Josh, You weren't kidding when you said you were preparing to write more. All of these recent pieces have been superb. Good to see you getting into a groove. Some of these pieces are finding their ways onto Senators' desks...hope they read them.
It's all about money. The TV ads that will be stopped, big pharma losing legal immunity for their shoddy products, scientific magazines that will lose pharma money and will have to return to real science, etc. As they say, follow the money. And isn't it funny that the left puts money over all else including their childrens' health
I used to think that. Nowadays, I believe it goes deeper than just money - they own the printing press, so they literally define what value is. When you control the measuring stick itself, there's a bigger agenda at play. If you go back and read old texts from intellectuals of the 1900s, it becomes evident this roadmap's been hiding in plain sight for at least a century.
Actually, it’s the perversion of money that is the problem. In a just society—a free market society—money is the only means by which free men, acting as free traders, voluntarily exchange value for value. The entire medical profession, including Big Pharma, has managed to enroll government (the only institution in society authorized to use force) to replace the once-free system of exchange of health services between discerning consumers and providers with a Soviet-style command economy in which fraud and coercion replace justice as the underlying principle of human interactions. Who’s to blame? Well, We the People are to blame because We the People, naive to the philosophically evil premises of socialism, clamored for the “public good” (an undefined and undefinable concept) when we embraced such collectivistic policies as mandatory school vaccinations (utilitarianism), Medicare (altruism), product liability immunity (pragmatism), Rx benefits (altruism), Obamacare (altruism), and most recently, COVID lockdowns (utilitarianism and altruism on steroids). In all these cases, the common, working man on the street was just as eager and willing to deny his neighbors’ freedom to control their own property—their money—through the government’s legislative and taxation powers, as any Big Pharma executive does today. Socialism has turned Dr. Marcus Welby into Dr. “Mengele” Fauci in just one or two generations. What goes around comes around.
.
Seek Objectivism. Learn it. Practice it. Teach it.
Thanks, that was worth reading. You've reminded me of another good Substack which discussed an inevitable trend toward more meaningful media and social media as in good written content rather than clickbait/doomscrolling. It's a subtext to what you're reporting - the desire for meaningful content inexorably drawing out the truth. Reminds me of Occam's Razor and how the truth emerges from the plethora of information as the simplest answer that fits the facts.
Also, an irony is the term fake news, which was (I'm sure) originated by mainstream media to disparage alternative views on the covid conola and is now invariably applied to mainstream media!
I'm so grateful to Katharine Austin-Fitts for her recommendation of you and your writing. The essays I've read in your last four posts have brought such clarity to me thus helping me in how I disseminate the information to others who are so helplessly indoctrinated in the MSM's narrative. I thank and applaud you~ Keep it up ... we are listening and sharing with others.
Thank you so much for your kind words - they mean a great deal to me. Catherine Austin Fitts has been hugely influential on my own thinking, so knowing that she has recommended my writing is truly a thrill. I'm glad that my essays have been helpful to you in sharing ideas and cutting through the noise. We really do need one another more than ever now, and it’s heartening to know we’re all working together to spread clarity and truth. Thank you for listening and sharing. Let’s keep the conversation going.
The NYT seems to be doubling down on the divisive personal attacks which is very confusing in the wash up of the election … surely NYT has realised that this was an implicit popular endorsement of RFK too? Is big pharma paying for ads in the NYT?
No one with a brain actually thought most of those pandemic era policies would do much good. Just like no one believes taking your shoes off at the airport or emptying your water bottle makes you safer. I always chalked it up to "doing something" (even if infective) as opposed to "doing nothing" made others feel more secure for some reason.
Exactly! It's security theater, just like how at the movies or a stadium, people will join a long line simply because others are in it, even when there's an empty line right next to it.
The pandemic revealed an uncomfortable truth about human nature: we're wired to follow the herd, even when it makes no logical sense. Our species had a massive test of independent thinking and critical judgment. We failed spectacularly.
Well done, Joshua. “Why wouldn't you want proper safety testing for chemicals we're expected to inject into our children's bodies?” is so simple, how do you reject that? The Media Mob avoids the truth of it in favor of ad revenue, ensuring (I hope) further decline into obscurity and irrelevance. It didn’t work during the election process and it won’t work now. Kind of pathetic to witness them flailing around, trying every name-calling, slanderous appeal to an ever declining audience for their pablum.
You are correct in observing that the simplest questions are often the most powerful, and the most telling when they go unanswered. Watching mainstream media dodge basic inquiries while hemorrhaging credibility has been remarkable. Once trust is gone, it's nearly impossible to rebuild - I believe we're there now. The name calling just reveals their desperation.
I think the response to that question would be the deeply ignorant, “They DO test these jabs for safety and efficacy.” It doesn’t take much effort to get past this flimsy argument, but it takes SOME effort, beyond blindly swallowing whatever Legacy Media reports.
Yup. That's what absolutely stunned me when I started having questions about vaccines... the whole edifice fell apart SO FAST! It wasn't hard to find the information about how problematic they are.
In my effort to "read both sides of the story" I tried reading a pro-vaccine book. But it was full of straw men - it didn't answer any of my questions. And then began the belittling of anyone how has questions. Not to mention it's impossible to find a pro-vaccine book by something that doesn't have skin in the game.
That's the exact problem - they can't let him speak for more than 30 seconds because if they do, people will see how erudite and eminently reasonable he is.
The term “Managed Decline” has been part of American political discourse since Bush43 handed the White House keys to the Obamas. And nobody made hay of it. It was just accepted. But Trump’s MAGA campaign introduces the concept of “Managed Restoration” and the left goes off-the-rails apeshit. They can’t help themselves pouring gasoline on their own funeral pyres.
You're right about managed decline, but I'd argue it started even earlier. I believe what we've witnessed is essentially a generational pump & dump scheme. The post-war prosperity wasn't sustainable - the system was designed to extract maximum value before the inevitable crash. The reaction to MAGA wasn't about the specific policies - it was about maintaining the illusion that the decline wasn't intentional. When someone threatens to expose the game, that's when the mask really comes off. Now, the bill is due one way or another.
If you’ve ever driven Route 1 up Midcoast Maine, you’ve gone past Red’s Eats, an unduly famous purveyor of lobster rolls. There are two other lobster shacks fifty yards across the road. Red’s has a line around the block while the other two have no lines. They all serve the same lobster on the same hotdog bun. In fact, the other two are on the waterfront with ample seating, far better than Red’s for enjoying Maine’s stunning coastline!
Yes. See also, Mike's Pastry in Boston's North End. Tourist wander the neighborhood with the trademark blue and white boxes of cannolis. If I ran the Modern Pastry, steps away, my storefront would feature a big picture of Bill Clinton scarfing one down at Mike's back in the 90's with a caption like "hope he washed his hands"
“Listen to Kennedy's complete speeches rather than edited soundbites.” I was curious after his Joe Rogan interview and had some time, so I went through everything he said, point by point, looking up the relevant literature. (I have some background in biotech research though I am not in the industry.) While I like his overall vibe, it turned out that the vast majority of specific claims he made were bogus. Medical journal articles that just didn’t actually say what he claimed they did - that kind of thing. I’m cautiously optimistic about what he can do in the new administration, but don’t expect listening to his speeches word by word to be a revelatory experience.
Appreciate your thoughtful response. You're already ahead of most by taking the time to fact-check and research - that's exactly what we need more of. While I agree not everything Kennedy says may be perfect, the way he's been portrayed in mainstream media seems wildly disproportionate to reality.
Consider his book The Real Anthony Fauci - if it contained significant falsehoods, given its explosive claims and Fauci's resources, we'd likely see major defamation suits and detailed professional rebuttals. Instead, we see 25K+ positive reader reviews and a striking silence from professional reviewers. That pattern alone raises interesting questions.
I'd encourage looking into his books - they're extensively sourced and documented. Even if you end up disagreeing with some conclusions, the research itself is valuable. And you might find, as many have, that the reality is far more nuanced than what mainstream outlets suggest. Either way, thanks for being someone who cares about finding truth.
I see critiques of the book that are similar to my own critique of his Rogan conversation. Theodore Dalrymple in Claremont Review says “When I looked up at random five of the medical papers Kennedy cites, I found that he had misrepresented all of them.” Which is very believable based on what I saw from Rogan. I’m more optimistic about RFK in the role of high level contrarian in the White House - making people look at new problems in new ways - not as someone to be personally doing the detailed scientific analysis, where he is very flawed.
I appreciate the dialogue and open-mindedness. While Dalrymple's review is interesting, it would be helpful to see which specific papers he claims were misrepresented - especially given the book's 2,200+ citations. I'll look for it. My broader point is that the silence from Fauci himself, major media outlets, and the medical establishment (who have every incentive and resource to discredit specific claims) seems telling.
But I think we might actually agree on the bigger picture. Kennedy's value isn't necessarily in parsing every study perfectly, but in challenging institutional narratives and forcing important conversations that others won't have. As you noted, he could be valuable as a high-level contrarian in the White House, pushing us to examine uncomfortable questions.
Yes to all of this. File under Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
That is an all time classic fact check, unbelievable. Thank you for this!
Totally. And no questioning as to why there is a difference between the two.
So, in essence, the most reliable source of information found in the mainstream media is in their retractions!
Which go mostly unseen, sadly.
I will be enthusiastically sharing this. Thank you!
Josh, You weren't kidding when you said you were preparing to write more. All of these recent pieces have been superb. Good to see you getting into a groove. Some of these pieces are finding their ways onto Senators' desks...hope they read them.
Thanks, Doc. Clearly, I have a lot to get off my chest :-)
https://open.substack.com/pub/2ndsmartestguyintheworld/p/and-like-that-the-claim-vaccines?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=fb1xg
Love Aaron Siri.
It's all about money. The TV ads that will be stopped, big pharma losing legal immunity for their shoddy products, scientific magazines that will lose pharma money and will have to return to real science, etc. As they say, follow the money. And isn't it funny that the left puts money over all else including their childrens' health
I used to think that. Nowadays, I believe it goes deeper than just money - they own the printing press, so they literally define what value is. When you control the measuring stick itself, there's a bigger agenda at play. If you go back and read old texts from intellectuals of the 1900s, it becomes evident this roadmap's been hiding in plain sight for at least a century.
Actually, it’s the perversion of money that is the problem. In a just society—a free market society—money is the only means by which free men, acting as free traders, voluntarily exchange value for value. The entire medical profession, including Big Pharma, has managed to enroll government (the only institution in society authorized to use force) to replace the once-free system of exchange of health services between discerning consumers and providers with a Soviet-style command economy in which fraud and coercion replace justice as the underlying principle of human interactions. Who’s to blame? Well, We the People are to blame because We the People, naive to the philosophically evil premises of socialism, clamored for the “public good” (an undefined and undefinable concept) when we embraced such collectivistic policies as mandatory school vaccinations (utilitarianism), Medicare (altruism), product liability immunity (pragmatism), Rx benefits (altruism), Obamacare (altruism), and most recently, COVID lockdowns (utilitarianism and altruism on steroids). In all these cases, the common, working man on the street was just as eager and willing to deny his neighbors’ freedom to control their own property—their money—through the government’s legislative and taxation powers, as any Big Pharma executive does today. Socialism has turned Dr. Marcus Welby into Dr. “Mengele” Fauci in just one or two generations. What goes around comes around.
.
Seek Objectivism. Learn it. Practice it. Teach it.
Thanks, that was worth reading. You've reminded me of another good Substack which discussed an inevitable trend toward more meaningful media and social media as in good written content rather than clickbait/doomscrolling. It's a subtext to what you're reporting - the desire for meaningful content inexorably drawing out the truth. Reminds me of Occam's Razor and how the truth emerges from the plethora of information as the simplest answer that fits the facts.
Also, an irony is the term fake news, which was (I'm sure) originated by mainstream media to disparage alternative views on the covid conola and is now invariably applied to mainstream media!
I'm so grateful to Katharine Austin-Fitts for her recommendation of you and your writing. The essays I've read in your last four posts have brought such clarity to me thus helping me in how I disseminate the information to others who are so helplessly indoctrinated in the MSM's narrative. I thank and applaud you~ Keep it up ... we are listening and sharing with others.
Thank you so much for your kind words - they mean a great deal to me. Catherine Austin Fitts has been hugely influential on my own thinking, so knowing that she has recommended my writing is truly a thrill. I'm glad that my essays have been helpful to you in sharing ideas and cutting through the noise. We really do need one another more than ever now, and it’s heartening to know we’re all working together to spread clarity and truth. Thank you for listening and sharing. Let’s keep the conversation going.
The NYT seems to be doubling down on the divisive personal attacks which is very confusing in the wash up of the election … surely NYT has realised that this was an implicit popular endorsement of RFK too? Is big pharma paying for ads in the NYT?
Pharma funds most of the MSM, which must then do its bidding in order to survive. Practically all MSM is "Brought to you by Pfizer."
No one with a brain actually thought most of those pandemic era policies would do much good. Just like no one believes taking your shoes off at the airport or emptying your water bottle makes you safer. I always chalked it up to "doing something" (even if infective) as opposed to "doing nothing" made others feel more secure for some reason.
Exactly! It's security theater, just like how at the movies or a stadium, people will join a long line simply because others are in it, even when there's an empty line right next to it.
The pandemic revealed an uncomfortable truth about human nature: we're wired to follow the herd, even when it makes no logical sense. Our species had a massive test of independent thinking and critical judgment. We failed spectacularly.
Not all of us failed and many of those who did have learned. They may not fail going forward.
I love that expression! "Security theatrer"
Well done, Joshua. “Why wouldn't you want proper safety testing for chemicals we're expected to inject into our children's bodies?” is so simple, how do you reject that? The Media Mob avoids the truth of it in favor of ad revenue, ensuring (I hope) further decline into obscurity and irrelevance. It didn’t work during the election process and it won’t work now. Kind of pathetic to witness them flailing around, trying every name-calling, slanderous appeal to an ever declining audience for their pablum.
Thank you, Chris.
You are correct in observing that the simplest questions are often the most powerful, and the most telling when they go unanswered. Watching mainstream media dodge basic inquiries while hemorrhaging credibility has been remarkable. Once trust is gone, it's nearly impossible to rebuild - I believe we're there now. The name calling just reveals their desperation.
I think the response to that question would be the deeply ignorant, “They DO test these jabs for safety and efficacy.” It doesn’t take much effort to get past this flimsy argument, but it takes SOME effort, beyond blindly swallowing whatever Legacy Media reports.
Yup. That's what absolutely stunned me when I started having questions about vaccines... the whole edifice fell apart SO FAST! It wasn't hard to find the information about how problematic they are.
In my effort to "read both sides of the story" I tried reading a pro-vaccine book. But it was full of straw men - it didn't answer any of my questions. And then began the belittling of anyone how has questions. Not to mention it's impossible to find a pro-vaccine book by something that doesn't have skin in the game.
Exactly. Once you start probing, you can’t go back. The Red Pill.
That's the exact problem - they can't let him speak for more than 30 seconds because if they do, people will see how erudite and eminently reasonable he is.
The term “Managed Decline” has been part of American political discourse since Bush43 handed the White House keys to the Obamas. And nobody made hay of it. It was just accepted. But Trump’s MAGA campaign introduces the concept of “Managed Restoration” and the left goes off-the-rails apeshit. They can’t help themselves pouring gasoline on their own funeral pyres.
You're right about managed decline, but I'd argue it started even earlier. I believe what we've witnessed is essentially a generational pump & dump scheme. The post-war prosperity wasn't sustainable - the system was designed to extract maximum value before the inevitable crash. The reaction to MAGA wasn't about the specific policies - it was about maintaining the illusion that the decline wasn't intentional. When someone threatens to expose the game, that's when the mask really comes off. Now, the bill is due one way or another.
A reasonable analysis.
If you’ve ever driven Route 1 up Midcoast Maine, you’ve gone past Red’s Eats, an unduly famous purveyor of lobster rolls. There are two other lobster shacks fifty yards across the road. Red’s has a line around the block while the other two have no lines. They all serve the same lobster on the same hotdog bun. In fact, the other two are on the waterfront with ample seating, far better than Red’s for enjoying Maine’s stunning coastline!
Yes. See also, Mike's Pastry in Boston's North End. Tourist wander the neighborhood with the trademark blue and white boxes of cannolis. If I ran the Modern Pastry, steps away, my storefront would feature a big picture of Bill Clinton scarfing one down at Mike's back in the 90's with a caption like "hope he washed his hands"
My brother lives right around the corner from Mike’s on Henchman Street. I used to love their lobster tails!
“Listen to Kennedy's complete speeches rather than edited soundbites.” I was curious after his Joe Rogan interview and had some time, so I went through everything he said, point by point, looking up the relevant literature. (I have some background in biotech research though I am not in the industry.) While I like his overall vibe, it turned out that the vast majority of specific claims he made were bogus. Medical journal articles that just didn’t actually say what he claimed they did - that kind of thing. I’m cautiously optimistic about what he can do in the new administration, but don’t expect listening to his speeches word by word to be a revelatory experience.
Appreciate your thoughtful response. You're already ahead of most by taking the time to fact-check and research - that's exactly what we need more of. While I agree not everything Kennedy says may be perfect, the way he's been portrayed in mainstream media seems wildly disproportionate to reality.
Consider his book The Real Anthony Fauci - if it contained significant falsehoods, given its explosive claims and Fauci's resources, we'd likely see major defamation suits and detailed professional rebuttals. Instead, we see 25K+ positive reader reviews and a striking silence from professional reviewers. That pattern alone raises interesting questions.
I'd encourage looking into his books - they're extensively sourced and documented. Even if you end up disagreeing with some conclusions, the research itself is valuable. And you might find, as many have, that the reality is far more nuanced than what mainstream outlets suggest. Either way, thanks for being someone who cares about finding truth.
I see critiques of the book that are similar to my own critique of his Rogan conversation. Theodore Dalrymple in Claremont Review says “When I looked up at random five of the medical papers Kennedy cites, I found that he had misrepresented all of them.” Which is very believable based on what I saw from Rogan. I’m more optimistic about RFK in the role of high level contrarian in the White House - making people look at new problems in new ways - not as someone to be personally doing the detailed scientific analysis, where he is very flawed.
I appreciate the dialogue and open-mindedness. While Dalrymple's review is interesting, it would be helpful to see which specific papers he claims were misrepresented - especially given the book's 2,200+ citations. I'll look for it. My broader point is that the silence from Fauci himself, major media outlets, and the medical establishment (who have every incentive and resource to discredit specific claims) seems telling.
But I think we might actually agree on the bigger picture. Kennedy's value isn't necessarily in parsing every study perfectly, but in challenging institutional narratives and forcing important conversations that others won't have. As you noted, he could be valuable as a high-level contrarian in the White House, pushing us to examine uncomfortable questions.
P.S. You had me at Theodore Dalrymple 😉