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Open Letter: Refuting Politifact’s “fact check”

Image source: Facebook

On the 27th of June OffGuardian published an article by Torsten Engelbrecht and Konstantin Demeter titled “COVID19 PCR Tests are Scientifically Meaningless”, on July 7th Politifact published a “fact check” response to this article, without contacting either OffGuardian or the authors for comment. Below is the author’s response, an email to which no member of the PolitiFact team has yet responded.

Dear Angie Drobnic Holan, Daniel Funke & Aaron Sharockman

My name is Torsten Engelbrecht and I am journalist in Hamburg, Germany. On July 7, you claim in a piece that my OffGuardian article “COVID19 PCR Tests are Scientifically Meaningless” (co-authored by Konstantin Demeter) is “inaccurate.”

Unfortunately, your piece is unsubstantiated from start to finish. This is a very serious issue, not least because Facebook has flagged our article as false news. To clarify this issue please answer the following questions (at least in short):

1. You claim that our assertion that “The existence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA is based on faith, not fact” is “inaccurate.” To compare the DNA of the alleged father and the child one must ensure that the DNAs are extracted from the bodies of the alleged father and the child. This entails forensic precautions to identify two separate individuals prior to obtaining their blood or other tissue samples for analysis. The same standard applies to the identification of virus particle RNA and proteins.

When cells, cellular debris and particles are mixed in a culture, the only way of determining which RNA and proteins are viral is by separation of the particles from all the non-viral material. In a paternity suit the genome can be obtained from a single “particle” (father/child).

However, since the viral genome cannot be procured from a single particle, one must obtain it from a large mass of identical, that is, purified particles. Or at least material that does not contain extraneous RNA. This is an extremely simple concept readily understood even by the layman.

That is to say, if there is no evidence for purification (as we outline in our OffGuardian article), how is it possible to claim that the RNA obtained is a viral genome?

How can such RNA be widely used for the diagnosis of infection with a new virus? And then, how can the PCR test be “eminently suitable for viral detection”?

2. You claim that our “article is inaccurate” because “polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are among the most common and reliable ways to test for the coronavirus.”

Do you really want to say that “common” is proof for accuracy?

As outlined in our article, so-called SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests are meaningless because…

  • … there is no proof that they are “calibrated” with a sequence coming from the genome of a new pathogenic virus, because such virus has never been purified.
  • … they do not have a valid gold standard to compare them with.
  • … in April the WHO changed the algorithm, recommending that from then on a test can be regarded as “positive” even if just the E-gene assay gives a “positive” result; but according to Corman et al. (who developed the assay) propably reacts positive to all Asian viruses (see point 3.3 as well)*
  • … many tests have a Cq well above (up to 45) of what is regarded as reliable in the MIQE guidelines.

In which ways are these statements wrong?

3. To back your claim you are citing a fact sheet of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying “the test is ‘designed to detect the virus that causes COVID-19 in respiratory specimens, for example nasal or oral swabs.'”

Why should a statement of the CDC be evidence that anything is factually correct? Do you have complete faith in what the CDC says?

In our article we cite instruction manuals of RT-PCR tests which say exactly the opposite, among them the “CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel” file in which it says:

Detection of viral RNA may not indicate the presence of infectious virus or that 2019-nCoV is the causative agent for clinical symptoms.”

Does that not contradict what you claim?

Why does the CDC test, as well as all others, have a “Research Use Only” approval if they supposedly are so reliable?

As we also mention in our article, on April 4 2020 the WHO officially advised that all tests using the E-gene assay (which usually is one of two or three assays used in many tests) should be regarded as positive even if just the E-gene assay resulted positive.

But how can one draw that conclusion when one considers alone that the E-gene assay likely detects all Asian viruses, as stated in Corman et al., for example?

4. As outlined in our article:

Another essential problem is that many PCR tests have a ‘cycle quantification’ (Cq) value of over 35, and some, including the ‘Drosten PCR test’, even have a Cq of 45… The inventor himself, Kary Mullis… stated: ‘If you have to go more than 40 cycles to amplify a single-copy gene, there is something seriously wrong with your PCR.’… In a recent podcast interview [Stepehn. A.] Bustin points out that… a Cq in the 20s to 30s should be aimed at and there is concern regarding the reliability of the results for any Cq over 35.”

So how can so-called SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests be “not scientifically meaningless,” as you claim, if they have a Cg of over 35 or even 45?

5. You claim that our assertion that inventor of the PCR test, Kary Mullis, “regarded the PCR as inappropriate to detect a viral infection” is “false.” And to back this claim you write:

In a fact-check, Reuters rated that claim false — the source is a 1996 article about HIV/AIDS. It does not say PCR tests are ineffective for detecting viruses.”

How can a so-called “fact-check” by Reuters based on a 1996 article as source show that our assertion about Mullis is false when the source of the mentioned statement in our article is not the source your quoted Reuters piece is based on (which is the 2020 article “The Corona Simulation Machine: Why the Inventor of The ‘Corona Test’ Would Have Warned Us Not To Use It To Detect A Virus” written by Celia Farber)?

We write that Kary Mullis “regarded the PCR as inappropriate to detect a viral infection,” while you claim that the Reuters piece on which your claim is based on “does not say PCR tests are ineffective for detecting viruses.”

But “to detect a viral infection” and “to detect viruses” are not the same thing.

This also shows how imprecise your reasoning is. You don’t seem to know that to detect a viral infection, you need to find millions and millions of viral particles, not just one or a few viruses or fragments of them.

And the Reuters piece you are referring to states very well and clearly what we write, that Mullis said that “the PCR as inappropriate to detect a viral infection” because in the Reuters article it says [emphasis added]:

PCR is intended to identify substances qualitatively, but by its very nature is unsuited for estimating numbers. Although there is a common misimpression that the viral load tests actually count the number of viruses in the blood, these tests cannot detect free, infectious viruses at all.”

So why is it not correct to state that Kary Mullis “regarded the PCR as inappropriate to detect a viral infection”?

Against this background we also state in our article that the term “viral load” is deception” and also that the experiment “to prove beyond any doubt that the PCR can measure how much a person is ‘burdened’ with a disease-causing virus…has not yet happened.”

Do you know of any such solid experiment?

6. You claim that we lay “out several (inaccurate) theories about PCR tests. None of them prove that the tests are ‘scientifically meaningless.'” But in fact, we lay out technical facts.

Which “inaccurate theories” are you referring to?

7. You claim that our assertion that “There are no distinctive specific symptoms for COVID-19” is “inaccurate.”

Which are the distinctive specific symptoms for COVID-19 that has never been observed in another known disease?

8. You claim that in our OffGuardian article we make

several…inaccurate claims…including:… Between 22% and 77% ‘of the ‘positive’ tests are false ‘positives.’ Currently, about 92% of tests in the United States produce negative results.”

In contrast to your claim, we never stated that “Between 22% and 77% ‘of the ‘positive’ tests are false ‘positives.'” Instead, we just cited two hypothetical scenarios presented in the orthodox publication Ärztezeitung.

Would you rate their article as “Pants on Fire” as well?

If yes, what exactly is wrong with the calculation of the Positive Predictive Value with the different scenarios presented by the Ärztezeitung?

One scenario outlined in the Ärztezeitung using a prevalence of 20% is most probably higher than the prevalence of what is called SARS-CoV-2 in the general population. Hence, presuming a specificity of 95%, a false positive rate of 22% would be more than realistic. Don’t you think so?

Why are you are confusing the “positive rate” with the “positive predictive value”, i.e. inversely the percentage of the false positives among all the positive results, the latter being 8% in your source?

9. In our OffGuardian article we write:

Moreover, among other factors that can alter the result, before starting with the actual PCR, in case you are looking for presumed RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, the RNA must be converted to complementary DNA (cDNA) with the enzyme Reverse Transcriptase… But this transformation process is “widely recognized as inefficient and variable, as Jessica Schwaber from the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine in Toronto and two research colleagues pointed out in a 2019 paper. Stephen A. Bustin acknowledges problems with PCR in a comparable way.”

Doesn’t this alone seriously undermine the validity of the tests?

10. As an argument for the fact that our article in which we outline that COVID19 PCR tests are scientifically meaningless is incorrect, you also state that “Health care providers have also used them for detecting viruses like HIV.”

But in fact, the PCR test is not sufficient to detect an HIV infection, so why should it be good enough to detect a SARS-CoV-2 infection?

11. You claim the “OffGuardian has a track record of publishing conspiracy theories.”

Are you not aware of the fact that the term “conspiracy theory” has been introduced by the CIA in 1967 with the sole purpose of discrediting politically unpopular views?

Why do you use this term which is nothing else than an ad hominem reasoning instead of focussing on what is factualy right or wrong?

12. You write, “There are three main coronavirus tests: diagnostic, antibody and antigen. Diagnostic tests, also known as PCR tests,…” This is not correct.

Didn’t you know that any test to determine the cause of a disease is a “diagnostic test”–and that PCR tests are also called “molecular tests” (and that to say that “diagnostic tests are also known as PCR tests” is not correct)?

13. At the very beginning of your article you write “Bloggers stated on June 27, 2020 in an article.”

How do you get round naming us “bloggers”?

I am first of all a journalist, and my co-author Konstantin has never acted as blogger. And this term “blogger” has not been mentioned in the brief curriculum vitae on our OffGuardian article, either!

[NB. This question was added in a follow-up email sent a few days later – ed.]

… please allow me to add another question:

14.How can you deliver unbiased results if you are financed by major corporations such as Facebook or the The E.W. Scripps Company (see here) and if even the Poynter Institute which acquired you in 2018 cannot, with all the will in the world, be described as unaffected by major capital interests (see here)?

I am looking forward to receiving your answers.

Best wishes,
Torsten Engelbrecht

This e-mail was originally sent on the 23rd of July, with a follow up on the 28th. Since then, neither OffGuardian nor the author have received any reply.

*This sentence is amended for the sake of clarity, and slightly different from the version in the original email.^

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Pink Panther
Pink Panther
Dec 10, 2020 1:59 PM

When scientists read your “refuting” of PolitiFacts, there are only two possible reactions: laughter or dismay. Because you show in a very dramatic way that you don’t really understand much about the matter and therefore come to your many wrong conclusions. But there is another way to show you how reliable the PCR test is. Take a look at the worldwide statistics regarding the positivity rate of the test, the number of hospitatlizations and the number of deaths. The curves follow each other very symmetrically. When the positivity rate of the test increases, the number of hospitalizations increases very soon, and then, unfortunately, the number of deaths also increases. If the positivity rate decreases again, the number of hospitalizations also decreases and then the number of deaths also increases. Hopefully, the hospitalizations are the part where even you see the least possibility of manipulation, because who could force people to… Read more »

eduardo
eduardo
Dec 21, 2020 7:15 AM
Reply to  Pink Panther

oh pink!
that was abysmal logic, correlation does not equal causation

normal seasonality (cold and flu season) is the cause of increases in testing, hospitalizations and deaths
look at how there are practically no more flu’s this season, only corona

it is clear you did not understand the science torsten was laying out
but simply put, pcr tests are not meant for diagnostics, only multiplication

think of photocopying a set of fingerprints millions of times
with those copies all you can see is the original fingerprints, not who committed the crime

Steven Avery
Steven Avery
Aug 22, 2020 7:41 PM

Dear Torsten Engelbrecht and Off-Guardia

Fantastic article and comments!
Thanks! 

And I found this article because I was looking up a “fact-check”! 

Politifact – July 7, 2020

OffGuardian makes several other inaccurate claims in its article, including: …..Between 22% and 77% “of the ‘positive’ tests are false ‘positives.’”Currently, about 92% of tests in the United States produce negative results

Beyond the number confusion (mangling your claim and source) that you highlight, there is an epic fail of Logic 101. 

Politifact has to be a special type of stupid to think that the % of negative results can ever effect the false positive pct and make it inaccurate!

SzymonMazury
SzymonMazury
Oct 10, 2020 6:02 PM
Reply to  Steven Avery

I believe in perfect conditions the ratio could rawly indicate something but actual conditions are highly imperfect.
It begs another question if the samples are taken in a proper way and what is the success rate of taking sample from an infected subject effectively…
The improperly taken samples not only increases % of negative results but also increases the group of falsely negative cases.
And this only adds to the other factors which can produce false negative cases as mentioned above questioned preliminary RNA “conversion to complementary DNA”.

Imagine having not only ineffective method of data analysis but also a twice distorted input data set to analyse with the method. The scale of error accumulates and i suspect not only nobody measures it but nobody is even aware of it.

Ryan Matters
Ryan Matters
Aug 19, 2020 9:28 PM

‘Fact checkers’ are incredibly dangerous forms of information control and censorship. What’s even MORE dangerous? People actually believing them. Thank you, Torsten for your fine work. We will win this.

R Anand
R Anand
Aug 6, 2020 2:52 PM

I am glad that Torsten Engelbrecht chose to respond to that so-called “fact check” site because in doing so he has elaborated the arguments.

And, that is simply wonderful!

The response makes more clearer how the high powers in the scientfic community (incuding the pharma industry) have manipulated the fact and tried to deceive everyone on cvid19.

Thank you, Torsten!

Politighoul
Politighoul
Aug 5, 2020 8:51 PM

Politifact is a tried-and-true source for “debunking” anything that goes against the mainstream Covid-19 narrative.

After all, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, along with over $300,000 worth in grants from them to the Poynter Institute, will ensure that keeps happening.

Jon Lawrence Brown
Jon Lawrence Brown
Aug 5, 2020 6:16 PM

The issue is that most people are ignorant or have an agenda. How do we get people to believe the truth and begin to discuss real science. How can we stop the spread of misinformation when it is politicians, corporations, and governments controlling the narrative that best suits them? Its awesome power to have the truth, but how can it be used when people are so ignorant? I can show someone specifically what the results of a study are, but they still believe in what they are told by those ignorant people they trust.

R Anand
R Anand
Aug 6, 2020 2:54 PM

I guess we have to kep trying in a detached manner. In time maybe they will realise.

Keep emailing to fellow citizens, keep tweeting, keep posting elsewhere!

Mishko
Mishko
Aug 3, 2020 8:52 PM

Well, Politifacts, Scritty Polittifacts in and of itself is a propaganda conduit.
So it is a nice exercise to check/doublecheck/verify their shenanigans, but that is all.

Professor Dr. G
Professor Dr. G
Aug 2, 2020 6:51 PM

Torsten is 100% correct. The so called fact check is nonsense. Does Covid 19 cause the pathology? Not proven yet. As an expert in Molecular Biology who developed and used PCR since the mid 1980’s as well as antibody tests I can assure you it is not easy to develop these tests and to have ones that are specific without some kind of partial purification of the nucleic acid or protein you are testing for is nearly impossible. These are the facts but of course facts are not important any longer.

Pink Panther
Pink Panther
Dec 10, 2020 2:06 PM

You are surely not an expert in molecular biology, and if so, you are among the 2% of scientist who believe this shit. You would know that the PCR test is, when done properly, a very reliable test.

Simon
Simon
Dec 27, 2020 8:23 AM
Reply to  Pink Panther

If that is true, why lyme disease sufferers hear their doctors constantly say that their positive PCR test results are unreliable and therefor rejected and denied?

Freedom Has Few Friends
Freedom Has Few Friends
Dec 31, 2020 4:14 PM
Reply to  Pink Panther

They’re not being done properly CT values above 35 are not reliable.

hoaxamox
hoaxamox
Aug 1, 2020 6:51 PM

folks what I am experiencing is that the PTB do not wish to solve the pandemic. I have posted over and over again that the steps in the infection process (that lead to a victim patient) can be intercepted and thereby no one should be infected, the hospital will not need more space, and no vaccine will be needed, and the morgues will not over populate. First the virus must continue to self replicate in large numbers less it dies off. Just recently a so called mistake was discovered when the hand sanitizes were recalled because they were concocted from CH03 instead of C2H5 0H < I believe an entire industry made the same mistake as much as I believe the words were placed in a published book by mistake! second the virus gains entry into the living human victim cells by a process called infection. For this process to… Read more »

George Mc
George Mc
Aug 1, 2020 9:46 PM
Reply to  hoaxamox

the PTB do not wish to solve the pandemic.

The “pandemic” can be anything they want. Symptoms indistinguishable from the flu (and indeed the common cold) therefore: Want to boost the figures? Just include these sniffles here. To lower, just ignore. etc.

John Ervin
John Ervin
Aug 1, 2020 11:46 PM
Reply to  hoaxamox

Dave Emory broadcasts this Wednesday at midnight California time (7 or 8am GB Thursday) much added context and history for the Deep Spook presence in biowarfare and the Plandemic19(84) (more program notes on home page of spitfirelist.com): WEDNESDAY NIGHT MIDNIGHT (I.E. THURSDAY A.M.), AUGUST 5 (KPFK.ORG L.A.) 12-1 Dave Emory, ”For the Record #1137 – Lyme Disease and Biological Warfare, Part 3″ JUNE 30, 2020 Further developing the links between biological warfare research and the Lyme Disease establishment, we review information from FTR #585 [archived]. At every turn, Lyme disease research is inextricably linked with biological warfare research. Divided into the “Steere” and “ILADS” camps, the Lyme disease research community is split between the view that the disease is “hard-to-catch, easy-to-cure” and the diametrically opposed view that the disease is very serious and produces long-term neurological disorder. The Steere camp diminishes the significance of the disease and is closely identified… Read more »

Ergo
Ergo
Aug 3, 2020 2:01 AM
Reply to  John Ervin

As for the current scamdemic, the PTB want us to be deceived and they need us to look for other causes of supposed pandemics. They rub their hands in glee when we doubt and search for answers and present convincing theses that explain the behaviour of viruses. For that very conveniently pushes us all into a conspiratorial mindset where attention is diverted away from the aims of a global reset. This scamdemic is so outragiously plated up for the confused masses, that it is swallowed hook, line and sinker by us all, even if we protest and refuse to be cowered by governmental decrees. It has been perfectly designed to run each of us down into a dispirited, obedient, self doubting psychological mess, separated and thus controlled. There is no contagious virus and it has been shown over and over but no one wants to hear it because it is… Read more »

Rachel
Rachel
Aug 2, 2020 2:27 PM
Reply to  hoaxamox

there was no pandemic. it was just the allopaths running round like headless chickens trying to generate a customer base for their failed system.

Kalen
Kalen
Aug 1, 2020 2:25 PM

More COVID fear porn from KABC.

California health officials reported the state’s FIRST coronavirus death of a child on Friday, saying the victim was a teenager and had other health conditions.

Further information about the teen was not released. ..[but] ..

The death of this patient [supposedly, since we have no clue about it as that information is suppressed, and conveniently ] reaffirms that children — (and no age group) — are not immune from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the medical facility said in a statement.

Sweeping and baseless conclusions denying the fact that children COVID mortality rate in below one in hundred thousands. That means that he likely died WITH coronavirus and cause of death was in most part ..other Health conditions which we are told nothing about.

Someone does not want schools to open this year at all. Guess who it is. SV oligarchy.

John Ervin
John Ervin
Aug 3, 2020 6:49 AM
Reply to  Kalen

My (solid) speculation is not so much that this is about schools not reopening as much as it is about: “transitioning” the world online. Online classes, and everything else online, are about 100x more amenable to psyops (and many other artificial projects) than actual classrooms.

Switching to virtual education hugely accelerates the timetables of many many false and artificial agendas….

In short, of the criminals, by the criminals, and for the criminals…

Kleptocracy.

When it gets to this point of supervillain Organized Crime, our options become more spiritual .

Jim McDonagh
Jim McDonagh
Aug 1, 2020 2:00 PM

Great rebuttal thanks for it !

Kalen
Kalen
Aug 1, 2020 1:57 PM

The severe criticism of ct-qPCR test by authors of OFFG article for its lack of specificity, lack of determination of virility (virus alive or dead) and scope of infection (mild benign or extensive dangerous) is confirmed by US government agency called FDA. And hence most manufacturers of ct-qPCR test kits warn about perils of using it for clinical diagnostics of cases what they do not recommend. Manufacturer: Creative Diagnostics website. SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Multiplex RT-qPCR Kit (CD019RT) Regulatory status: For research use only, NOT FOR USE IN DIAGNOSTICS PROCEDURES. Datasheet COA SDS Summary Documentation Specificity: non-specific interference of Influenza A Virus (H1N1), Influenza B Virus (Yamagata), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (type B), Respiratory Adenovirus (type 3, type 7), Parainfluenza Virus (type 2), Mycoplasma Pneumoniae, Chlamydia Pneumoniae, etc.,. From FDA approval letter for Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., RTqPCR test. Positive results are indicative of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid; clinical correlation with patient… Read more »

Steve Hayes
Steve Hayes
Aug 1, 2020 1:47 PM

The self appointed “fact checkers” are nothing more than propagandists, working to prop up official narratives. Back in 2016 before the US presidential election fact checkers were asserting that the claim that Hillary Clinton had characterised half of Trump’s supporters as deplorable was false. This is what the fact checkers do. It is why they are funded.

Kalen
Kalen
Aug 1, 2020 1:36 PM

Good but too timid and defensive. I would focus on rampant blunders of fact checkers including their frequent approval for blatant scientific fraud or rejecting hard scientifically proven facts while peddling corporate or government interests and narratives expedient and profitable for their sponsors. That alone destroys their implied credibility. But that is not all. “Fact” checkers complete lack of any expertise in the field they express their unsolicited judgments that mostly are limited to ad hominem attacks on authors, disturbing lack of journalistic integrity and any admission of rampant incompetency and material ignorance behind commonly made gross errors in judgment is simply beyond the pale of any journalistic standard but within realm of Orwellian newspeak propaganda they seem to excel in. It must be stated what “fact” checkers are. They are private censorship outfits “Mocking Bird” style funded by special capital groups with huge conflicts of interests that determine scope… Read more »

NicS
NicS
Aug 2, 2020 1:11 AM
Reply to  Kalen

Fact-checkers both trap others and are trapped themselves by the narratives controlling what they see as truth. The best liars believe their own lies. I explain how this process works through a personal experience which led me to this conclusion here:

https://medium.com/@nickhunt_41682/how-not-to-become-a-climate-crisis-fear-monger-e6cf65168c21

County Girl
County Girl
Aug 4, 2020 7:49 PM
Reply to  NicS

Thank you for your article, NicS. Made sense to me.

‘Science’ is always changing – as more is discovered, or lately, as more commercial bias pushes its nasty agendas.

Tom Amlie
Tom Amlie
Aug 1, 2020 1:03 PM

You’re assuming that they even care whether they are correct or incorrect. Writing a long, detailed rebuttal is a great service to impartial readers, but as far as sending it to “Politifact” or any other “fact checking” organization is concerned it is a complete and utter waste of time. They will never acknowledge its receipt or any of the arguments raised in it. They’re not interested in finding the truth.

JudyJ
JudyJ
Aug 1, 2020 1:09 PM
Reply to  Tom Amlie

True enough, Tom. But if the allegations made by any ‘fact checking’ organisation are not publicly rebutted in the strongest terms it is just more fuel for them to contend that an absence of counter-response serves to prove that they must have been correct in their verdict and the libelled party has vanished with their tail between their legs.

JohnEss
JohnEss
Aug 1, 2020 1:46 PM
Reply to  JudyJ

Absolutely.

As it goes…

”All it takes for evil to triumph….”

Call those bastards out on everything.

Arby
Arby
Aug 2, 2020 1:05 AM
Reply to  JohnEss

As a community, we can accomplish that huge task. Many hands make light work.

Tom Welsh
Tom Welsh
Aug 1, 2020 12:12 PM

An excellent, detailed and precise article that crushingly refutes the unscientific criticisms levelled through Politifact. As a professional editor and writer, I have one small warning to offer, relating to the following sentence fragment: “As an argument for the fact that our article in which we outline that COVID19 PCR tests are scientifically meaningless is incorrect…” A fact cannot be incorrect. Therefore the wording used is unnecessarily weak. I would reword it as: “As an argument for the claim that our article in which we outline that COVID19 PCR tests are scientifically meaningless is incorrect…” Instead of claim, “statement” or “proposition” would also come into consideration. The key point is that a “fact” can never be wrong or in doubt. By definition, a fact is what is the case. The whole sentence shows signs of having been translated from German, as such complex nested sentences are unusual in English and… Read more »

Steve Hayes
Steve Hayes
Aug 1, 2020 1:49 PM
Reply to  Tom Welsh

Facts can be inaccurate. If I say: “This is a chair.” That is a fact. If I am referring to a chair, it is accurate. If I am referring to a table, it is inaccurate.

Tom Welsh
Tom Welsh
Aug 1, 2020 2:04 PM
Reply to  Steve Hayes

“If I say: “This is a chair.” That is a fact”. It is a fact that you said “This is a chair”. It happens, in that case, to be a fact that the item referred to is actually a chair. If you say: ‘This is a chair’ when referring to a table, your statement is untrue and not a fact. ======================================================== fact n   noun a thing that is indisputably the case. Ø(facts) information used as evidence or as part of a report. Øchiefly Law the truth about events as opposed to interpretation. PHRASES    before (or after) the fact Law before (or after) the committing of a crime.    a fact of life something that must be accepted, even if unpalatable.    the facts of life information about sexual matters, especially as given to children.    in (point of) fact in reality. ORIGIN    C15 (originally meaning ‘an act’, later ‘a crime’, surviving in the phrase… Read more »

Ort
Ort
Aug 1, 2020 10:43 PM
Reply to  Tom Welsh

This is a refreshing change of pace from the public discourse in which I am generally fated to wallow, with its “true facts” and “free gifts”. 😉

richard
richard
Aug 3, 2020 10:40 PM
Reply to  Steve Hayes

My friend said: “there are no such things as facts!”.
I said: “Is that a fact?”
He wouldn’t answer…

Steve Hayes
Steve Hayes
Aug 4, 2020 11:39 AM
Reply to  richard

I cannot recall how many people have told me there is no such thing as knowledge. As you can doubtless guess, none of them has ever told me how they know this.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 1, 2020 11:33 AM

Previously in “The SARS-CoV-2 → COVID-19 Connection is Speculative Unscientific Crap…”: TE: I (Torsten Engelbrecht) have been working on this topic for about 30 years, I am in contact with all the relevant top experts. RBB: Always reassuring to see dissenting authors publishing in dissenting media drawing authority from elevated expertise. TE: I hope we agree that speculations based on an argumentum ad hominem are out of place. RBB: No ad hominems involved. You wouldn’t be one of those homines who incorporates their expressed mindsets into their actual persons, would you? A rephrasing interpolated here to as clarification of the sentence immediately above (c.f. the footnote to the article): “No ad hominens involved. You wouldn’t be one of those people who confuses ad hominems with modus operandii, would you?” TE: Please recall what Nobel lautreate Temin stated. “When an experiment is challenged no matter who it is challenged by, it’s… Read more »

Freeborn John
Freeborn John
Aug 1, 2020 11:06 AM

YEAH, Yah boo sucks, what he said.

Reg
Reg
Aug 1, 2020 10:07 AM

Rappoport on HCQ and the threat to Big Pharma’s grand design for a vaccine windfall.

https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2020/07/30/hcq-covid-fda-and-pharma-and-all-its-whores/

Carnyx
Carnyx
Aug 1, 2020 9:31 AM

Will the authors of the article even get an answer never mind an apology?

Like Bellingcat, Politifact are just another bunch of flak and spaff artists shilling for their corporate/gov sponsors.

It’s a growth industry…

Savorywill
Savorywill
Aug 1, 2020 3:43 AM

A bit more on ‘fact-checking’ and how biased sites such as Snopes are, this clip is an insightful expose about the sudden renunciation of Margaret Sanger by the organization she founded, Planned Parenthood. Apparently her statue is coming down in NYC at the headquarters and she is now a pariah, unmentionable. Snopes does acknowledge this but failed to delve deeply into the story as a lot of ‘inconvenient truths’ are there.

From Talking Heads about facts:

Facts aren’t lazy and facts aren’t lame
Facts don’t come with points of view
Facts don’t do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around

John Ervin
John Ervin
Aug 1, 2020 11:56 PM
Reply to  Savorywill

I’ve been hearing that Talking Heads riff on a loop in my inner ear for weeks. From “Remain in Light” album, by that Aspergers Syndrome superstar, David Byrne (a bit before his glorious soundtrack for The Last Emperor).

Tim Jenkins
Tim Jenkins
Aug 3, 2020 6:32 PM
Reply to  John Ervin

What? Psycho Killer, the product of Aspergers Syndrome Byrne ‘s vivid imagination?
Come on John, stop making sense once in a lifetime. 😉

Moneycircus
Moneycircus
Aug 1, 2020 3:40 AM

Former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson is one of the small-but-growing number of journalists now outside the industry calling out Google and the “fact-checkers”. She discovered it was former Google-Pentagon exec Eric Schmidt who first promoted the fake news slur that backfired so badly on the Corporatist Media.

Attkisson’s also been covering Event Covid from her website (Google responded by limiting search traffic). Heres one of her latest about the “fact-checkers” Media Matters aka David Brock aka Shareblue.

Media Matters is joining big tech and others leading a panicked, fact-challenged campaign against hydroxychloroquine. What’s behind the continued media campaign against hydroxychloroquine? (PODCAST)
https://sharylattkisson.com/2020/07/whats-behind-the-continued-media-campaign-against-hydroxychloroquine-podcast/

Buster Bloodvessel
Buster Bloodvessel
Aug 1, 2020 7:55 AM
Reply to  Moneycircus

It’s important for people to know that the silicon valley giants were established , funded, directed by the folks at the cia . The story that that current frontmen developed these companies from a garden shed is total bs , they are hand picked figureheads . its also important to know the cia is not a law enforcement agency . It’s an intelligence and surveillance agency . This causes a huge tension in the center of the US state because the intelligence side is basically peopled with a completely different ideological/political agenda to the law enforcement side . They want to know who you are ,what you think , who you know and what they think , and then their objective is to change those views to the officially approved version . people need to realise the West is undergoing a cultural revolution and the agenda is to totally reshape… Read more »

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 1, 2020 11:47 AM
Reply to  Moneycircus

Former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson…

What’s the drum kit about?

What’s the little O.J. acquittal moment she has in the last microsecond of exiting screen right?

Where’s Petra, the Off-Guardian’s resident “they always tell you and chortle” Limited Hangout Consultant?

Wayne Coleman
Wayne Coleman
Aug 1, 2020 1:53 AM

Wow! Superb response by Torsten Engelbrecht! And Point 14 regarding “following the money” is so critical. It is already enough to deal with the fake news of money-driven mainstream media. And now we must deal with the falsified reports of the money-driven “fact”-checkers. So disappointing. Let us know if you ever receive a meaningful response from the Politifact “fact”-checkers.

Roberto
Roberto
Aug 1, 2020 1:48 AM

Fact check sites are just an adjunct to the MSM/State propaganda machine, meant to give members of the cult convenient rebuttals to facts. To argue with them is like arguing about faith, or belief.
The rationalisations and obfuscations are often quite tedious, quibbling about insignificant detail to deflect from the thrust of the claim to be refuted , ad hominem attack is typical, and as often as not the result of the ‘fact-check’ is specious. Additionally, when the term ‘debunked’ is employed this is usually a leading indicator of the inverse. 

Moneycircus
Moneycircus
Aug 1, 2020 1:37 AM

Fact checkers are nothing but censors for the Corporatist State and their political puppets on a string.

Just keep an eye on what they choose to check and what they wave through. That tells you they are partisan and that they are gatekeepers.

Sandie Shaw – Puppet On A String (1967)

Ergo
Ergo
Aug 1, 2020 1:27 AM

A really impressive response by Engelbrecht in response to the Politifact assertions.
We are entering such dangerous times and applaud the cogent, factual and logical arguments that push back with sound force.
A similar fate awaits those on the other side of the dimishing world:
https://tottnews.com/2020/07/07/online-taskforce-targeting-dissent

Tex
Tex
Aug 1, 2020 1:24 AM

Those fuckers should be thrown in a raw sewage pit without a key. They are pathetic scum.

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 3:53 PM
Reply to  Tex

If they had have thrown them in 18 months ago they would have found COVID-19 in there….or maybe they would forget that one…..

RNAsplicer
RNAsplicer
Aug 1, 2020 1:24 AM

There are a number of concerns about RT-qPCR accuracy and utility in predicting viable viral particles, or revealing presence of an infection. Some of these concerns have been correctly pointed out in this article, especially the ones that are of most consequence. RT-qPCR testing might have some limited utility in understanding the spread of a virus in a population. However, counting a positive RT-qPCR result as a “COVID case”, based on this assay alone, is a joke, every molecular biologist knows that. The only true way to learn about the state of person’s infection is to count the infectious virus particles from that person. This is difficult to do. To clarify statements in your question one, I would like to point out that in RNA research, RT-qPCR is a relatively sensitive technique to detect specific RNA in a mixture of unrelated RNA. The beauty of this assay is that one… Read more »

Paul
Paul
Aug 1, 2020 10:54 AM
Reply to  RNAsplicer

Some good points.

The most important thing is the tests are not 100% reliable and are prone to both false positives and false negatives.

Even if the test was accurate a positive test doesn’t confirm the disease.

We have been told from the start Covid19 pneumonia is new and strange. But it’s never been properly defined or explained or how they are differentiating between Covid19 pneumonia and other pneumonia’s.

RNAsplicer
RNAsplicer
Aug 6, 2020 8:42 AM
Reply to  Paul

I completely agree.

Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane
Aug 1, 2020 1:21 AM

This is what I sent below to a Covid cultist They could not answer any of my questions. They believe its real solely as they are told by media “the hospitals are collapsing and people are dying”. People who test postive for corona antibodies are they immune or infected? Why would you have specific antibodies circulating in blood without an active infection? Many who have tested positive in a corona antibody test after a month do not have antibodies. How then is a vaccine going to work if people are not showing sars CoV antibodies months after infection? And are the corona antibodies specific just to corona virus? There are 7 other known corona viruses( inc global spread sars coV of 2002 ) are they not cross reacting antibodies in the tests, the scientists say they do. What about the antibody-dependent enhancement theory? Would/could that happen with the proposed corona vaccination?                                                         If in 20yrs they could not develop a vaccine for… Read more »

Oggy
Oggy
Aug 1, 2020 4:59 AM
Reply to  Calamity Jane

I am assuming your data is correct in the last para,your question is appropiate,…..perhaps Gain of Function Virus escaped and spooked them , the Chinese to start with , then spreading to the West afterwards.If Gain Of Function is the cause of the panic ,then that has been shown to be unfounded as the IFR is roughly equivalent to Seasonal Flu.Having said that, its mutation rate may be slow due to GF and therefore circulate for many years as is ,causing further deaths down the line,hence the 2nd wave narrative ad infinitum.

Moneycircus
Moneycircus
Aug 1, 2020 1:16 AM

Microsoft in talks to buy TikTok as Trump prepares to force saleTech giant in talks as Chinese owner ByteDance may be required to sell the company Evidence, again, that Microsoft acts as a front for the Security State under the plausible cover of expanding Diddum’s business. What do the following have in common: Nokia Devices – Nokia already was losing its way but Msoft took the main player out of the market, leaving it open to Android (66% share as of 2020) – That platform Google is so kind and loving, it just gives Android away for nothing — shucks, it fair brings a tear to the eye. Linkedin Skype Windows 10 – with built-in “backdoor” access for the CIA/NSA Many more.. like keyboard alternative SwiftKey which has access to everything you tap into your phone. Note a key tactic in Silicon Valley is to buy a prospect just to… Read more »

Eyes Open
Eyes Open
Aug 1, 2020 7:57 AM
Reply to  Moneycircus

I noticed SwiftKey suddenly has a Microsoft label on it.

Carnyx
Carnyx
Aug 1, 2020 9:41 AM
Reply to  Moneycircus

Well if Microsoft buy TikTok that’ll be the kiss of death to it… thank God!
I wonder if the previous MS owner will get exclusive access to the content? Suppose he will have to make do with watching now that his buddies are gone

John Ervin
John Ervin
Aug 2, 2020 12:17 AM
Reply to  Moneycircus

In the 1940s GM and other automotive crime partners bought all the LA cable cars, the Red Line, and stacked them on top of each other near Long Beach, like fish in a can, unused, not even recycled. I saw the last ones from my mother’s jalopy when I was 3, “What are those Mommy?” She thought I was tripping. I described one rounding a corner, in 1955. “That must be the last one. I hadn’t seen one in years. They used to take you just everywhere, no waiting time at all.” They were prosecuted in a Federal Court for “conspiracy to destroy public transportation”, found totally guilty, and then given barely a slap on the wrist. Much like John D. Rockefeller, the poster boy for all this, who became the world’s first billionaire over a century ago. After anti-trust legislation in 1913, the Sherman Act, broke up his Standard… Read more »

Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane
Aug 1, 2020 1:10 AM

What is missing is the disease( *no proof of one either) psyop all based on an old Germ Theory that new findings about human virome refute.
You would need to have a new set of symptoms and there is not there are many causes for pneumonia bacterial and fungal .
There is no new disease called covid .And it would have to be proved.
Along with proving a string of ( *unpurified as PCR is contaminated with human dna which is a no no for transcribing RNA) rna as the sole cause.

https://notpublicaddress.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/enter-the-truth-of-the-human-virome-which-is-in-all-healthy-people/

Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane
Aug 1, 2020 1:24 AM
Reply to  Calamity Jane

“The SARS-CoV-2needs to be distinguished from other known viral pneumonias including influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, human metapneumovirus, SARS coronavirus, MERS coronavirus, as well as Mycoplasma pneumoniae, chlamydia pneumonia, fungal and bacterial pneumonias. For patients with underlying diseases, attention should be paid to the detection of invasive fungal infections. The differential diagnosis also includes non-infectious diseases such as vasculitis, dermatomyositis, and organizing pneumonia. It should be noted that often patients with viral pneumonia may test positive to multiple viruses.” And yet this was not done, PCR tests which the CDC say are not a man in a motorcycle accident was said to have died from “Covid” quoted from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7126544/ PCR “Positive [test] results are indicative of active infection with Sars CoV but do not rule out bacterial infection, fungal infections or co-infection with other viruses. The agent detected may not be the definite cause of disease. .” CDC… Read more »

Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane
Aug 1, 2020 1:26 AM
Reply to  Calamity Jane

 I found his WHO quote interesting: SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) Nov 2002 pandemic to June 2003. The wide varying “set of symptoms” already have an existing named disease to explain  primarily Influenza – bacterial/fungal infection pneumonia and stress induced hypoxia are not new. “No individual symptom or cluster of symptoms has proved to be specific for a diagnosis of SARS.” Both Sars CoV and Sars CoV2  molecular same nucleic acids β-CoVs Beta : 5′-leader-UTR-replicase-S (Spike)–E (Envelope)-M (Membrane)-N (Nucleocapsid)-3′UTRpoly (A) tail. A PCR test does not check complete genome sequence, PCR test only tests for 100 nucleotides out of 30,000. The combination of SARS-CoV-2 S and ACE2 of host cells is similar to the combination of SARS-CoV and ACE2, indicating that they have the same mechanism to entry into host cells. identical symptoms (same influenza like, fungal infections , bacterial infection, or asymptomatic ).  It is noteworthy that almost 20 years after SARS, there is still no vaccine for coronavirus. Vaccines that have been developed are either not effective, or… Read more »

NicS
NicS
Aug 2, 2020 3:01 AM
Reply to  Calamity Jane

Anyone doubting the existence of Covid-19 can learn how the Wuhan team located and isolated deadly coronaviruses from bats from this Nature report, 2013:

Isolation and characterization of a bat SARS-like coronavirus that uses the ACE2 receptor

John Pretty
John Pretty
Aug 1, 2020 12:57 AM

Off topic, but topical.

I have a candidate for the phantom downvoter. I reckon it’s the ever-popular dungroanin, who a couple of days ago I supported by saying that he was entitled to his opinion, and who has repaid me today by trolling my comments on the previous thread.

I generally ignore it, but I’ve been fairly wound up by the latest news from the regime.

Dung may not be one of the 77th, but I reckon if they do come here that he must be their favorite pet. Why would they want to bother when they have an unpaid stooge willing to do all their work for them?

Now I shall go back to ignoring it.

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 4:02 PM
Reply to  John Pretty

What does it matter if people down vote a comment? Po-pularity is for the Po-licitions. I have to say it’s rare I downvote a comment I tend to just scroll on if someone is talking bollocks.

tonyopmoc
tonyopmoc
Aug 1, 2020 12:03 AM

Nowt is worth a joss stick, if you have lost your soul.

London is Still a Safe Place to Walk Home Alone

Late at Night. I have done it loads of times.

It is also safe for a Single White Female to walk home alone…

So far as I know.

We are not terrorised.

We are not in Fear

She is home now – put her mask on and got an uber/

I was seriously missing her and it was only a few hours

She still looks magnifient in her long sexy dress, and really likes my chips, which I just cooked her, I kind of knew she was on her way home.

It is nothing to do with mobile phones. She didn’t comminicate on her mobile phone

I think it is something else, which I simply cannot describe.

LOVE

Tony

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Aug 1, 2020 12:27 AM
Reply to  tonyopmoc

😻😻😻
Sure it ain’t a bit of cabin fever T?

We are ALL connected.

It pisses some people off – who like to think THEY are in charge.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 1, 2020 12:52 PM
Reply to  DunGroanin

“We are ALL connected.”

And not only in the mystic hippy vib(I/Om)e. Also in the physical biomes and their multitudinous, intimately-connected sub-, micro-, internal- and noöspheric biomes through which and only through which we jointly inhabit the planet and without which (or with a serious degredation of any of which) we collectively or individually could not. Insufferably interdependent.

I am the light that is over all. I am the All. The All came forth from me, and to me the All has come. Split a piece of wood–I am there. Lift a rock–there you will find me.

.

“It pisses some people off – who like to think THEY are in charge.”

Not as much as it pisses off those who choose to believe THEY should be.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 1, 2020 1:09 PM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

Nailed a blockquote bug. In plaintext mode two (or more) blockquotes in succession separated only by whitespace are run into a single blockquote.

In Rich Text mode: ?
Clientside error: ?
Workaround: insert any non-whitespace character between them.
Fix: fix.

tonyopmoc
tonyopmoc
Aug 1, 2020 1:44 AM
Reply to  tonyopmoc

I usually buy most of the latest Lighting Technology from China, but I think my latest toy was designed and maybe built in Italy…though may have borrowed some of the tech from China, and Copied it a bit and improved on it. It might say made in Italy on it – and I do like Italians It does say Made in Italy. So I bought another. My son had already paid The Chinese a lot of money for his latest toy..but they gave him all the details re import taxes and delivery costs.. and then he realised it would be so expensive, which the Chinese told him (I think The Chinese are the most honest and most talented people in the World at the moment) The Chinese Instantly Refunded his Money. Not many people are like that/// So its coming sometime within the next few days… Its Designed and Built… Read more »

tonyopmoc
tonyopmoc
Aug 1, 2020 4:15 AM
Reply to  tonyopmoc

The vast majority people of do not understand the inherited muscular disease of myatonia congenita My oldest brother and sister had it, so I was a bit worried, in case I passed it on to my Children My Sister-in-Law a trained Geneticist, and a completely lovely person… Told me the chances of it being passed on to your children, if you ever have any – are about a Million to One…unless you make love to a family member, which I proved too. Cos both my Kids could swim like Fish. I am getting a bit of an old man now, and I have still got it – never taken any drugs for it…. i just tensed my muscles and lived with it. Hardly anyone knew.. I now as I get older, often use a walking stick.. and people ask me, why are you using that… So tonight, I opened the… Read more »

MaryLS
MaryLS
Aug 2, 2020 5:03 AM
Reply to  tonyopmoc

Nice verses. Nice thoughts.

County Girl
County Girl
Aug 4, 2020 8:44 PM
Reply to  tonyopmoc

I love your cheerful comments and I love how you adore your wife.

I understand how you ‘know’ and ‘communicate’ with your wife and how it develops over the years a couple are together, if they are close and loving.

Thank you Tony

Charlotte Russe
Charlotte Russe
Jul 31, 2020 11:58 PM

IT SMELLS FISHY COVID-19 is not a disease it’s an enterprise. Predatory Labs, big chain drug stores, billion dollar pharmaceutical industries, and personal protective equipment manufacturers (PPE) are extracting as much cash as possible from the coronavirus crisis. It appears medical profiteers are just as rapacious as war profiteers they both amass great wealth profiting from misery and death.   By the way, why is there such an obsession with COVID testing. During every past flu season people only took a flu test if they felt ill. It would be considered odd to take a test for the flu virus if you had no symptoms. Now millions of the healthy and asymptomatic are being tested for the coronavirus. It should be noted, that often the test results are positive one day and negative the next…… What’s most illogical is a test given today will have NO validity tomorrow, since someone can contract a virus after they… Read more »

John Ervin
John Ervin
Aug 2, 2020 12:26 AM

Covid1984, the psyops, may be a growth industry, but its chief purpose is as the biggest Trojan Horse ever to roll out, and in, to our Global Village.

Charlotte Ruse
Charlotte Ruse
Aug 2, 2020 12:48 AM
Reply to  John Ervin

I discuss that point in the 8/1 article “How To Take Back Control of Your Mind.”

Charlotte Ruse
Charlotte Ruse
Aug 2, 2020 12:59 AM
Reply to  John Ervin

In my comment regarding the article How to Take Back Your Mind I describe how COVID-19 is being used to psychologically manipulate the public.

John Ervin
John Ervin
Aug 2, 2020 2:51 AM
Reply to  Charlotte Ruse

Thanks. This film was one of my first Original Big Clues about the “anatomy” of all that, incendiary viewing:

https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/psywar-the-real-battlefield-is-the-mind/

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 4:06 PM

I’;ve avoided making money form it, despite my indistry being ripe to make a fortune. People have called me a mug for not capitlising and then a customer asked for osmething last week. I quoted him, £600 but ended up charging £300. I said COVID is a load of bollocks and he agreed. I still feel bad taking the £300 even though there are companies out there who would have charged him tho9usands(even £600 was well below the “going” rate”). I feel dirty, but I have a mortgage to pay and because of the scamdemic we are down a full wage.

Charlotte Russe
Charlotte Russe
Aug 3, 2020 5:19 PM
Reply to  Ælfræd

That’s the nature of capitalism, or for that matter most economic systems throughout history……. Of course there’s always exceptions, but most take advantage of a crisis to rip off the desperate……..

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 5:49 PM

It’s not capatlism but rather the point in having a mortgage(enclosure acts) and socialism (council tax). My spelling was awful above, I do need some new glasses.

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 5:50 PM
Reply to  Ælfræd

I have no issue with capatalism …or at least a true free market…..ownership of land, and money lending are where it goes wrong in my opinion(then socialism thrown into the mix).

Charlotte Russe
Charlotte Russe
Aug 3, 2020 7:34 PM
Reply to  Ælfræd

I understand, its an economic system which forces people to prey on others in order to survive–in other words– our culture promotes social Darwinism.

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 7:43 PM

Actually I think it inhibits Darwinism – massively. The elite get to engage in it now they have the most important asset – the land. We are then encouraged by the notion that we are in competition with each other, but it’s a scam. I mean why can’t I go find some land in the moors and build a factory? Or heaven forbid a house. What we plebs engage in is a series of minor transactions that we call capatalism only they generally lack true capital – eg land. When we buy a house, we merely buy the exclusive possession of it – we never own it, it is always owned by the Crown.

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 7:45 PM
Reply to  Ælfræd

ps what we are lift with is money….what alan Watts described as nothing more real then the inches on a ruler. Whereas they have what is of real value.

Charlotte Ruse
Charlotte Ruse
Aug 3, 2020 10:22 PM
Reply to  Ælfræd

Actually, it’s worse in China. You can only lease property and imminent domain seizes a ton of homes. You’re correct in the West land is a way of accruing wealth. That’s why so many will be financially devastated after they’re evicted from homes and large swaths of real estate is gobbled up by uber-wealthy speculators.

JGerhard
JGerhard
Jul 31, 2020 11:37 PM

You don’t understand Torsten.
They don’t have a clue what you were and are talking about.
They, their employer and its and their task is purely political: propaganda and diffamation.

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Jul 31, 2020 10:46 PM

Excellent.

I look forward to their response – which no doubt will be published here?

I’ll repeat again – the tests are unreliable- the only REAL data we have is Excess Deaths – and they occurred.

Tony
Tony
Jul 31, 2020 11:29 PM
Reply to  DunGroanin

The excess deaths are not a result of the virus, which has been with us since at least last autumn. They are a result of the lockdown, due to the shutdown of the NHS, and nursing homes being seeded by the NHS with elderly patients suffering from respiratory illnesses.

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Aug 1, 2020 12:28 AM
Reply to  Tony

Citation ?

Dave Patterson
Dave Patterson
Aug 1, 2020 3:45 AM
Reply to  DunGroanin

basic reasoning 101, most people develop this from a quite young age, if I drop this heavy rock on my foot it will hurt, I don’t need to have ‘citations’, If you tell people they can’t go to see a doctor, a lot of them are going to have serious repercussions, up to and including deaths. No citation needed. Exact details will come later, but the general idea is clear enough to people who don’t need to be told what to think by their cult leaders, whoever they may be.

Reg
Reg
Aug 1, 2020 5:30 AM
Reply to  Dave Patterson

I doubt the details will come later, seeing as we live in a vile propaganda matrix. Dun’s masters won’t allow any research into the impact of imprisoning people and destroying the economy. 2 + 2 = 5 in Dun’s pitiable world.

Dave Patterson
Dave Patterson
Aug 1, 2020 5:37 AM
Reply to  Reg

fortunately it’s not up to Dun and his ilk, as we see here on OffG and many other places, there are many actually honest scientists and doctors out there doing what they can to get some semblance of what is really going on out …

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Aug 1, 2020 9:02 AM
Reply to  Reg

I am, unlike you Reg, independent and work for no one but at my pleasure – in troll hunting and whakka modding.

It got me banned at On-G when I got very good at it, which kinda riled me – so was happy that O-G existed!

Imagine my disappointment then to find that it resembles the same as its namesake. Pig to man, man to pig …

Down to actual censorship now and aggressive / abusive / troll gangs.

I can spot you lot a mile off after so many years.

Keep coming Reg – we will dance yet.

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Aug 1, 2020 8:56 AM
Reply to  Dave Patterson

People who claim 101 as logic clearly fail to see that the starting point was at least a hundred steps before – at Zero.

Now put up your citation or move along.

Ewan Duffy
Ewan Duffy
Aug 1, 2020 1:18 PM
Reply to  DunGroanin

If absence of medical services does not lead to excess deaths, why have tax payer funded medical services?

George Mc
George Mc
Aug 1, 2020 9:24 AM
Reply to  Dave Patterson

Nah that answer won’t please DunG. If he were to drop a rock on his foot, he would demand citations and lots of coloured charts to convince him he’s been hurt before he can let out a scream.

Ort
Ort
Aug 1, 2020 10:36 PM
Reply to  George Mc

Not necessarily; the battle-hardened, downvote-besieged warrior may be the stuff of myth.

You may know the old fable of the Spartan lad who stole a fox cub and hid it under his tunic. The cub commenced to tear the lad’s tender flesh and gnaw out his vitals, but the stoic youth uttered nary a peep before falling down dead.

FWIW, the nuns in parochial school related this bloody fable approvingly in accordance with (reputed) Spartan culture, touting the Spartan lad’s forbearance and self-control.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 1, 2020 1:18 PM
Reply to  Dave Patterson

In this sad, simultaneous outbreak of human stupidity, mendacity and cupidity everything needs a citationity

Steve Hayes
Steve Hayes
Aug 1, 2020 1:56 PM
Reply to  DunGroanin
Evergreen
Evergreen
Aug 2, 2020 4:59 PM
Reply to  DunGroanin

And you are spearheading an effort to get grants to preform the studies you requIre so that you can then quibble and find problems with the results or the way the studies were conducted.?
Your faith (emotional pleading) in the
peer reviewed studies should be balanced with fact of the placebo effect,
which so far can not be explained but is a fact.

AI is running Covid19
AI is running Covid19
Aug 1, 2020 1:11 AM
Reply to  Tony

The NHS was never shutdown, only essential Cancer treatment, essential cardiac surgery, and indeed essential life saving / changing operations of all kinds were shutdown.

The staff at many hospitals were so bored waiting waiting for all the Covid patients that didnt show up that they coreographed and performed a wide variety of song and dance routines – all played on Tik-Tok and Youtube whilst those requiring life saving surgery were told to ‘Stay Home’ and ‘Save the NHS’, and of course clap for dance ‘heros’.

Reg
Reg
Aug 1, 2020 1:14 AM
Reply to  Tony

He’s a troll, Tony.

PWL
PWL
Aug 1, 2020 1:50 AM
Reply to  DunGroanin

Excess deaths. Proving what? Covid-19? But “the tests are unreliable”. I say the NHS withdrew its death pathway management leaving tens of thousands bound to die. As a simple test of the two ideas, which case can we say has the qualty of being more likely: i) the 95% of the 46,000 “Covid-19” deaths involving comorbidities were in fact due to the pre-existing illness (and it alone), but were redesignated (and attributed to “Covid-19”) because “the tests are unreliable” (a notion supported by ICNARC accounts of 4109 people in total having died of Covid-19 in English, Welsh and Northern Irish ICUs – implying 4109 deaths during necessary intervention for a specific respiratory infection turned lung disease); or, ii) forty thousand people contracted an infection of SARS-COV, developed damage to the lung (through the binding to ACE2), inexplicably did not receive the required escalated treatment (ICNARC: “[only] 10,624 patients [have been]… Read more »

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Aug 1, 2020 9:13 AM
Reply to  PWL

Death Parhway!

Are about ensuring a painless death and end of life care when quality of life becomes the issue.

Mostly at the behest of the mentally sound patient.

If you want to argue against the Excess Deaths -coinciding across the world, with traceable infection vectors clearly pointing to a new virus infection- do so please . With real scientific study of data.

All else is crap – including dodgy data by dodgy scientists working for Big Pharma and other nefarious bodies and bankers.

Of which many a minion seems to cut their teeth here.

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 4:13 PM
Reply to  DunGroanin

I don’t get your position? You are saying it’s as conspiracy but there are excess deaths? I suspect there are indeed excess deaths but as a result of the lockdown measures. One chap i know, was last week told he has 3 months left to live. Sent home with his cancer treatment delayed for 2 months because of COVID – who know’s his new diagnosis last week may not have happened. Bound to be many cases which delays did cause death (although the ldiea that mainstream medicinal treatment of cancer cures anyone is ridiculous).

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 1, 2020 1:28 PM
Reply to  PWL

“As a simple test of the two ideas, which case can we say has the qualty of being more likely…”

If I didn’t think you had COVID-19 (which I mostly do, what else explains it? [Snap]) I’d say “Oh fuck meoff: not that Occam crap again.” Has Petra given you permission?

Evergreen
Evergreen
Aug 2, 2020 5:19 PM
Reply to  DunGroanin

The supposition of cause and effect are an illusion of time.
Where does the time go?

Eyes Open
Eyes Open
Jul 31, 2020 10:12 PM

The NHS has cancelled millions of essential treatments and face to face doctor services, prompting some people to ask ‘why is the NHS suddenly inviting healthy people to get’ tested for coronaviruses (which we all have anyway)?

Answer – it has nothing to do with coronaviruses and everything to do with providing a cover for *spikes in cases* to justify further lockdowns, misery and repression until the vaccines are ‘offered’ to us in autumn/winter.

Croach
Croach
Aug 1, 2020 2:03 AM
Reply to  Eyes Open

I’m not sure the NHS has much role in community testing other then brand usage. Certainly the tests themselves aren’t analysed in NHS labs instead going to private ones. NHS labs do maintain higher standards and there are more proud honest people working in them who might kick up a fuss if they were asked to outright falsify results. Looking at a few regional ‘covid’ reports, hospitals have hardly been ordering any tests at all for weeks. This is reassuring. If what’s happening can be stopped we will need to have as many NHS staff (as well as the police etc) onside. I’m seeing and hearing more to suggest that we might get some traction with both hospital staff and the local police force in my area. An A&E doctor I was speaking to recently clearly understood that the testing was unhelpful and basically a con as coronavirus is endemic.… Read more »

Red Covair
Red Covair
Jul 31, 2020 9:51 PM

Well done Torsten Engelbrecht and Off-Guardian ! … Now that’s your so-called “fact checkers” (here PolitiFact) who are “fact checked” and exposed for what they are: hacks paid by huge corporations with vested interests.

AI is running Covid19
AI is running Covid19
Aug 1, 2020 1:17 AM
Reply to  Red Covair

But a large proportion of the population still believe the BS. Once they have seen something ‘official’ it will take x10 the evidence to steer them in one direction back again.

No amount of evidence will convince some people until they hear it on BBC – that is how far some people are gone. They are lost in other words.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 1, 2020 1:31 PM
Reply to  Red Covair

‘Bullshit’ has two ‘l’s.

Red Covair
Red Covair
Aug 1, 2020 3:53 PM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

I beg to differ… It may takes too ‘b’s as well, like in BBC.

kevin king
kevin king
Jul 31, 2020 9:50 PM

Torsten Engelbrecht is the author of this fantastic book
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Virus-Mania-Continually-Epidemics-Billion-Dollar/dp/1425114679/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=virus+mania&qid=1596228577&sr=8-1
It’s very readable and magnificently sourced.

Wuzzo
Wuzzo
Aug 1, 2020 11:45 AM
Reply to  kevin king

This book seems to be a bit hard to get hold of at the moment…
But I got a pdf version from archive.org today. Yes, it’s a good read.

Maxwell
Maxwell
Aug 1, 2020 7:47 PM
Reply to  Wuzzo

Can you send a link to where I can get that? Could not find the book online.

Ort
Ort
Aug 1, 2020 10:29 PM
Reply to  Maxwell

I don’t know if it’s Wuzzo’s link, but here’s a link:

https://archive.org/details/VirusMania

FWIW, I tried to download a few versions from the list at this link earlier this week and got “download not available” messages. But I didn’t try all of the listed downloads.

Wuzzo
Wuzzo
Aug 2, 2020 12:08 AM
Reply to  Ort

Try the PDF option at that link

Nick Baam
Nick Baam
Jul 31, 2020 9:13 PM

One quibble. W the last line:

‘Since then, neither OffGuardian nor the author have received any reply.’

HAS received any reply.

Excellent article. Cannot believe the warnings twitter gives to prevent people from “proceeding anyway” to your site.

George Mc
George Mc
Jul 31, 2020 8:40 PM

Since I purposefully avoid the MSM drum beating, I may be wrong but I am feeling that the COVID propaganda is developing a new style. No more screaming in your face – but a kind of low key “This is the way it must be!” approach. Are they still giving it the WW2 memorial treatment? Still canonizing dead health workers? Playing dour piano strains? etc.

Rachel
Rachel
Jul 31, 2020 8:07 PM

fear is exactly what they want but we wont give it to them. no it is time to sing it loud setting a good example. https://youtu.be/WY3vmUPNstA

Rachel
Rachel
Jul 31, 2020 8:45 PM
Reply to  Rachel

do it with me, n i’ll do it with You. https://youtu.be/OXwstK9TeVI

Orage
Orage
Jul 31, 2020 8:05 PM

Sorry wrong comment

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 1, 2020 1:32 PM
Reply to  Orage

No probbies. Wrong article.

Max
Max
Jul 31, 2020 7:22 PM

This country is run by imbeciles funded by international criminals and fed by fact checkers and paid/bought for “doctors”.

Eyes Open
Eyes Open
Jul 31, 2020 10:28 PM
Reply to  Max

I don’t think they’re imbeciles. They know exactly what they’re doing. ‘Incompetence’ is a cover.

John Pretty
John Pretty
Aug 1, 2020 12:16 AM
Reply to  Eyes Open

I disagree. Their stupidity makes them (and therefore us) easy prey.

Dave Patterson
Dave Patterson
Aug 1, 2020 3:48 AM
Reply to  Eyes Open

they may not actually be ‘imbeciles’, but they ain’t the sharpest knives in the drawers either …

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 4:18 PM
Reply to  Dave Patterson

“useful idiots” is more apt.

Judith
Judith
Aug 1, 2020 12:55 PM
Reply to  Eyes Open

I had the same thoughts Eyes Open.

I think the very fact that the pcr test is ambiguous is part of the plandemic scenario. Keep the confusion going. Keep up the back and forth between alt and msm, and even within alt/independent.

They could not run a plandemic that was cut and dry could they? Isn’t all the confusion leading to endless conjecture part of the plan?

I know it’s driving ME crazy. I find myself subconsciously looking for that one fact that will prove to all the naysayers in my life that this is has all been planned to aid in the great re-set.

Did the planes fly into the towers, did a place fly into the pentagon, were there planes at all….?

I could be wrong but I’ll go with “Incompetence” as a cover.

Eyes Open
Eyes Open
Aug 1, 2020 1:00 PM
Reply to  Judith

I’ve seen some SAGE documents which are circulating on social media. Confusion is part of the psychological attack. Keep changing the rules and removing clarity to induce anxiety.

This plandemic has only been possible through society’s general scientific illiteracy.

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 4:19 PM
Reply to  Eyes Open

That and people’s desire to either fit in, virtue signal, or obey the rules – or any conbination of those.

ulluer
ulluer
Jul 31, 2020 7:21 PM

The severity of the oppression in your country due to Covid is proportional to the role the US plays in running your country. It’s not always clear how ‘owned’ countries are by the empire, but a number have worked themselves free of late. Sweden among them. If you want to know what is going to happen in the UK, just look at the US and how they are reacting because it will be rolled out in the UK shortly after.

You didn’t think Europe was going to be allowed to recover from Covid, did you, when the US was on it’s back.

bob
bob
Jul 31, 2020 7:13 PM

magna carta constitutional law article 61 lawful rebellion

https://twitter.com/WillowWyse/status/1289246707486560262/photo/1

S Cooper
S Cooper
Jul 31, 2020 7:09 PM

Kind of like asking PJ Goebbels to admit one of his propaganda hit rants was purposefully and factually incorrect. Whatever.

Rachel
Rachel
Jul 31, 2020 7:06 PM

wow the germ theory is dead. time for a huge celebration of the emergence from the dark age. time to get excited and kickstart the party. https://youtu.be/QG5tawXXrMU

Bob Lox
Bob Lox
Jul 31, 2020 11:34 PM
Reply to  Rachel

You won’t be thinking that one day if you get serious bacterial infection and only a dose of antibiotics can save your life.

Or will you steadfastly refuse the treatment because of your belief that the “germ theory is dead”?

WorldParole
WorldParole
Aug 1, 2020 1:24 AM
Reply to  Bob Lox

How about all the people who have died from antibiotic treatments?

  • 20% of people experience side effects including gastrointestinal, kidney, menstrual, and joint abnormalities after taking antibiotics. Risk for side effects increase with each additional ten days of use.
  • About 10% of people are allergic to antibiotics.
  • In the U.S. more than two million illnesses per year are caused by resistance to antibiotics, resulting in 23,000 deaths when these drugs fail to work.

I’ve also come across studies that say disease rates treated by antibiotics were already in their decline as these antibiotic treatments became available.

Rachel
Rachel
Aug 1, 2020 9:52 AM
Reply to  Bob Lox

if you eat crap you will get bacteria. the “bacterial infection”isnt evidence for the germ theory. it is evidence of unhealthy terrain.

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 4:23 PM
Reply to  Rachel

You will get bacteria no matter what. It’s just which bacteria….we couldnt survive without bacteria….bacteria consumes our food for us!

Ælfræd
Ælfræd
Aug 3, 2020 4:22 PM
Reply to  Bob Lox

They can herlp if one gets a serious bacterial oinfection. But if one stays healthy(real health which means a clean diet) then that is unlikely to happen apart from via trauma – eg stepping onto a punji stick with dog doo on it.

Blubber
Blubber
Jul 31, 2020 6:58 PM

Forensic take down. Cant wait to see the reply

Orage
Orage
Jul 31, 2020 8:04 PM
Reply to  Blubber

Forensic but is there a shred of science?

Orage
Orage
Jul 31, 2020 6:56 PM

Oh yes. Understanding how PCR tests work and the whole of molecular science and genetics takes years of training, but you can bypass all this if you are a journalist.

Patrick Corbett
Patrick Corbett
Jul 31, 2020 8:48 PM
Reply to  Orage

And my colleague Rosemary Frei is a journalist who has written in the medical field for 20 years. She would, I believe, agree with these authors contentions as well as stand by a similar article we wrote in OffG, “No one died of the coronavirus..”
Oh yes, and she has a Master’s degree in microbiology as well as years of practical experience working in labs. Would that meet your standards?

breweriana
breweriana
Jul 31, 2020 8:49 PM
Reply to  Orage

but you can bypass all this if you are a journalist.”
Yes – ‘politifacts’ did exactly that. Probably why they have not stepped up to the challenge this article presents them with

kevin king
kevin king
Jul 31, 2020 9:55 PM
Reply to  Orage

erghh….It’s very basic. The inventor of the process stated it was a meaningless method for isolating viruses. Of course it is. Virology is a cargo cult science and just because you have attended one of the main stream indoctrination camps doesn’t make you knowledgeable nor does it make you infallible. Btw Albert Einstein was self taught and he demolished the mainstream midgets of his day. This is a lesson modern science has forgotten.

Simon Dutton
Simon Dutton
Aug 1, 2020 6:58 AM
Reply to  kevin king

According to this article, Einstein was a plagiarist:

https://www.unz.com/lromanoff/a-few-historical-frauds/

JGerhard
JGerhard
Aug 1, 2020 1:22 AM
Reply to  Orage

The standard works on asset allocation were written by a medical doctor…..

WorldParole
WorldParole
Aug 1, 2020 1:26 AM
Reply to  Orage

Orage, would your idea of scientific research mean Bayer / Monsanto funded Scientific American? Or maybe one of the dummies funded by Rockefellar foundation through National Geographic? Or perhaps Bill + Melinda funded Oxford studies?

“Science.”

Invisible Man
Invisible Man
Aug 2, 2020 11:24 PM
Reply to  Orage

Well, Orage, I’m pretty sure Kary Mullis the inventor of PCR technology understood his own technology. And he was dead set against its use as a diagnostic test. Furthermore, he was able to explain in layman’s terms why it couldn’t reliably be used diagnostically. The test results are meaningless.

Im also willing to bet Kary Mullis had a better grasp of PCR – and what it could and could not achieve – than Anthony Fauci or Bill Gates. And it’s not like anyone has refuted Mullis’ contentions. Rather, the MSM’s strategy has simply been to memory hole his various interviews – as well as engage in bogus fact checking claiming he didn’t say what he did in fact say.