We try really hard not to post opinion and politically biased content on this blog, but there is a limit to the level of stupidity that even we can tolerate. If the ignorance only harms the person mouthing it, that is fine. They are entitled. That is their right. It might even keep them away from wasting resources. It "thins the gene pool."
The big claim of the ignorant now is all this COVID hysteria is a result of media hype. So if that might be true (and it isn't), what is their recommendation? Forget the social distancing, forget the masks, forget the extra caution? What is the value of such an absurd claim?
No careful observer will deny the media have really latched onto COVID reporting. It is as if they have nothing else to talk about. But the facts don't lie (unlike certain politicians). They are available for anyone who wishes to monitor for himself what is happening. They can then share their analysis like an expert rather than a fool who sources his info solely from other idiots on social media.
Related to this claim COVID is primarily media exaggeration, here is an old COVID conspiracy theory that seems to be making the rounds again. Conspiracy theories unfortunately never die, unlike the people who choose to believe them.
CLAIM: Hospitals are inflating the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths so they can be paid more.
RESPONSE:: Recent legislation pays hospitals higher Medicare rates
for COVID-19 patients and treatment, but there is no evidence of
fraudulent reporting.
FULL REPORT:
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/hospital-payments-and-the-covid-19-death-count/
Most of us just choose to rely on credible sources and ignore others that have a history of misstatements and related ignorance, except when the misinformed put us, our family, and friends at serious risk.
In order to stay safe, make a visit to . https://www.factcheck.org/issue/covid-19/
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Friday, July 24, 2020
A Trifecta for Climate Science and Rationality
By Charles Battig
Planet of the Humans, confirmed renewables do not displace reliable fossil-fuel power plants. Consumers energy bills do not go down, but go up. Renewables require large amounts of rare earths, cement, and fossil fuel energy in their production. They are both notoriously inefficient in land use, and impose destruction of large areas of native habitats. Further environmental destruction is due to the fact that the best wind or solar location is often remote from the most needed consumer base, thereby requiring the construction of massive electric transmission lines. “Factories claiming to have gone ‘beyond coal’ again and again turn out to be relying on natural gas.”
First there was Michael Moore’s Planet of the Humans, then came Bjorn Lomborg’s False Alarm, and now Michael Schellenberger’s Apocalypse Never. All three authors sound the common theme that the hyper-green environmental activists who have captured, politicized, and monetized the concern for the environment have created a false climate alarm which has “costs us trillions, hurts the poor, and fails to fix the planet.” To varying degrees, all three authors come from a strong environmental activist background, which observation makes their public revelations even more noteworthy.
Planet of the Humans, confirmed renewables do not displace reliable fossil-fuel power plants. Consumers energy bills do not go down, but go up. Renewables require large amounts of rare earths, cement, and fossil fuel energy in their production. They are both notoriously inefficient in land use, and impose destruction of large areas of native habitats. Further environmental destruction is due to the fact that the best wind or solar location is often remote from the most needed consumer base, thereby requiring the construction of massive electric transmission lines. “Factories claiming to have gone ‘beyond coal’ again and again turn out to be relying on natural gas.”
False Alarm argues that there are more productive ways to aid humanity than spending billions trying to influence climate change, such as improving sanitation, clean water supplies, basic nutrition, and providing paths out of poverty.
Lomborg states, “Climate change is real, it is caused predominantly by carbon emissions from humans burning fossil fuels….” but is not the apocalyptic threat so widely advertised. Land falling hurricanes in the US are not more frequent than in the past. Droughts here are shorter, less frequent, and cover a smaller area. Seventeen times more people currently die from cold than heat, and these people will benefit from moderate warming. Global climate related deaths are an all-time low.”
Apocalypse Never echoes the similar conclusions as Planet of the Humans and False Alarm. Michael Shellenberger with long time green activist credentials had an environmental reality epiphany. He told The Australian: "I realized you can't power a modern economy on solar and wind.... All they do is make the electricity system chaotic and provide green wash for fossil fuels." He has made numerous efforts to support nuclear power.
Schellenberger documented much of the money for many of the renewable energy proposals adopted by the Obama administration went to “companies that enriched donors to the Obama campaign” but failed to produce the promised renewable energy advances. He concludes that “the trouble with the new environmental religion is that it has become increasingly apocalyptic, destructive, and self-defeating.”
Environmentalist and Climate Skeptic Share Worldview
Climate Activist Michael Shellenberger and climate skeptic Bjorn Lomborg published books with remarkably similar titles and similar conclusions. Shellenberger in his book titled Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All. said, On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years.
Climate change is happening. It’s just not the end of the world. It’s not even our most serious environmental problem.
Read here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200629001029/https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2020/06/28/on-behalf-of-environmentalists-i-apologize-for-the-climate-scare/#16d93c515dc3
Lomborg in his book titled False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet. said, "Climate change is happening. It is just not the end all event that the alarmists want you to believe."
Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment,” and Green Book Award Winner.He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and other publications. His TED talks have been viewed over five million times.
Bjørn Lomborg is a Danish author and President of his think tank, Copenhagen Consensus Center. He is the former director of the Danish government's Environmental Assessment Institute (EAI) in Copenhagen. He argues that many of the costly measures and actions adopted by scientists and policy makers to meet the challenges of global warming will ultimately have minimal impact on the world's rising temperature.
Shellenberger said, On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years. Climate change is happening. It’s just not the end of the world. It’s not even our most serious environmental problem.
I may seem like a strange person to be saying all of this. I have been a climate activist for 20 years and an environmentalist for 30.
But as an energy expert asked by Congress to provide objective expert testimony, and invited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to serve as Expert Reviewer of its next Assessment Report, I feel an obligation to apologize for how badly we environmentalists have misled the public.
Here are some facts few people know:
Read here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200629001029/https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2020/06/28/on-behalf-of-environmentalists-i-apologize-for-the-climate-scare/#16d93c515dc3
Lomborg in his book titled False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet. said, "Climate change is happening. It is just not the end all event that the alarmists want you to believe."
Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment,” and Green Book Award Winner.He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and other publications. His TED talks have been viewed over five million times.
Bjørn Lomborg is a Danish author and President of his think tank, Copenhagen Consensus Center. He is the former director of the Danish government's Environmental Assessment Institute (EAI) in Copenhagen. He argues that many of the costly measures and actions adopted by scientists and policy makers to meet the challenges of global warming will ultimately have minimal impact on the world's rising temperature.
Shellenberger said, On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years. Climate change is happening. It’s just not the end of the world. It’s not even our most serious environmental problem.
I may seem like a strange person to be saying all of this. I have been a climate activist for 20 years and an environmentalist for 30.
But as an energy expert asked by Congress to provide objective expert testimony, and invited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to serve as Expert Reviewer of its next Assessment Report, I feel an obligation to apologize for how badly we environmentalists have misled the public.
Here are some facts few people know:
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Hydroxychloroquine Use for COVID Still a BUST
In early July Henry Ford Hospital reported some positive results treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine even after every credible research laboratory declared it to be ineffective.
https://mtskeptics.blogspot.com/2020/07/hydroxychloroquine-cut-covid-death-rate.html
So what's the story?
Like masks, hydroxychloroquine became associated with political affiliation. Trump hyped it at White House briefings, and even announced that he himself was taking it. The FDA revoked its use. Nevertheless, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is still pointing to the Henry Ford study, But it was a retrospective one, neither randomized nor controlled. “The Detroit study touted by Navarro has very poor methodology—completely observational, meaning that the choice to give hydroxychloroquine was probably also linked to other factors that explain the benefit,” says Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UC San Francisco.
https://mtskeptics.blogspot.com/2020/07/hydroxychloroquine-cut-covid-death-rate.html
So what's the story?
Like masks, hydroxychloroquine became associated with political affiliation. Trump hyped it at White House briefings, and even announced that he himself was taking it. The FDA revoked its use. Nevertheless, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is still pointing to the Henry Ford study, But it was a retrospective one, neither randomized nor controlled. “The Detroit study touted by Navarro has very poor methodology—completely observational, meaning that the choice to give hydroxychloroquine was probably also linked to other factors that explain the benefit,” says Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UC San Francisco.
"What is the cost of continuing these trials?”
The politics and social alignments that swirled around hydroxychloroquine made it hard for US researchers to enroll enough participants to make a study work. That slowed things down. An analysis by Stat showed that of the more than 1,200 Covid-19 drug trials underway or planned, 237,000 people—more than a third of volunteers in all the trials—were supposed to be enrolled in hydroxychloroquine studies. That now seems disproportionate, to say the least. “Nobody should get it,”
The politics and social alignments that swirled around hydroxychloroquine made it hard for US researchers to enroll enough participants to make a study work. That slowed things down. An analysis by Stat showed that of the more than 1,200 Covid-19 drug trials underway or planned, 237,000 people—more than a third of volunteers in all the trials—were supposed to be enrolled in hydroxychloroquine studies. That now seems disproportionate, to say the least. “Nobody should get it,”
Wachter says. “Overall, the evidence against it is strong enough that the drug should simply go away in Covid, and it would have weeks ago had it not been for the politics.”
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Truth About COVID Parties
Recent rumors and news reports have circulated claiming that COVID-19 is
being spread intentionally in clandestine “covid parties.” In
mid-March, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear made national headlines when
he stated that part of the rise in coronavirus infections in his state
was due to parties in which people tried their best to get sick.
Covid parties, per se, are largely a media myth, but that doesn’t mean that someone, somewhere, may not be doing it or could do it. The question is not whether it’s possible, as all urban legends and rumors are inherently possible—and at least plausible enough to share. Hours after a hapless expert publicly avers that covid parties “don’t exist,” one could be arranged, thus “proving” the expert wrong. But the essence of the rumor is instead that clandestine covid parties are a Thing, being organized and sure to soon menace public health. In that regard there’s no evidence whatsoever of any covid parties.
There are more than enough real threats and dangers associated with COVID-19; we don’t need to create new ones. Hoaxes, misinformation, and rumors can cause real harm during public health emergencies; as always, best inoculations against misinformation are critical thinking, media literacy, and skepticism.
https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/the-truth-about-covid-parties/
Covid parties, per se, are largely a media myth, but that doesn’t mean that someone, somewhere, may not be doing it or could do it. The question is not whether it’s possible, as all urban legends and rumors are inherently possible—and at least plausible enough to share. Hours after a hapless expert publicly avers that covid parties “don’t exist,” one could be arranged, thus “proving” the expert wrong. But the essence of the rumor is instead that clandestine covid parties are a Thing, being organized and sure to soon menace public health. In that regard there’s no evidence whatsoever of any covid parties.
There are more than enough real threats and dangers associated with COVID-19; we don’t need to create new ones. Hoaxes, misinformation, and rumors can cause real harm during public health emergencies; as always, best inoculations against misinformation are critical thinking, media literacy, and skepticism.
https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/the-truth-about-covid-parties/
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Mis-Information Risk of FACEBOOK
The July/August edition of AARP.org bulletin "Your Life" reports that as of 2018 only 16% of Americans get their news from printed newspapers. While major TV news sources are still available to provide mostly credible coverage and perspectives, about half get their news from FACEBOOK. That poses a major risk for the dissemination of biased and misinformation. It happens as follows.
In order to keep its audience engaged, FACEBOOK employs numerous algorithms to determine the interests of its subscribers. By memorizing what a reader "likes" and "dislikes" and what he or she follows, FACEBOOK, can cater to the reader's interest.by serving up content that pleases, regardless of the validity..
Gradually, the reader is moved into a microcosm of the real world. They begin to think their opinions, no matter how distorted, represent the majority. It is insidious; very few recognize or care that it is happening.
Even worse, these are often the same people who are the first to cry "fake news" and "pox on your house." They are quite comfortable with their ignorance and think it is an encroachment on their First-Amendment rights to fact-check what they are being fed.
Nevertheless, if a reader makers it to this blog, he is most likely not one of these people. With that in mind, consider that the AARP article offers several ways to avoid the FACEBOOK trap and to "Be a Smart News Consumer,"
In order to keep its audience engaged, FACEBOOK employs numerous algorithms to determine the interests of its subscribers. By memorizing what a reader "likes" and "dislikes" and what he or she follows, FACEBOOK, can cater to the reader's interest.by serving up content that pleases, regardless of the validity..
It's like mental opium.
Even worse, these are often the same people who are the first to cry "fake news" and "pox on your house." They are quite comfortable with their ignorance and think it is an encroachment on their First-Amendment rights to fact-check what they are being fed.
Nevertheless, if a reader makers it to this blog, he is most likely not one of these people. With that in mind, consider that the AARP article offers several ways to avoid the FACEBOOK trap and to "Be a Smart News Consumer,"
- Research the "Byline." If no author is listed, that is a red flag. Determine if the author is credible or has a known agenda.
- Search the Headline. 70% of people don't read past the headlne and that is a source of "clickbait." Read the whole article.before making judgment.
- Check out the sources. Do a search of the "evidence." Discard articles that do not provide references to credible sources. . .
- Check out the coverage. Legitimate news coverage rarely shows up on just one site...
- Validate the "dates". Make sure it is actual current news and not a rehash of some longtime ago discredited report.
- Determine the "basis" for the report. Is it actual news or someone's opinion? Since everyone has an opinion, it is often best to keep these limited.
- Use the references on this website to FACT-CHECK even those articles with which you agree.BEFORE you hit that "Share" button.
Friday, July 3, 2020
Hydroxychloroquine Cut COVID Death Rate Significantly
HISTORY
The interest in hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure for COVID-19 began on March 16th when Long Island attorney Gregory Riganoit promoted on the Laura Ingram FOX News. He was advocating for a sloppy paper by the eminent French microbiologist Didier Raoult
Sean Hannity
began promoting it as a cure for Covid-19.
Rigano appeared on Tucker
Carlson’s show and claimed that Raoult’s study had shown
hydroxychloroquine to have a “100 percent cure rate against
coronavirus.” According to Todaro, Raoult had sent him a copy of his
study and allowed him to post it on Twitter that day, two days before
the preprint release.
Later, Raoult
himself appeared on “Dr. Oz,” a frequent Fox News guest who has promoted
hydroxychloroquine.
Donald Trump
began hyping hydroxychloroquine on March 19, at a White House news
conference with his coronavirus task force. He suggested, inaccurately,
that the F.D.A. had approved the drug for use against Covid-19.
The F.D.A.,
under what appears to have been strong pressure from the Trump
administration, issued an emergency-use authorization for chloroquine
phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate,
Unusually, the C.D.C., at what was reportedly Trump’s direct urging,
issued Covid-19 prescription guidelines for the drugs based upon
unattributed clinical anecdotes. (The guidelines were later withdrawn.)
A
top government biomedical official was removed from his post, he has
claimed, for having resisted political pressure to fund “potentially
dangerous drugs,” including hydroxychloroquine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/magazine/didier-raoult-hydroxychloroquine.html
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