friend. He went on to found Newpath with some $125 million after impressing well-connected names like venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Vista Equity Partners co-founder Brian Sheth. . . . It was through Sheth, for example, that Scientists to Stop Covid-19 connected with the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, Thomas Hicks Jr. . . .”
The federal government’s extreme focus on remdesivir has been shaped, in large measure, by the influence of “Scientists to Stop COVID-19”:
1.–“Scientists to Stop Covid-19” is shepherding remdesivir: ” . . . . Scientists to Stop COVID-19 recommends that in this phase, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should work to coordinate with Gilead pharmaceuticals to focus on expediting the results of clinical trials of remdesivir, a drug identified as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The group also recommends administering doses of the drug to patients in an early stage of infection, and notes remdesivir will essentially be a placeholder until a more effective treatment is produced.
2.–The group is doing so by attenuating the regulatory process for coronavirus drugs: “Government entities and agencies appear to adhere to the recommendations outlined by the group, with the Journal reporting that the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have implemented some of the suggestions, namely relaxing drug manufacturer regulations and requirements for potential coronavirus treatment drugs. . . .”
We conclude discussion of the remdesivir machinations with a piece about the timing of the announcement of Grogan’s departure.
” . . . . Grogan has served as the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council since February 2019, overseeing a broad array of policy issues including health care and regulation. . . . Grogan was one of the original members of the White House coronavirus task force launched in late January. . . . Grogan worked as a lobbyist for drug company Gilead Sciences before joining the Trump administration. . . .”
The departure was announced in the Wall Street Journal on the morning of Wednesday, April 29, the same day we got our first public reports of the NIAID clinical trial of remdesivir that was positive enough to show it shortened the time to recovery and the same day the FDA granted remdesivir emergency use status.
Note, again, the timing of the DSMB’s actions, as well as the influence of “Scientists to Stop Covid-19.”
In FTR #1130, we noted that Moncef Slaoui–formerly in charge of product development for Moderna–was chosen to head Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed.” He will be working with Four-Star General Gustave Perna, chosen by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.
Even after agreeing to sell his Moderna stock, Moncef Slaoui’s investments raise alarming questions–note that he is a “venture capitalist” and a longtime former executive at Glaxo-Smithkline:
The circumstances of his appointment will permit him to avoid scrutiny: ” . . . . In agreeing to accept the position, Dr. Slaoui did not come on board as a government employee. Instead, he is on a contract, receiving $1 for his service. That leaves him exempt from federal disclosure rules that would require him to list his outside positions, stock holdings and other potential conflicts. And the contract position is not subject to the same conflict-of-interest laws and regulations that executive branch employees must follow. . . .”
He will retain a great deal of Glaxo-Smithkline stock: ” . . . . He did not say how much his GSK shares were worth. When he left the company in 2017, he held about [500,000 in Western Print Edition] 240,000 shares and share equivalents, according to the drug company’s annual report and an analysis by the executive compensation firm Equilar. . . .”
Further analysis of Slaoui’s position deepens concern about the integrity of the process: ” . . . . ‘This is basically absurd,’ said Virginia Canter, who is chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. ‘It allows for no public scrutiny of his conflicts of interest.’ Ms. Canter also said federal law barred government contractors from supervising government employees. . . . Ms. Canter, a former ethics lawyer in the Obama and Clinton administrations, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies, pointed out that GSK’s vaccine candidate with Sanofi could wind up competing with other manufacturers vying for government approval and support. ‘If he retains stock in companies that are investing in the development of a vaccine, and he’s involved in overseeing this process to select the safest vaccine to combat Covid-19, regardless of how wonderful a person he is, we can’t be confident of the integrity of any process in which he is involved,’ Ms. Canter said.In addition, his affiliation with Medicxi could complicate matters: Two of its investors are GSK and a division of Johnson & Johnson, which is also developing a potential vaccine. . . .”
Next, we turn to Moderna’s animal trial for the messenger RNA vaccine it is developing. There are several considerations to be weighed in connection with the Moderna vaccine.
1.–Again, the chairman of Trump’s “Warp Speed” vaccine development program–Moncef Slaoui–was in charge of Moderna’s product development operation.
2.–Moderna’s trial with mice was positive with regard to generating antibody levels high enough to prevent ADE.
3.–Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE), is a phenomena where low levels of ineffective antibodies latch onto the virus and exacerbate an overactive immune response that leads to the deadliest symptoms likes cytokine-storms. This danger was seen with SARS and attempts to create a SARS vaccine so it’s a reasonable fear with SARS-CoV‑2.
4.–The Phase III (human) trial is going to be started in July, involving 30,000 people. Alarmingly, those 30,000 people will all be receiving the exact same dosage, 100 micrograms, and that means the phase III trial won’t be testing sub-optimal dosages. The big Phase III trial won’t be testing for ADE in humans.
5.–We may have a nightmare situation where political pressure gives undo weight to animal safety results, leapfrogging over the necessity of testing for side effects.
6.–The animal trials have been severely criticized: ” . . . . ‘This is the barest beginning of preliminary information,’ said Dr. Gregory Poland, an immunologist and vaccine researcher at the Mayo Clinic who has seen the paper, which has yet to undergo peer-review. Poland said the paper was incomplete, disorganized and the numbers of animals tested were small. . . . Poland, who was not involved with the research, said the paper leaves out ‘important parameters’ that could help scientists judge the work. . . .”
7.–We MIGHT create a vaccine that protects those who get a strong immune response while endangering those with sub-protective responses–a “eugenic” vaccine.
8.–The animal trials have been severely criticized: ” . . . . ‘This is the barest beginning of preliminary information,’ said Dr. Gregory Poland, an immunologist and vaccine researcher at the Mayo Clinic who has seen the paper, which has yet to undergo peer-review. Poland said the paper was incomplete, disorganized and the numbers of animals tested were small. . . . Poland, who was not involved with the research, said the paper leaves out ‘important parameters’ that could help scientists judge the work. . . .”
9.–The phase II clinical trials on humans are still underway and won’t be completed before November. Phase III is going to be getting underway in July. The Human clinical trials are already underway at the same time the animal safety trials have yet to be completed.
10.–Side effects can take a while to manifest.
We provided detailed critical comments on Moderna’s Phase I trial in FTR #1132.
We conclude with a New York Times article sets forth a “Vaccine October Surprise” scenario for this fall.
” . . . . In a desperate search for a boost, he could release a coronavirus vaccine that has not been shown to be safe and effective as an October surprise. Oct. 23, 2020, 9 a.m., with 10 days before the election, Fox New releases a poll showing President Trump trailing Joe Biden by eight percentage points. Oct. 23, 2020, 3 p.m., at a hastily convened news conference, President Trump announces that the Food and Drug Administration has just issued an Emergency Use Authorization for a coronavirus vaccine. Mr. Trump declares victory over Covid-19, demands that all businesses reopen immediately and predicts a rapid economic recovery. Given how this president has behaved, this incredibly dangerous scenario is not far-fetched. In a desperate search for a political boost, he could release a coronavirus vaccine before it had been thoroughly tested and shown to be safe and effective. . . .”
FTR #1132 Bio-Psy-Op Apocalypse Now, Part 8: Remdesivir Uber Alles
This broadcast details the process of vetting the anti-Covid-19 drug remdesivir, highlighting the institutional shortcuts taken in testing the product, as well as the dubious nature of the billionaires networking with officials involved in the approval process.
Before analyzing remdesivir, however, we update discussion about the SARS CoV‑2 virus having been engineered, noting joint U.S.-Chinese projects in which bat-borne coronaviruses were genetically engineered. The processes used to modify the viruses would not show any overt evidence of human manipulation.
Most importantly, these projects received financing from institutions with documented links to U.S. intelligence and military interests.
Research into the history of GOF (gain-of-function) work on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology indicates multiple areas of U.S. intelligence presence in that work.
It was publicly disclosed in a 2017 paper that the US and China collaborated on “gain-of-function” research on bat coronaviruses to infect humans and that the work received funding from the United States Agency for International Development–a frequent cut-out for the CIA.
In addition, the work was also funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, which have collaborated with both CIA and the Pentagon in BSL‑4 (Bio-Safety-Level 4) projects.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has also partnered with the USAMRIID since the mid-1980’s.
Important to note is the fact that it was public information that some of this work was done in a biosafety-level 2 laboratory, giving an observer intent on undertaking a biological warfare covert operation against China useful field intelligence about the vulnerability of WIV for such an “op.”
1.–The investigation of infectivity used undetectable methods, negating articles claiming the virus could not have been genetically engineered: ” Evidence has emerged that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China, working in collaboration with scientists in the USA, have been genetically engineering bat viruses for the past several years to investigate infectivity – using undetectable methods. . . . The evidence rebuts claims by journalists and some scientists that the SARS-CoV‑2 virus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic could not have been genetically engineered because it lacks the ‘signs’ or ‘signatures’ that supposedly would be left behind by genetic engineering techniques. . . .”
2.–Dr. Richard Ebright noted that the research was jointly funded by the U.S. and China, that Peter Daszak (about whom we have voiced reservations in the past) was one of the American collaborators. Furthermore, the research was funded in part by USAID, a common U.S. intelligence cut-out. ” . . . . Dr Richard Ebright, an infectious disease expert at Rutgers University (USA), has alerted the public to evidence that WIV and US-based researchers were genetically engineering bat viruses to investigate their ability to infect humans, using commonly used methods that leave no sign or signature of human manipulation. Ebright flagged up a scientific paper published in 2017 by WIV scientists, including Shi Zhengli, the virologist leading the research into bat coronaviruses, working in collaboration with Peter Daszak of the US-based EcoHealth Alliance. Funding was shared between Chinese and US institutions, the latter including the US National Institutes of Health and USAID. The researchers report having conducted virus infectivity experiments where genetic material is combined from different varieties of SARS-related coronaviruses to form novel ‘chimeric’ versions. This formed part of their research into what mutations were needed to allow certain bat coronaviruses to bind to the human ACE2 receptor – a key step in the human infectivity of SARS-CoV‑2. . . .”
3.–Furthermore, the researchers used a type of genetic engineering that leaves no signature of human manipulation: ” . . . . The WIV scientists did this, Ebright points out, ‘using ‘seamless ligation’ procedures that leave no signatures of human manipulation’. This is noteworthy because it is a type of genetic engineering that Andersen and his team excluded from their investigation into whether SARS-CoV‑2 could have been engineered – and it was in use at the very lab that is the prime suspect for a lab escape. . . .”
4.–In addition, Ebright highlights the 2015 work done by Ralph Baric in collaboration with WIV’s Shi Zhengli–a project we have discussed at length in the past: ” . . . . A group of scientists from the University of North Carolina in the USA, with the WIV’s Shi Zhengli as a collaborator, published a study in 2015 describing similar experiments involving chimeric coronaviruses, which were also created using standard undetectable genetic engineering techniques. . . .”
5.–Ebright also cites work done in a bio-safety level 2 laboratory. : ” . . . . Ebright points out that the paper states, ‘All work with the infectious virus was performed under biosafety level 2 conditions’. This level is suitable for work involving agents of only ‘moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment’. . . .But they are not at fault in failing to use BSL‑4 for this work, as SARS coronaviruses are not aerosol-transmitted. The work does, however, fall under biosafety level 3, which is for work involving microbes that can cause serious and potentially lethal disease via inhalation. . . .”
6.–Dr. Jonathan Latham underscored the reservations expressed by many concerning “gain-of-function” experiments on these kinds of coronaviruses: ” . . . . The bioscientist Dr Jonathan Latham criticised the kind of research on bat coronaviruses that has been taking place in Wuhan and the USA as ‘providing an evolutionary opportunity’ for such viruses ‘to jump into humans’. Latham, who has a doctorate in virology, argues that this kind of work is simply ‘providing opportunities for contamination events and leakages from labs, which happen on a routine basis’. . . .”
U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease–located at Ft. Detrick and closed by the CDC for safety violations in August, 2019.
Note, again, that the whole world was informed back in 2017 that dangerous research involving the creation of bat coronaviruses to infect humans was being carried out in China. Note again, that the research was funded in part by the US, including USAID–a frequent U.S. intelligence cut-out; the NIH–which has actively collaborated with both CIA and Pentagon. The WIV has also partnered with the USAMRIID.
Flash forward a couple of years and we have a nightmare virus that initially appeared to pop up nearby the WIV, with the Trump administration aggressively pushing the idea that it escaped from that lab.
In that context, we note the following:
1.–In 2017, China got approval for its first BSL‑4 lab in Wuhan, the first of several planned BSL‑4 labs. “A laboratory in Wuhan is on the cusp of being cleared to work with the world’s most dangerous pathogens. The move is part of a plan to build between five and seven biosafety level‑4 (BSL‑4) labs across the Chinese mainland by 2025, and has generated much excitement, as well as some concerns. . . . Some scientists outside China worry about pathogens escaping, and the addition of a biological dimension to geopolitical tensions between China and other nations. . . .”
2.–As will be seen below, the proliferation of BSL‑4 labs has sparked worries about “dual use” technology: ” . . . . The expansion of BSL-4-lab networks in the United States and Europe over the past 15 years — with more than a dozen now in operation or under construction in each region — also met with resistance, including questions about the need for so many facilities. . . .”
3.–The above-mentioned Richard Ebright notes that the proliferation of BSL‑4 labs will spur suspicion of “dual use” technology, in which ostensible medical research masks biological warfare research: ” . . . . But Ebright is not convinced of the need for more than one BSL‑4 lab in mainland China. He suspects that the expansion there is a reaction to the networks in the United States and Europe, which he says are also unwarranted. He adds that governments will assume that such excess capacity is for the potential development of bioweapons. ‘These facilities are inherently dual use,’ he says. . . .”
In the context of the above articles, note that the National Institutes of Health have also partnered with CIA and the Pentagon, as underscored by an article about a BSL‑4 lab at Boston University. Note that the U.S. and Europe have twelve BSL4 labs apiece, Taiwan has two, while China has one:
1.–As the article notes, as of 2007, the U.S. had “more than a dozen” BSL4 labs–China commissioned its first as of 2017. a tenfold increase in funding for BSL4 labs occurred because of the anthrax attacks of 2001. Those attacks might be seen as something of a provocation, spurring a dramatic increase in “dual use” biowarfare research, under the cover of “legitimate” medical/scientific research. In FTR #1128, we hypothesized about the milieu of Stephen Hatfill and apartheid-linked interests as possible authors of a vectoring of New York City with Sars COV2: ” . . . . Before the anthrax mailings of 2001, the United States had just two BSL4 labs—both within the razor-wire confines of government-owned campuses. Now, thanks to a tenfold increase in funding—from $200 million in 2001 to $2 billion in 2006—more than a dozen such facilities can be found at universities and private companies across the country. . . .”
2.–The Boston University lab exemplifies the Pentagon and CIA presence in BSL‑4 facility “dual use”: ” . . . . But some scientists say that argument obscures the true purpose of the current biodefense boom: to study potential biological weapons. ‘The university portrays it as an emerging infectious disease lab,’ says David Ozonoff, a Boston University epidemiologist whose office is right across the street from the new BSL4 facility. ‘But they are talking about studying things like small pox and inhalation anthrax, which pose no public health threat other than as bioweapons.’ . . . The original NIH mandate for the lab indicated that many groups—including the CIA and Department of Defense—would be allowed to use the lab for their own research, the nature of which BU might have little control over. . . .”
Note, also that:
1.–The WIV has partnered with the U.S. Army’s Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, located at Ft. Detrick.
2.–In early August of 2019, shortly before the recorded start of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at that facility was closed down by the CDC due to multiple safety violations.“All research at a Fort Detrick laboratory that handles high-level disease-causing material, such as Ebola, is on hold indefinitely after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the organization failed to meet biosafety standards. . . . The CDC sent a cease and desist order in July. After USAMRIID received the order from the CDC, its registration with the Federal Select Agent Program, which oversees disease-causing material use and possession, was suspended. That suspension effectively halted all biological select agents and toxin research at USAMRIID . . . .”
Following the update on the WIV and BSL‑4 laboratories, we pivot to analysis of the elevation of remdesivir as the “go-to” treatment du jour for Covid-19. Of paramount importance is the remarkable timeline: The DSMB (data safety and monitoring board) ” . . . . the DSMB for the remdesivir study did not ever meet for an interim efficacy analysis, Lane said. All patients had been enrolled by April 20. The data for a DSMB meeting was cut off on April 22. The DSMB met and, on April 27, it made a recommendation to the NIAID. . . . That decision, Lane said, led the NIAID to conclude that patients who had been given placebo should be offered remdesivir, something that started happening after April 28. . . .”
As will be seen, it was on 4/29 that Joe Grogan resigned. (See below.)
When positive news on a NIAID study on the drug remdesivir were released–on 4/29–it drove broad gains in the stock market. In FTR #1131, we noted that disclosures concerning positive news about Moderna’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine also proved to be a similar driver of the stock market, as well as of Moderna’s stock.
Discussion of the hard details of several remdesivir trials begins with discussion of an NIAID trial that helped move the markets, as seen above. The trial was a modest success, indicating that recovery for recently infected patients was about 31% faster than for placebo. There was no significant statistical difference in mortality–the most important measure of effectiveness according to many experts.
” . . . . During an appearance alongside President Trump in the Oval Office, Anthony Fauci, the director of NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health, said the data are a ‘very important proof of concept’ and that there was reason for optimism. He cautioned the data were not a ‘knockout.’ At the same time, the study achieved its primary goal, which was to improve the time to recovery, which was reduced by four days for patients on remdesivir. The preliminary data showed that the time to recovery was 11 days on remdesivir compared to 15 days for placebo, a 31% decrease. The mortality rate for the remdesivir group was 8%, compared to 11.6% for the placebo group; that mortality difference was not statistically significant. . . .”
Next we present a Stat News article on the internal deliberations behind the decisions to modify the NIAID study. Of particular significance is the DSMB deliberation. Note the timeline of the DSMB deliberation, combined with the announcement on 4/29 that drove the markets higher.
1.–The decision was made to cut it short before the question of remdesivir’s impact on mortality could be answered: ” . . . .The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has described to STAT in new detail how it made its fateful decision: to start giving remdesivir to patients who had been assigned to receive a placebo in the study, essentially limiting researchers’ ability to collect more data about whether the drug saves lives — something the study, called ACTT‑1, suggests but does not prove. In the trial, 8% of the participants given remdesivir died, compared with 11.6% of the placebo group, a difference that was not statistically significant. A top NIAID official said he had no regrets about the decision. ‘There certainly was unanimity within the institute that this was the right thing to do,’ said H. Clifford Lane, NIAID’s clinical director. . . .”
2.–In addition, patients scheduled to receive placebo received remdesivir, instead. ” . . . . Steven Nissen, a veteran trialist and cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, disagreed that giving placebo patients remdesivir was the right call. ‘I believe it is in society’s best interest to determine whether remdesivir can reduce mortality, and with the release of this information doing a placebo-controlled trial to determine if there is a mortality benefit will be very difficult,’ he said. ‘The question is: Was there a route, or is there a route, to determine if the drug can prevent death?’ The decision is ‘a lost opportunity,’ he said. . . .”
3.–Steven Nissen was not alone in his criticism of the NIAID’s decision. ” . . . .Peter Bach, the director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, agreed with Nissen. ‘The core understanding of clinical research participation and clinical research conduct is we run the trial rigorously to provide the most accurate information about the right treatment,’ he said. And that answer, he argued, should ideally have determined whether remdesivir saves lives. The reason we have shut our whole society down, Bach said, is not to prevent Covid-19 patients from spending a few more days in the hospital. It is to prevent patients from dying. ‘Mortality is the right endpoint,’ he said. . . .”
4.–Not only was the administration of remdesivir instead of placebo prioritized, but the NIAID study itself was attenuated! ” . . . . But the change in the study’s main goal also changed the way the study would be analyzed. Now, the NIAID decided, the analysis would be calculated when 400 patients out of the 1,063 patients the study enrolled had recovered. If remdesivir turned out to be much more effective than expected, ‘interim’ analyses would be conducted at a third and two-thirds that number.The job of reviewing these analyses would fall to a committee of outside experts on what is known as an independent data and safety monitoring board, or DSMB. . . .”
5.–The performance of the DSMB for the remdesivir study is noteworthy: ” . . . . But the DSMB for the remdesivir study did not ever meet for an interim efficacy analysis, Lane said. All patients had been enrolled by April 20. The data for a DSMB meeting was cut off on April 22. The DSMB met and, on April 27, it made a recommendation to the NIAID. . . .”
6.–The DSMB meeting on 4/27 determined the switch from placebo to remdesivir. Of paramount importance is the fact that this was JUST BEFORE the 4/29 announcement that drove the markets higher and the same day on which key Trump aide–and former Gilead Sciences lobbyist Joe Grogan resigned! ” . . . . . That decision, Lane said, led the NIAID to conclude that patients who had been given placebo should be offered remdesivir, something that started happening after April 28. . . .”
7.–Dr. Ethan Weiss gave an accurate evaluation of the NIAID study: ” . . . . ‘We’ve squandered an incredible opportunity to do good science,’ [Dr. Ethan] Weiss said. ‘If we could ever go back and do something all over, it would be the infrastructure to actually learn something. Because we’re not learning enough.’ . . . .”
Next, we analyze a STAT News excerpt that goes into more of the concerns about the Gilead study design.
The Gilead study was designed without any control group, so the question of how much remdesivir actually helps sick patients (or doesn’t help) can’t be definitively answered by that study.
The article also gives Gilead’s explanation for why they left out a control group: due to the limited supplies of the drug the company decided to prioritize on producing more of the drug itself rather than a placebo control. It’s an explanation that only makes sense if producing placebo doses was somehow a significant technical challenge, which seems dubious.
Due to a lack of a control group, the study instead focuses on answering the question of whether or not the recovery times for patients differs between groups receiving a 10-day course of the drug vs a 5‑day course. The patients were severely ill but not on ventilators when enrolled in the study (so the patients that need the drug most weren’t tested). The preliminary results released Wednesday suggest there is no difference between the recovery times for the two groups.
1.–The Gilead study lacked a control group: ” . . . . But outside experts in clinical trial design worry that the results, instead of leading to a clear picture of whether the medicine is effective, will instead muddy the waters further. The main concern, they say, stems from the fact that the Gilead trial expected to read out this week, which was conducted among patients with severe disease, lacks a control group — that is, patients who are randomly assigned to receive the best treatment available, but not remdesivir. As designed, the only randomization is the duration of treatment: either five days or 10 days of drug. Without a true control group of patients, many experts say, it will be difficult to determine whether remdesivir is effective. . . .”
2.–The above-mentioned Steven Nissen summed up the usefulness of the Gilead trial. ” . . . . ‘The overall study itself has little or no scientific value since all patients are receiving the drug,’ said Steven Nissen, the chief academic officer at the Cleveland Clinic and lead investigator of many trials for heart drugs that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. ‘The study, as designed, is essentially useless and cannot be used by the FDA for consideration of remdesivir for approval to treat coronavirus,’ Nissen said. . . .”
3.–Gilead’s spokesperson alleged that the company had a limited supply of placebo and remdesivir. ” . . . . ‘In the early stages of the pandemic, we not only had a limited supply of remdesivir but also a limited supply of the matched placebo required for placebo-controlled studies,’ said Amy Flood, a Gilead spokesperson. ‘We chose to prioritize manufacturing active drug over placebo, and we provided our supply of placebo to China and NIAID for their studies of remdesivir.’ . . .”
5.–A number of critics shared Steven Nissen’s opinion about the scientific value of the study. ” . . . . Critics point to Gilead’s decision to compare two groups given remdesivir for either five days or 10 days. The problem with this strategy, they say, is that an ineffective drug that did nothing and a very effective drug that consistently helped patients overcome the virus would look the same in such a study. Only if the 10-day course were more effective, or if it was worse because of side effects, would the study have any clear result. . . .”
6.–Nissen was more optimistic about a second forthcoming Gilead trial. Sloan Kettering’s Peter Bach did not share that optimism. ” . . . .Yet another trial in less sick patients, also run by Gilead, does have a control group and may give a clearer answer. Nissen sees ‘a reasonable study design.’ But Bach was more critical, saying that even though that study has a control group, the lack of a placebo means the study might not be trustworthy. That’s because its main goal, time to improvement of symptoms, could be affected by the perceptions of clinicians and the patients themselves. Bach said the hospitals conducting the study ‘are easily capable of wrapping syringes in brown paper and blinding the whole thing. I don’t understand why you would run a trial like this.’ . . . .”
Although it was cut short due to the waning of the pandemic in China, a WHO-leaked study was not encouraging with regard to remdesivir’s efficacy as a treatment for Covid-19.
1.–The Chinese study was a ramdomized controlled trial: ” . . . . Encouraging data from patients in that study at the University of Chicago were described by researchers at a virtual town hall and obtained by STAT last week. However, unlike those data, these new results are from a randomized controlled trial, the medical gold standard. . . .”
2.–The Chinese study found that remdesivir was of no value in preventing Covid-19 deaths. As noted above, the effect of the drug on mortality was the main consideration. Our society has not been shut down to afford people shorter stays in the hospital, but to prevent death. ” . . . . According to the summary of the China study, remdesivir was ‘not associated with a difference in time to clinical improvement’ compared to a standard of care control. After one month, it appeared 13.9% of the remdesivir patients had died compared to 12.8% of patients in the control arm. The difference was not statistically significant. . . .”
3.–The Chinese study produced a grim assessment of remdesivir: ” . . . . ‘In this study of hospitalized adult patients with severe COVID-19 that was terminated prematurely, remdesivir was not associated with clinical or virological benefits,’ the summary states. The study was terminated prematurely because it was difficult to enroll patients in China, where the number of Covid-19 cases was decreasing. An outside researcher said that the results mean that any benefit from remdesivir is likely to be small. ‘If there is no benefit to remdesivir in a study this size, this suggests that the overall benefit of remdesivir in this population with advanced infection is likely to be small in the larger Gilead trial,’ said Andrew Hill, senior visiting research fellow at Liverpool University. . . .”
After discussing a number of problems that Gilead Sciences may encounter in the production of significant quantities of remdesivir to be effective, the broadcast concludes with discussion of the inappropriately-named “Scientists to Stop Covid-19.”
The remarkable handling of the NIAID study, the timing of the announcement of the altogether limited success of the attenuated trial, and the rise in equities as a result of the announcement may be best understood in the context of the role played in Trump pandemic decision-making by an elite group of billionaires and scientists–including Peter Thiel and convicted felon Michael Milken (the “junk bond king”).
1.–” . . . . Calling themselves ‘Scientists to Stop COVID-19,’ the collection of top researchers, billionaires and industry captains will act as an ‘ad hoc review board’ for the torrent of coronavirus research, ‘weeding out’ flawed data before it reaches policymakers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. They are also acting as a go-between for pharmaceutical companies seeking to build a communication channel with Trump administration officials. The group . . . . has advised Nick Ayers, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as other agency heads, in the past month. Pence is heading up the White House coronavirus task force. . . .”
2.–” . . . The brainy bunch is led by Thomas Cahill, a 33-year-old doctor who became a venture capitalist . . . . Cahill’s clout comes from building connections through his investment firm, Newpath Partners, with Silicon Valley’s Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, and billionaire businessmen Jim Palotta and Michael Milken. . . .”
Note that Thiel played a dominant role in bankrolling Newpath Partners, and the other financial angel who elevated Cahill–Brian Sheth–introduced him to Tommy Hicks, Jr., the co-chairman of the RNC. In FTR #‘s 1111 and 1112, we looked at Hicks’ networking with Steve Bannon associate J. Kyle Bass, as well as his role in the inter-agency networks driving the anti-China effort.
1.–” . . . . At the helm of the effort: The 33-year-old and very-much-under-the-radar venture capitalist Tom Cahill, who leads life sciences-focused Newpath Partners. Cahill completed his M.D. and PhD at Duke University a mere two years ago before landing at blue-chip investment firm Raptor Group through a friend. He went on to found Newpath with some $125 million after impressing well-connected names like venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Vista Equity Partners co-founder Brian Sheth. . . . It was through Sheth, for example, that Scientists to Stop Covid-19 connected with the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, Thomas Hicks Jr. . . .”
The federal government’s extreme focus on remdesivir has been shaped, in large measure, by the influence of “Scientists to Stop COVID-19”:
1.–“Scientists to Stop Covid-19” is shepherding remdesivir: ” . . . . Scientists to Stop COVID-19 recommends that in this phase, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should work to coordinate with Gilead pharmaceuticals to focus on expediting the results of clinical trials of remdesivir, a drug identified as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The group also recommends administering doses of the drug to patients in an early stage of infection, and notes remdesivir will essentially be a placeholder until a more effective treatment is produced.
2.–The group is doing so by attenuating the regulatory process for coronavirus drugs: “Government entities and agencies appear to adhere to the recommendations outlined by the group, with the Journal reporting that the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have implemented some of the suggestions, namely relaxing drug manufacturer regulations and requirements for potential coronavirus treatment drugs. . . .”
We conclude with a piece about the announcement of Grogan’s departure.
” . . . . Grogan has served as the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council since February 2019, overseeing a broad array of policy issues including health care and regulation. . . . Grogan was one of the original members of the White House coronavirus task force launched in late January. . . . Grogan worked as a lobbyist for drug company Gilead Sciences before joining the Trump administration. . . .”
The departure was announced in the Wall Street Journal on the morning of Wednesday, April 29, the same day we got our first public reports of the NIAID clinical trial of remdesivir that was positive enough to show it shortened the time to recovery and the same day the FDA granted remdesivir emergency use status.
Note, again, the timing of the DSMB’s actions, as well as the imfluence of “Scientists to Stop Covid-19.”
FTR #1126 Bio-Psy-Op Apocalypse Now, Part 2: The Democracy-Killing Virus
We begin a series of programs highlighting various aspects of the “three-dimensional chess” aspect of the Covid-19 “bio-psy-op” we feel is underway. Actually six or seven dimensional chess might be a better way of expressing this analytical concept.
It is of paramount importance for listeners/readers to understand that the conceptual breakdown is for cognitive clarity only. The bio-psy-op” is multi-dimensional in its entirety and must be understood to be a type of “fascist/totalitarian lasagna” with many layers to be consumed.
In this program, we present ways in which the Covid-19 outbreak is subverting democracy, both inside and outside of the United States.
Although he has only flirted with exercising them, to date, Trump does indeed have some emergency powers that can be invoked to further his agenda” ” . . . . The most notable aspect of presidential emergency action documents might be their extreme secrecy. It’s not uncommon for the government to classify its plans or activities in the area of national security. . . . By contrast, we know of no evidence that the executive branch has ever consulted with Congress — or even informed any of its members — regarding the contents of presidential emergency action documents. . . . That is a dangerous state of affairs. The coronavirus pandemic is fast becoming the most serious crisis to face this country since World War II. And it is happening under the watch of a president who has claimed that Article II of the Constitution gives him ‘the right to do whatever I want.’ It is not far-fetched to think that we might see the deployment of these documents for the first time and that they will assert presidential powers beyond those granted by Congress or recognized by the courts as flowing from the Constitution. . . .”
Next, we add that the Bio-Psy-Op Apocalypse is spawning totalitarian manifestations–not surprisingly–at the Department of Justice headed by “ex” CIA officer William Barr. ” . . . . The request raised eyebrows because of its potential implications for habeas corpus — the constitutional right to appear before a judge after arrest and seek release. ‘Not only would it be a violation of that, but it says ‘affecting pre-arrest,’” said Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. ‘So that means you could be arrested and never brought before a judge until they decide that the emergency or the civil disobedience is over. I find it absolutely terrifying. Especially in a time of emergency, we should be very careful about granting new powers to the government.’ . . .”
It will come as no surprise to veteran listeners, the Pentagon has contingency plans for varying degrees of governmental and/or civic disability. ” . . . . But Coronavirus is also new territory, where the military itself is vulnerable and the disaster scenarios being contemplated — including the possibility of widespread domestic violence as a result of food shortages — are forcing planners to look at what are called ‘extraordinary circumstances’. Above-Top Secret contingency plans already exist for what the military is supposed to do if all the Constitutional successors are incapacitated. Standby orders were issued more than three weeks ago to ready these plans, not just to protect Washington but also to prepare for the possibility of some form of martial law. . . .”
The military’s contingency plans have been partially activated: ” . . . . While being hit with coronavirus at rates equivalent to the civilian population, the U.S. military has activated its ‘defense support of civil authorities’ apparatus, establishing liaisons in all 50 states, activating units and command posts, and moving forces to provide medical, transportation, logistics, and communications support in New York and Washington states. Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson, the command of Army North (ARNORTH), has requested and received approval for the deployment of ground units in response to the now declared national emergency. . . .”
We note, in passing, that, although not in effect at this point, discussion of “martial law” are far more than just social media fodder, to coin a term. ” . . . . Because of so many rumors flying in social media, the Pentagon established a ‘rumor control’ website to beat down stories of military-imposed quarantines and even martial law. And it said it was going to limit details of both the specific numbers of coronavirus cases and operational details. . . .”
Martial law discussion has been spurred by, among other things, Trump’s ruminations about what he can and will do: “. . . . Earlier Saturday, Mr. Trump said that he is considering declaring an ‘enforceable’ quarantine affecting some residents of the New York metropolitan area, possibly including New Jersey and Connecticut. He called the region a ‘hot spot’ of the coronavirus outbreak sweeping the country. . . . Mr. Trump reiterated in his remarks before the send off of the USNS Comfort that he was considering a quarantine of the area. The Comfort is a naval hospital boat which is carrying over 1,000 beds and 1,200 medical personnel to New York City. . . . Using active duty troops to enforce a quarantine would require the president to suspend the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids the use of the armed services for law enforcement. . . .”
Trump has plenty of company: ” . . . . In Hungary, a new law has granted Prime Minister Viktor Orban the power to sidestep Parliament and suspend existing laws. Mr. Orban, who declared a state of emergency this month, now has the sole power to end the emergency. Parliament, where two-thirds of the seats are controlled by his party, approved the legislation on Monday. . . .‘The draft law is alarming,’ said Daniel Karsai, a lawyer in Budapest who said the new legislation had created ‘a big fear’ among Hungarians that ‘the Orban administration will be a real dictatorship.’ . . .”
Orban’s Hungary has been joined by, among others, the long-standing British democracy: ” . . . . some of the provisions . . . . will give the government unchecked control. The legislation gives sweeping powers to border agents and the police, which could lead to indefinite detention and reinforce ‘hostile environment’ policies against immigrants, critics said. ‘Each clause could have had months of debate, and instead it’s all being debated in a few days,’ said Adam Wagner, a lawyer who advises a parliamentary committee on human rights. . . . ‘These are eye-watering powers that would have not been really imaginable in peacetime in this country before,’ said Silkie Carlo, the director of Big Brother Watch, a rights group. She called the measures ‘draconian.’ . . . .”
Privacy is being dramatically curtailed under cover of combatting the virus: ” . . . . As Thomas Gaulkin of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists noted earlier this month, many Americans— often fierce in their objections to perceived government overreach into their lives—might normally object to dystopian images of flying robots policing lockdowns. But these, of course, are not normal times. ‘If drones do begin to hover over U.S. streets to help control this pandemic,’ Gaulkin wrote, ‘it will be yet another visible reminder that we’ve entered a public health Twilight Zone where Americans have no better option than to embrace what was once only imaginable, and never real.’ . . . ”
The alpha predator of the electronic surveillance landscape is Peter Thiel’s Palantir. They have landed two key government contracts in connection with the Covid-19 outbreak:” . . . . Palantir, the $20 billion-valued Palo Alto tech company backed by Facebook-funder Peter Thiel, has been handed a $17.3 million contract with one of the leading health bodies leading the charge against COVID-19. It’s the biggest contract handed to a Silicon Valley company to assist America’s COVID-19 response, according to Forbes’ review of public contracts, and comes as other Californian giants like Apple and Google try to figure out how best to help governments fight the deadly virus. . . . The money, from the federal government’s COVID-19 relief fund, is for Palantir Gotham licenses, according to a contract record reviewed by Forbes. That technology is designed to draw in data from myriad sources and, regardless of what form or size, turn the information into a coherent whole. The ‘platform’ is customized for each client, so it meets with their mission needs, according to Palantir. . . . Palantir Gotham is slightly different to Foundry, a newer product that’s aimed more at general users rather than data science whizzes, with more automation than Gotham. As Forbes previously reported, Foundry is being used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ingest information from all manner of hospitals across America to see where best to provide more or less resource. . . . Palantir is now working with at least 12 governments on their responses to coronavirus, according to two sources with knowledge of its COVID-19 work. That includes the U.K.’s National Health Service, which is using Foundry for similar purposes as the CDC. . . .”
Exemplifying the multi-dimensional chess scenario in connection with the “bio-psy-op” is the GOP’s plan to use the Covid-19 outbreak to scapegoat China and tar the Democrats and Joe Biden with the same brush. Of particular note in this regard is the Steve Bannon‑J. Kyle Bass-Tommy Hicks, Jr. triumvirate discussed in–among other programs–FTR #‘s 1111 and 1112.
At the epicenter of the anti-China effort, Bannon is networked with Bass, who is asymmetrically invested with regard to the Hong Kong and Chinese economies. Hicks, in turn, is a co-investor with Bass, co-chairman of the RNC, and one of the prime movers of the interagency governmental networks involved in the anti-China destabilization operation. This networked relationship affords investors like Bass and Hicks the ultimate position from which to profit from “insider” information.
The synthesis of covert operations and electoral politics reminds us of the 1952 election, in which Arthur Bliss Lane occupied a key position in the Crusade For Freedom, as well as the GOP. (We discussed this in AFA #37, and utilized information from, among other sources, Blowback by Christopher Simpson.
Exemplary, as well, of the bio-psy-op as synthesis of covert operation and political crusading is the GOP’s cynical manipulation of emergency appropriations to achieve their longstanding objective of crippling state and local governments, as well as driving the Postal Service into bankruptcy. Privatizing postal service has been a right-wing/GOP objective for a long time. ” . . . . Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows what is really happening: McConnell is trying to get more money for businesses while continuing to shortchange state and local governments. After all, “starve the beast” — forcing governments to cut services by depriving them of resources — has been Republican strategy for decades. This is just more of the same. . . . Oh, and Trump personally has ruled out aid for the Postal Service. . . .”
FTR #1083 AOC and The Immigrant “Psy-Op”: More about Socialists for Trump and Hitler (“The Assistance”)
Resuming analysis of AOC’s highly questionable credentials, we note the shady circumstances of her victory over long-time incumbent Joe Crowley: ” . . . . she capitalized on an extremely low primary turnout to eek out a 57% vs. 43% (15,897 vs. 11,761) victory. And while it is true that the young candidate deployed an impressive grassroots canvassing strategy, the devil is in the details— including dirty local politics, vitriolic campaign rhetoric, far left agitators, and an intensive Facebook advertising blitz in the lead up to the primary. . . .”
She drew on the support of disgraced and convicted abuser Hiram Monserrate, and deflected criticism with her standard retreat into identity politics: ” . . . . Part of the local controversy revolved around the involvement of disgraced ex-Queens politician Hiram Monserrate. A domestic abuser who spent time in prison on a corruption conviction, Monserrate has feuded with Crowley for years. During their contentious primary, Crowley accused Ocasio-Cortez of seeking support from the ex-con, even speaking at an event held at a Democrat Club he runs in Queens. . . . Monserrate told the New York Post ‘there were a group of us, in the (club) and other community activists I have been working with for years who understood that we would do our part to get rid of Joe Crowley…We were in support of Alexandria’s campaign.’ . . . .”
In our series on Surveillance Valley (FTR #‘s 1075 through 1081) we noted that the Internet is an information weapon, conceived in the context of counterinsurgency and solidified in applications of counter-democracy. The rise and operations of AOC are inextricably linked with the Internet, social media, in particular.
AOC’s campaign drew on Internet resources, and interests outside of her district: ” . . . . In fact, the vast majority of Ocasio-Cortez campaign donations have come from out-of-district and out-of-state. Of particular note is Blue America PAC, a “collaboration between the authors/publishers of DownWithTyranny.com, Hullabaloo.com and CrooksandLiars.com.” The PAC made an $11,000 independent expenditure in opposition to Joe Crowley, creating the website QueensAgainstCrowley.com. . . . The meme-heavy social media pages for the PAC’s various websites pushed out vitriolic blog and social media posts during the primary, using budget graphics with British-English copy to promote hashtags like #AbolishICE #Berniewouldhavewon and #MobBossCrowley. . . .”
Drawing momentum, in part, from foreign trolls and bots, AOC’s signature “Abolish Ice” campaign plays right into the hands of Team Trump and the racist/xenophobic right. ” . . . . . For anyone engaging with Ocasio-Cortez’ social media posts, the foreign bot and troll activity is noticeably synchronized and pervasive. There’s no better example than the #AbolishICE campaign she championed as her number one primary issue and has helped take national. Much of her social media content has focused on the “Abolish ICE solution” to immigration reform while accusing “Boss Crowley” and other Democrats of being “Pro-ICE”. In the one month lead up to the June primary, Ocasio-Cortez’ campaign spent over $80,000 on Facebook advertising — the largest of her expenditures. . . .”
Next, we note AOC has quoted and defended Eva Peron. Although this may well just be another manifestation of identity politics, it is worth noting that Eva Peron (nee Eva Duarte) was a Nazi spy prior to, and during, World War II, and a Bormann/Vatican agent after that:
” . . . . . . . .The all-conquering Evita left Spain for Rome on June 25, 1947. Father Benitez would smooth her way in the Vatican with the aid of Bishop Alois Hudal [one of the key members of the Vatican/Nazi “Ratline”]. Two days after she arrived she was given an audience with pope Pius XII, spending twenty minutes with the Holy Father–“a time usually allotted by Vatican protocol to queens.” However, there was a more sinister side to the Rome trip. Using Bishop Hudal as an intermediary, she arranged to meet Bormann in an Italian villa at Rapallo provided for her use by [Argentine shipping billionaire Alberto] Dodero. The shipowner was also present at the meeting, as was Eva’s brother Juan Duarte. There, she and her former paymaster cut the deal that guaranteed that his Fuhrer’s safe haven would continue to remain safe, and allowed Bormann to leave Europe at last for a new life in South America. . . . ”
Next, the discussion turns to Peter Thiel and his Palantir firm, the alpha predator of the high-tech surveillance jungle. As we have seen and as we will review, there is reason to suspect that “Mr. AOC”–“Subhas Chandra” Chakrabarti–is a Thiel protege.
Palantir is one of the firms pivotally involved with facilitating ICE’s activities: ” . . . . The database created by Palantir uses information pulled from the DHS, FBI and other sources to build profiles of people who have crossed the border, including ‘schooling, family relationships, employment information, phone records, immigration history, foreign exchange program status, personal connections, biometric traits, criminal records, and home and work addresses,’ the Intercept reported last year. . . . . Policing software provided by Palantir and Forensic Logic’s COPLINK program enables Information sharing between ICE and state and local law enforcement. . . . Palantir software has been implemented by DHS fusion centers across California, as well as by police departments in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Burbank; and sheriff’s departments in Sacramento, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties. The company has received more than $50 million from these agencies since 2009, mostly financed by DHS grants, the report shows. . . .”
We then review substantive evidence of Thiel/Palantir/Chakrabarti networking:
1.–Chakrabarti worked for Bridgewater Associates: ” . . . . After graduating from Harvard, Mr. Chakrabarti worked for a year as a technology associate at the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, and then moved to Silicon Valley to help found the technology company Stripe. . . .”
2.–Bridgewater Associates was a major source of the venture capital to launch Palantir.
3.–Former FBI director James Comey was the chief counsel for Bridgewater Associates. As FBI director, Comey was instrumental in handling the election to Trump.
4.–It appears that Chakrabarti’s stint as head of product development at Stripe may well have been as a Thiel protege.
Reviewing information from past broadcasts, there are indications that the scapegoating of illegal immigrants by Team Trump is part of a “psy-op,” with AOC helping to generate “black propaganda” by branding the Democratic Party as “Illegal Immigrants R Us.”
In FTR #718, we warned [back in 2010] that Facebook was not the cuddly little entity it was perceived to be but a potential engine of fascism enabling. Momentum for the remarkably timed immigrant caravan that became a focal point for Trump/GOP/Fox News propaganda during the 2018 midterm elections was generated by a fake Facebook account, which mimicked a Honduran politician/human rights activist, Bartolo Fuentes. Significant aspects of the event:
1.–” . . . . Facebook has admitted the account was an imposter account impersonating a prominent Honduran politician. But it is refusing to release information about the account, who may have set it up or what country it originated from. . . .”
2.–” . . . . In response to a query from BuzzFeed News, a Facebook spokesperson said the phony account ‘was removed for violating [the company’s] misrepresentation policy,’ but declined to share any further information, such as what country it originated from, what email address was used to open it, or any other details that might reveal who was behind it. Facebook added that, barring a subpoena or request from law enforcement, it does not share such information out of respect for the privacy of its users. Fuentes said he believes it’s important to find out who was behind the rogue account — but hasn’t gotten any answers from Facebook. ‘Who knows how many messages could have been sent and who received them?’ . . . .”
4.–” . . . . Fuentes has been unable to get any information from Facebook about the account, but one small detail stood out. Whoever created it listed the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa as Fuentes’s hometown, rather than the San Pedro Sula suburb of El Progreso. That might seem like a minor error, but it’s the sort of mistake a foreigner — not a Honduran — would make about the well-known former lawmaker, whose left-wing party stands in opposition to the current president’s administration. . . . ”
5.–” . . . . It operated entirely in Spanish and precisely targeted influencers within the migrant rights community. And rather than criticize or undermine the caravan — as other online campaigns would later attempt to do — it was used to legitimize the event, making a loosely structured grassroots event appear to be a well-organized effort by an established migrant group with a proven track record of successfully bringing Central American people to the US border. . . .”
6.–” . . . . before the account got started not many people seemed to be joining. Only after the account kicked into gear did enthusiasm and participation spike. The account also claimed falsely that the caravan was being led by a migrant rights organization called Pueblo Sin Fronteras. Later, once the caravan swelled to a massive scale, the Pueblo Sin Fronteras did get involved, though in a support rather than leadership role. . . .”
7.–” . . . . It appears that this account helped the caravan gain key momentum to the point where its size became a self-fulfilling prophecy, spurring even more to join and groups which hadn’t been supportive to get involved. . . .”
8.–” . . . . It’s hard to believe one Facebook account could play that decisive a role. But the account seems to have been sophisticated. And it is equally difficult to believe that a sophisticated operator or organization would have gone to such trouble and limited their efforts to a single imposter account. . . .”
In the summer of 2018, we highlighted the first degree murder charge laid against an “illegal” Mexican migrant worker following the discovery of a deceased white Iowa college girl Mollie Tibbetts. This became propaganda fodder for Team Trump.
We note in this context that:
1.–The announcement of Rivera’s arrest for the Tibbetts murder happened on the same day that Paul Manafort’s conviction was announced and Michael Cohen pleaded guilty. Might we be looking at an “op,” intended to eclipse the negative publicity from the the Manafort/Cohen judicial events?
2.–Rivera exhibited possible symptoms of being subjected to mind control, not unlike Sirhan Sirhan. ” . . . . Investigators say Rivera followed Mollie in his dark Chevy Malibu as she went for a run around 7.30pm on July 18. He ‘blacked out’ and attacked her after she threatened to call the police unless he left her alone, officers said. . . . It is not yet clear how Mollie died. . . . Rivera told police that after seeing her, he pulled over and parked his car to get out and run with her. . . . Mollie grabbed her phone and threatened to call the police before running off ahead. The suspect said that made him ‘panic’ and he chased after her. That’s when he ‘blacked out.’ He claims he remembers nothing from then until he was back in his car, driving. He then noticed one of her earphones sitting on his lap and blood in the car then remembered he’d stuffed her in the truck. . . . ‘He followed her and seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day. For whatever reason he chose to abduct her,’ Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation special agent Rick Ryan said on Tuesday afternoon. . . . ‘Rivera stated that she grabbed her phone and said: ‘I’m gonna call the police.’ . . . . ‘Rivera said he then panicked and he got mad and that he ‘blocked’ his memory which is what he does when he gets very upset and doesn’t remember anything after that until he came to at an intersection.’ . . .”
4.–Just as Sirhan had been in a right-wing milieu prior to the Robert Kennedy assassination, so, too, was Rivera: ” . . . . The prominent Republican family which owns the farm where Mollie Tibbetts’ alleged killer worked have insisted that he passed background checks for migrant workers. Christhian Rivera, 24, who is from Mexico, was charged with first degree murder on Tuesday after leading police to a corn field where Mollie’s body was dumped. Dane Lang, co-owner of Yarrabee Farms along with Eric Lang, confirmed that Rivera had worked there for four years and was an employee ‘of good standing.’ Dane’s brother is Craig Lang, former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa Board of Regents, and a 2018 Republican candidate for state secretary of agriculture. . . .”
5.–Trump cited the Tibbetts murder in a Charleston, West Virginia, rally that day: ” . . . . President Donald Trump chirped in during his Tuesday address at a rally in Charleston, West Virginia, blaming immigration laws for Mollie’s death. ‘You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in very sadly from Mexico,’ he said. ‘And you saw what happened to that incredible beautiful young woman. ‘Should’ve never happened, illegally in our country. We’ve had a huge impact but the laws are so bad. The immigration laws are such a disgrace. ‘We are getting them changed but we have to get more Republicans.’ Gov. Kim Reynolds complained about the ‘broken’ immigration system that allowed a ‘predator’ to live in her state. . . .”
In a transition to our next program, we underscore the decisive role of Glenn Greenwald in paving the legal road for the realization of the “Leaderless Resistance” strategy that dominates the contemporary political landscape.
We note in this context:
Citizen Greenwald’s views on immigration echo those of Donald Trump: “ . . . . ‘The parade of evils caused by illegal immigration is widely known,’ Greenwald wrote in 2005. The facts, to him, were indisputable: ‘illegal immigration wreaks havoc economically, socially, and culturally; makes a mockery of the rule of law; and is disgraceful just on basic fairness grounds alone.’ Defending the nativist congressman Tom Tancredo from charges of racism, Greenwald wrote of ‘unmanageably endless hordes of people [who] pour over the border in numbers far too large to assimilate, and who consequently have no need, motivation or ability to assimilate.’ Those hordes, Greenwald wrote, posed a threat to ‘middle-class suburban voters.’ . . . .”
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