My wife, Ellen, who has good judgment, has advised me to shorten my posts. Though she says I don’t listen to her, I usually do. So here goes the new, shorter format. Typically, to illustrate a point, I begin with a true story. This week, I’ll begin with two stories.
Amen. The lockdowns and all other associated nonsense was very strategic and very calculated and had zero to do with public health
Here in Detroit all the liquor/weed/lottery places were WIDE open——legally, while most small businesses were closed and crushed, including my two man tree business, because, you know, the science….
So many otherwise intelligent people, including good friends of mine here, STILL believe it was necessary and net-beneficial.
don’t have the rhetorical skills, nor the will, nor the patience to re-educate them.
I just know that we lost a lot more than 3 years, we lost a chunk of our souls, and I don’t know how you get that back, or even if it’s possible.
It seems that the best we can hope for is to get used to the scar tissue, find meaning and strength in that, and never (again) bend the knee.
Thanks for your writing, Mark. I grew up in West Milford up in north Jersey and your writing gives me hope that the re is at least one sane person left in the Garden State.
Thanks, Joe. So well said about the scam and the lasting harm. It would be one thing if there had been a huge natural disaster. But man-made destruction--esp. for political and economic control--is unacceptable.
That SUCKS that you lost your business.
There's far more than one sane person here. But the sane are def in the minority. When you're back in NJ, please stop by. I had dinner last Friday night with an old Oakland friend.
What can you do? People are people, and it's all natural selection anyway. I've stopped glaring at people who wear masks, instead they get a smile of pity.
But an easy way that does seem to throw a wrench into their programmed thinking is to mention that Sweden did nothing at all but had 1/3 fewer deaths than we did. No need to say another word - and there is nothing they can say in response.
If you did want to add more, you could tell them the US had four times more deaths per million than the global average (Worldometer data).
Or just mention that a mere 130 million souls were pushed into starvation. I still catch myself glaring, okay, snarling really. It's almost instinctive.
The Masked Ones are in the minority and not so aggressive now, they seem sheepish. When they were in the majority they glared at us, so turn around is fair play.
I would love to grab a beer with you next time I’m back. I was there a few weeks ago over Thanksgiving, but I’ll be back again in a few months. How do I contact you?
I know there are some good people left in NJ. None of my family back there got the shots, and my brother who runs a senior care business counseled all his employees and customers to not get injected. Some listened, some didn’t, but at least he tried to steer them straight. And some of the hillbillies up north from my neck of the woods who generally don’t like gub’mint refused, but so, so many bowed there head and went along with the recommendations or mandates of the “experts”.
Absolutely. Teach the children well, as the old song went. We were lucky enough to be able to protect our daughter from the worst of the nonsense, but she still felt the solitude at the height of the insanity. And now my wife has lost two children mid pregnancy for no obvious medical reason…shedding? She didn’t get vaxxed, but she works in the public schools where our cash-strapped district was paying the parents, literally, to get their children injected. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see what has happened to the children….one turned from a fun, healthy little girl to a cripple on a walker, others are taken away by ambulance in the middle of the school day, but no one will say anything because of “privacy”….It’s a killing field, but largely out of sight, and without the glare of the news media, for all the reasons we all know too well.
I am so sorry for the loss of your two children. I wish I could give you and your wife a hug. And what a shame for those children who have been harmed, and for their parents, who must be suffering terrible guilt.
Lock down "everyone" except those in big box stores keeping the shelves "semi- stocked" with doritoes and alcohol- don't get exercise at the gym or in your park or pool though cause "COVID"! People, three years later (one being my sister) blame their weigh gain on the lockdowns. WTF? Did you just stay locked in your house for weeks and eat food delivered and prepared by others and never question what you were being TOLD (not asked) to DO???? I can't even make small talk with these people knowing they have no ability to think rationally. Keep your stories as long as you want! Love them. (Interesting that we had a same incident with a bunch of teens in a house with a rifle- brother of a good friend was shot- in the groin- he eventually perished- it was a horrible way to die).
Yes, the contradictions were there for any thinking person to see, however most people were blinded by fear, and the fearful run with the herd. If we could only have understood that Scaring is not Caring we would have been far more suspicious and therefore immune to the bs that so many believed.
This is what tipped me off, very early, that we were under the rule of incompetents. A fundamental of public policy is a weighing of pros and cons, costs and benefits. This wasn't done, not even close. And we may never recover.
Agreed. We miss a lot if we think these people are incompetent. At the highest levels the decisions were deliberate, and reflected an understanding of human nature that most of us lack. The psy-ops worked as planned.
The lockdowns, masks, and all the other measures were not about managing any virus, but about managing public anxiety. And like any avoidant method of managing anxiety, these measures only served to reinforce the anxiety (and the superstitious thinking that the measure was useful).
And of course, the anxiety itself was generated and kept active by our public officials and our media, to some extent deliberately.
A thoughtful person might conclude that the whole exercise was designed to test just how far people could be manipulated... sadly, the answer is: very far indeed.
Never forget THE MASKS. They have by far the most potential as a vehicle for evil. The fact that they persist to this day is a testament to their power.
The masks were the linchpin. They were about a lot of things (fear one of them), but their real purpose is to CONTROL a populations access to time and space in society. By extension, they are the center "dial" in the behavioral control dynamics gear set, that allows the PHA's to modulate the emotional and behavioral beasts in all of us (including the most stable of all emotions; HATE). You can tell everyone they can have a mask break at lunch next Tuesday, and then 30 minutes before that lunch inform everyone that their mask break has been postponed to the following Tuesday. You can't do that type of exercise with lockdowns, etc.
This is why the masking is so dangerous. The propaganda was literally on a persons face and became an object of intense focus that depersoned everyone at once - disarming each individual and the population as a whole with a ritual of adorning propaganda for access to society. Total control with the slightest of perceived compulsion wrapped in a twisted moral trickbox that was easily policed, BUT required an individual who resisted to pay the biggest price of further isolation.
Very powerful form of control because it also marks the non-conformers by just seeing their faces. To be a person was the mark.
Thank you, Ryan, for expressing so perfectly in your next to last paragraph that which I have been thinking about masks for over 3 years now. We saw this played out over and over again here in the heart of Covidistan, Pacific Northwest edition.
The worst example of this was in the medical profession. They KNOW masks don't work against respiratory illnesses and yet they went along with it anyway. I was in and out of medical buildings for most of 2020 and 2021. The masking made surgery and subsequent treatments intolerable. If I pulled down the mask to get some much needed oxygen, there was always someone there to bark, "Pull your mask up! All the way! Over your nose!" One would think that medical personnel would understand the importance of oxygen, in general, and for sick people in particular!
Others have stated that they will never trust the medical establishment again, and I heartily concur.
What happened with the medical field was a disaster. I am a nurse and I argued with so many of my co-workers during Covid and it went nowhere. Either they religiously believed it or they were afraid to say anything. My hospital finally STARTED to move away from masks about 7 months ago. Even now if we get Covid we are supposed to stay home for 5 days and then come back to work and wear a mask for another 5 days. What sense does this even make? My co worker complied and was miserable from still recovering and having to wear a mask also. My question is why even comply with this? I will never again take a Covid test. If I am sick, I will stay home and return to work when I am better. I will not ever put that thing on my face again to wear for an entire day. Most people aren’t masking all the time anymore. A few still do and many of them are doctors and PAs who wear them religiously.
Thank you for being a voice of reason with your colleagues. The worst are the people who know the truth but stay quiet.
Why is it that so much of the medical profession embraced masks? Earlier this year my partner's grandmother was in a stroke unit and we had to argue with the nurses over masks. They wouldn't let us go in without wearing them and eventually we compromised with face shields. Such utter nonsense!
(Later when she was transferred to a palliative care unit none of the staff cared about masks -- but I have heard of people encountering mask authoritarianism even while visiting dying relatives.)
Here in the UK the rules have completely eased up, but at least 50% of HCPs continue to be attached to masking (including my opthalmologist and the nurses at the clinic where I give blood).
I don’t know why so many of the healthcare profession embraced them. I have thought about it a lot. I think because they believe in the “system.” They believe that the “experts” are honest and caring and wise. I used to believe that also. But after several years of working as a nurse, I started to see that our profession is very flawed and I started telling myself that I never wanted any of this stuff done to me. I don’t want 20 prescriptions and constant appointments. I don’t want a bunch of surgeries and procedures and implanted devices. We have made our modern healthcare system into an idle. I also started to notice that people aren’t necessarily healthier and happier the more “science “ advances. In fact, people sit in the hospital for weeks and sometimes months and have multiple admissions. There are so many problems that need addressed. But all of this stuff has been normalized and we have been conditioned to trust the “experts.” So many people just blindly follow without questioning. I hope more are waking up and that we demand answers and accountability from providers going forward.
That's just awful. I can't imagine having to deal with that when you're trying to recover.
The masks were a Swiss Army Knife. Your case is a perfect example of the object of focus drowning out all other "signals".
The healthcare workers you encountered were inoculated from empathy and cognitive dissonance because of The Focus.
The Focus allowed humans to bypass these front-line signals that separate us from beasts so that they weren't tempted to focus on you as a human, lest they be confronted with their own inhumanity.
Therein, lies the devil's playground; when the obvious is illusory between their own humanity and their inhumane treatment of others.
I think everyone has been damaged. I saw how people could so easily be controlled, become snitches and would line up to take an untried , produced by magic, jab.
I saw how healthcare was ripped away from the sick , the British NHS only cared about covid. Families have been set against each other, children's mental health problems are through the roof, little children way behind in speech.
I know I'm damaged, I have a completely different view of most of my fellow humans and I know my temper is much shorter than it used to be. I am cynical and untrusting.
On the other hand I no longer fund the BBC or have anything to do with them which is a wonderful feeling. And my children and I are very close.
Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023Liked by Mark Oshinskie
Regarding the ridiculous measures in the ‘fight’ versus a ‘deadly pandemic’, wasn’t it Governor Cuomo(NY) who stated and I’m paraphrasing “It’s worth it if we save just one life?” That statement alone might be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in my life.
Pay no mind to the wife regarding your posts. They’re not too long. I enjoy the quantity because they are quality throughout.
Great post Mark ! Never give an untested drug to a pregnant woman, that was more than obvious and people fell for it . The damage has been done for me , all trust is gone forever. We are suppose to forgive , I just can’t do it .
Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 8, 2023Liked by Mark Oshinskie
Thank you for remembering. Our Uncle Bill was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He would tell us of standing on the roof of the barracks on that Sunday morning and watching the Zeros flying towards him. At first, he thought it was a training flight out of Hickham AFB. Then he saw the red "meatball" on the planes and saw, as he put it, "the first bombs of WWII being dropped". He said that they flew so low, he looked straight across into the cockpit of one of the planes and saw the pilot. Said he would never forget that face.
We spent the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor with Uncle Bill and so glad we were able to do so, as he passed away 9 months later.
In a way, I am grateful that most of the WWII generation is gone; they no longer have to see what has become of the nation for which they fought so hard.
My old neighbor Ed was locked in a supply boat storage closet on a bombed ship somewhere in the South Pacific. He wouldn’t talk about it, but to tell me he visited the veterans hospital often to deal with his PTSD. The signs were visible on his face, and the ‘facial tick’ got worse as time went on.
He always said he was worried about the condition of the world I would be left with. He passed in his late 80’s about 9 years ago. Exactly 6 months after his beloved Lucille passed. They had no children but could dance up a storm and rode horses and volunteered with youths and horses.
He’d pick me up for trail rides, into his 80’s, and we’d have the best times and talks. A true gentleman.
He never told me of his story in the military but his doctor or liaison at the veterans hospital told me after the funeral.
Ps, I’m in Central Oregon, the psy-ops was bad here, but not as bad as in Portland.
Hi, Karen, we are sort-of neighbors. We live in the "greater Seattle area" - we still see people walking/jogging/driving alone all masked up. Not sure which is worse, Seattle or Portland.
Your neighbor reminds me of the older gentleman who owned the place we kept our horses for 20+ years. He was an engineer and was sent to Germany at the end of WWII to assess the tech that the Army was finding. He even was sent to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. He was a very gentle soul and I still miss him very much.
Brandon, I'm so sorry for the pain you dad lived with all those years. My grandpa (Battle of Midway, Okinawa, etc.) was in a detail that went ashore after the enemy had butchered villagers during their retreat. He was never able to shake the images of those poor people - he had nightmares for the rest of his life. He is safely home with the Lord now, for which I am grateful.
So sad, the vets just held all the horrors in. I'm sorry about your dad, bless him for finally telling you, for getting it out.
I am so lucky, my dad is alive, mom too. He's 91, they've been married for 71 years. He was in the army, but WW2 was long over. Born at the right time to miss WW2, Korea and Vietnam.
😊 It is such a small world! I had family in Bothell for years, and my paternal side is from Centralia! I also have family in Tualitin, Bend, and Hillsborough. I am very grateful for the Substack community; it has been such a blessing to connect with like-minded people in the midst of all horror and chaos.
And yes, horses are the best mental health medicine I know! The barn is my happy place, even if it is just shoveling stalls! 😂🤣
The damage is permanent. And it will go unpunished. The problem as I laid it out in December 2022 at the Miami Brownstone event is that the population hit Peak Wuhan Exhaustion around, say, October 2022. Those of us who know Fauci, Birx and the rest deserve to stand trial for crimes against humanity can just suck up the fact that not only will they never face justice, but they have been amply rewarded. Fauci is extolled as a god by the totalitarian Left who love anyone who will exert micro control over the deplorables.
I had the insane happenstance a while ago of being introduced to a DC lobbying firm for one of the companies I advise. It was a warm introduction to one of the partners, so I did not do any research before arriving at their offices. Imagine my dismay to find out Deborah Birx was one of the new partners there.
It's over. I am delighted I got to write for Brownstone. I am delighted to have met so many smart people. I am sad to note that the paper I wrote in March 2020 was absolutely correct about the pointless madness which came as a man-made tsunami of illogic and governmental hubris.
I am 1000% happy that I live in Florida, the Last Free State in America, where we watched all this bullshit happen from afar while we lived our lives.
It was a national and international disgrace. If the sheeple don't wake up, that will be even more of a bummer.
The DC elite are the absolute worse. What should we call these people? "Beltway bellends"?
I partly grew up in a DC suburb and, sure, everyone was really booksmart and ambitious and accomplished, but damn if it wasn't a noxious, oppressive bubble. My high school was at least 50% entitled, self-important, class-president types who were woke before woke was a thing. I'm sure a bunch of them now work for lobbying firms and other establishment organisations.
ONLY 50% ? You lucky duck! My high school on Long Island - no joke, was deemed best in the whole damned nation while I was there - was chock-a-block with folks who would have been improved by being obnoxious, entitled bell-ends. Ah, the magical hubris of the Northeastern snowflake wunderkinder! Such a special breed of horrid child.
Excellent analysis Mark. All things considered, to me the only logical conclusion is that this was planned from the top down. WHO, WEF and all their whores in local and state governments. Event 201 at Johns Hopkins reinforces that conclusion.
As to the idea that the lockdown was not merely government incompetence, an overage of excitement among pen-pushers being asked to engage their lifelong penchant for controlling situations in the first really meaningful way ever, that is true. ‘Flatten the curve’ may have excited nerds in government buildings across the world, but incompetence and “ooops!” does not explain the lockdown. There is evidence for this hypothesis in the scope and coordination of the myriad operational components involved in the lockdown. The application of bureaucratic integration, vertical and horizontal, was stunning... and utterly smothering to any opposition, hesitancy, or public reflection on the matter. It was a military-like operation because it was, in-fact, a military operation (DOD). The lockdown was employed by government and its corporate partners against the civilian population. No accident.
Yes, from the start the COVID response in the West was treated as a national security issue, not public health. And that is why they lied to us repeatedly -- those at the top were sworn to military secrecy and the media was given injunctions or D-notices -- or whatever you call the types of protocols that are invoked when specific facts about a situation cannot be communicated to the population.
It is sickening that even now all of the officials at the top keep doubling down. Is there no one willing to break rank and come clean? Does no one have a conscience?
I love your stories. It reminds me of a better time when kids were outside playing and taking risks that the helicopter parents of today would never allow. I didn’t have the same level of thrills that you had, but we would leave the house in the morning and check in at mealtimes (we were hungry!) It was an amazing time and a perfect time to be a kid. I did my best to raise my kids the same way. I hope they appreciate it.
I never tire of your writings long or short. They are written in a manner we all can relate which sparks my mind to my childhood memories that are relatable. I really think that is the problem today with the various ages groups it doesn’t seem to only affect the young it’s all ages.
Nobody reads! Most are addicted to the short videos, because
Technology has them addicted to short attention spans where it doesn’t require thinking or observing. Reading slows down and allows the brain to develop and comprehend. Our school’s, homes, and parents are not teaching our most precious commodities the precious gift of reading and writing.
Mark, I love your posts - particularly I love the stories and reminiscences. So many of them mirror many of my own experiences, growing up as we did in the same era. So giving due consideration to your dear wife, please keep writing as you do. We all love you and your work here.
My wife really does have good judgment. I could cite many examples. Here's one: she didn't jabs, even though she gave up a job opportunity over her refusal.
I completely agree Shirley! Mark’s writings always make me feel as though I’ve traveled in a time-machine back to the “good old days” and I can relate to so much with my own life’s experiences! I always look forward to Thursdays!
Amen. The lockdowns and all other associated nonsense was very strategic and very calculated and had zero to do with public health
Here in Detroit all the liquor/weed/lottery places were WIDE open——legally, while most small businesses were closed and crushed, including my two man tree business, because, you know, the science….
So many otherwise intelligent people, including good friends of mine here, STILL believe it was necessary and net-beneficial.
don’t have the rhetorical skills, nor the will, nor the patience to re-educate them.
I just know that we lost a lot more than 3 years, we lost a chunk of our souls, and I don’t know how you get that back, or even if it’s possible.
It seems that the best we can hope for is to get used to the scar tissue, find meaning and strength in that, and never (again) bend the knee.
Thanks for your writing, Mark. I grew up in West Milford up in north Jersey and your writing gives me hope that the re is at least one sane person left in the Garden State.
Thanks, Joe. So well said about the scam and the lasting harm. It would be one thing if there had been a huge natural disaster. But man-made destruction--esp. for political and economic control--is unacceptable.
That SUCKS that you lost your business.
There's far more than one sane person here. But the sane are def in the minority. When you're back in NJ, please stop by. I had dinner last Friday night with an old Oakland friend.
"don’t have the rhetorical skills, nor the will, nor the patience to re-educate them."
Same here. Couldn't debate my way out of a paper bag, so I just shake my head and carry on.
What can you do? People are people, and it's all natural selection anyway. I've stopped glaring at people who wear masks, instead they get a smile of pity.
But an easy way that does seem to throw a wrench into their programmed thinking is to mention that Sweden did nothing at all but had 1/3 fewer deaths than we did. No need to say another word - and there is nothing they can say in response.
If you did want to add more, you could tell them the US had four times more deaths per million than the global average (Worldometer data).
Or just mention that a mere 130 million souls were pushed into starvation. I still catch myself glaring, okay, snarling really. It's almost instinctive.
The Masked Ones are in the minority and not so aggressive now, they seem sheepish. When they were in the majority they glared at us, so turn around is fair play.
I would love to grab a beer with you next time I’m back. I was there a few weeks ago over Thanksgiving, but I’ll be back again in a few months. How do I contact you?
I know there are some good people left in NJ. None of my family back there got the shots, and my brother who runs a senior care business counseled all his employees and customers to not get injected. Some listened, some didn’t, but at least he tried to steer them straight. And some of the hillbillies up north from my neck of the woods who generally don’t like gub’mint refused, but so, so many bowed there head and went along with the recommendations or mandates of the “experts”.
Thanks again,
Joe
The best we can do is to teach the children that what happened to them was both WRONG and did NOT work.
If not, you can count on a Resheep.
And it fucking pisses me off you lost your business because of the biggest fuck up of all time on the easiest call all time.
Absolutely. Teach the children well, as the old song went. We were lucky enough to be able to protect our daughter from the worst of the nonsense, but she still felt the solitude at the height of the insanity. And now my wife has lost two children mid pregnancy for no obvious medical reason…shedding? She didn’t get vaxxed, but she works in the public schools where our cash-strapped district was paying the parents, literally, to get their children injected. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see what has happened to the children….one turned from a fun, healthy little girl to a cripple on a walker, others are taken away by ambulance in the middle of the school day, but no one will say anything because of “privacy”….It’s a killing field, but largely out of sight, and without the glare of the news media, for all the reasons we all know too well.
Thanks for the comment and keep strong!
I am so sorry for the loss of your two children. I wish I could give you and your wife a hug. And what a shame for those children who have been harmed, and for their parents, who must be suffering terrible guilt.
Thanks a lot. I appreciate your caring about us.
Be well and stay strong
Dr Paul Marik -- "There is no question that shedding is a real thing" --
https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/events/dr-paul-marik-there-is-no-question-that-shedding-is-a-real-thing/paul-marik-spike-protein-shedding-a-real-thing/
Lock down "everyone" except those in big box stores keeping the shelves "semi- stocked" with doritoes and alcohol- don't get exercise at the gym or in your park or pool though cause "COVID"! People, three years later (one being my sister) blame their weigh gain on the lockdowns. WTF? Did you just stay locked in your house for weeks and eat food delivered and prepared by others and never question what you were being TOLD (not asked) to DO???? I can't even make small talk with these people knowing they have no ability to think rationally. Keep your stories as long as you want! Love them. (Interesting that we had a same incident with a bunch of teens in a house with a rifle- brother of a good friend was shot- in the groin- he eventually perished- it was a horrible way to die).
It really is hard to take lockdowners seriously.
Yes, the contradictions were there for any thinking person to see, however most people were blinded by fear, and the fearful run with the herd. If we could only have understood that Scaring is not Caring we would have been far more suspicious and therefore immune to the bs that so many believed.
This is what tipped me off, very early, that we were under the rule of incompetents. A fundamental of public policy is a weighing of pros and cons, costs and benefits. This wasn't done, not even close. And we may never recover.
I would say "evil."
Agreed. We miss a lot if we think these people are incompetent. At the highest levels the decisions were deliberate, and reflected an understanding of human nature that most of us lack. The psy-ops worked as planned.
Americans are trained to think of government officials and experts as earnest.
The last four years have exposed this lie.
Yes, and the media always tells the truth. Our education system does not produce independent thinkers, it produces obedient rule followers.
Perhaps in the past.
Post lockdown its something else.
The lockdowns, masks, and all the other measures were not about managing any virus, but about managing public anxiety. And like any avoidant method of managing anxiety, these measures only served to reinforce the anxiety (and the superstitious thinking that the measure was useful).
And of course, the anxiety itself was generated and kept active by our public officials and our media, to some extent deliberately.
A thoughtful person might conclude that the whole exercise was designed to test just how far people could be manipulated... sadly, the answer is: very far indeed.
Never forget THE MASKS. They have by far the most potential as a vehicle for evil. The fact that they persist to this day is a testament to their power.
The masks were the linchpin. They were about a lot of things (fear one of them), but their real purpose is to CONTROL a populations access to time and space in society. By extension, they are the center "dial" in the behavioral control dynamics gear set, that allows the PHA's to modulate the emotional and behavioral beasts in all of us (including the most stable of all emotions; HATE). You can tell everyone they can have a mask break at lunch next Tuesday, and then 30 minutes before that lunch inform everyone that their mask break has been postponed to the following Tuesday. You can't do that type of exercise with lockdowns, etc.
This is why the masking is so dangerous. The propaganda was literally on a persons face and became an object of intense focus that depersoned everyone at once - disarming each individual and the population as a whole with a ritual of adorning propaganda for access to society. Total control with the slightest of perceived compulsion wrapped in a twisted moral trickbox that was easily policed, BUT required an individual who resisted to pay the biggest price of further isolation.
Very powerful form of control because it also marks the non-conformers by just seeing their faces. To be a person was the mark.
Thank you, Ryan, for expressing so perfectly in your next to last paragraph that which I have been thinking about masks for over 3 years now. We saw this played out over and over again here in the heart of Covidistan, Pacific Northwest edition.
The worst example of this was in the medical profession. They KNOW masks don't work against respiratory illnesses and yet they went along with it anyway. I was in and out of medical buildings for most of 2020 and 2021. The masking made surgery and subsequent treatments intolerable. If I pulled down the mask to get some much needed oxygen, there was always someone there to bark, "Pull your mask up! All the way! Over your nose!" One would think that medical personnel would understand the importance of oxygen, in general, and for sick people in particular!
Others have stated that they will never trust the medical establishment again, and I heartily concur.
Mrs. "the Knife"
What happened with the medical field was a disaster. I am a nurse and I argued with so many of my co-workers during Covid and it went nowhere. Either they religiously believed it or they were afraid to say anything. My hospital finally STARTED to move away from masks about 7 months ago. Even now if we get Covid we are supposed to stay home for 5 days and then come back to work and wear a mask for another 5 days. What sense does this even make? My co worker complied and was miserable from still recovering and having to wear a mask also. My question is why even comply with this? I will never again take a Covid test. If I am sick, I will stay home and return to work when I am better. I will not ever put that thing on my face again to wear for an entire day. Most people aren’t masking all the time anymore. A few still do and many of them are doctors and PAs who wear them religiously.
Thank you for being a voice of reason with your colleagues. The worst are the people who know the truth but stay quiet.
Why is it that so much of the medical profession embraced masks? Earlier this year my partner's grandmother was in a stroke unit and we had to argue with the nurses over masks. They wouldn't let us go in without wearing them and eventually we compromised with face shields. Such utter nonsense!
(Later when she was transferred to a palliative care unit none of the staff cared about masks -- but I have heard of people encountering mask authoritarianism even while visiting dying relatives.)
Here in the UK the rules have completely eased up, but at least 50% of HCPs continue to be attached to masking (including my opthalmologist and the nurses at the clinic where I give blood).
I don’t know why so many of the healthcare profession embraced them. I have thought about it a lot. I think because they believe in the “system.” They believe that the “experts” are honest and caring and wise. I used to believe that also. But after several years of working as a nurse, I started to see that our profession is very flawed and I started telling myself that I never wanted any of this stuff done to me. I don’t want 20 prescriptions and constant appointments. I don’t want a bunch of surgeries and procedures and implanted devices. We have made our modern healthcare system into an idle. I also started to notice that people aren’t necessarily healthier and happier the more “science “ advances. In fact, people sit in the hospital for weeks and sometimes months and have multiple admissions. There are so many problems that need addressed. But all of this stuff has been normalized and we have been conditioned to trust the “experts.” So many people just blindly follow without questioning. I hope more are waking up and that we demand answers and accountability from providers going forward.
That's just awful. I can't imagine having to deal with that when you're trying to recover.
The masks were a Swiss Army Knife. Your case is a perfect example of the object of focus drowning out all other "signals".
The healthcare workers you encountered were inoculated from empathy and cognitive dissonance because of The Focus.
The Focus allowed humans to bypass these front-line signals that separate us from beasts so that they weren't tempted to focus on you as a human, lest they be confronted with their own inhumanity.
Therein, lies the devil's playground; when the obvious is illusory between their own humanity and their inhumane treatment of others.
The masks masked them to both. Dangerous stuff.
I think everyone has been damaged. I saw how people could so easily be controlled, become snitches and would line up to take an untried , produced by magic, jab.
I saw how healthcare was ripped away from the sick , the British NHS only cared about covid. Families have been set against each other, children's mental health problems are through the roof, little children way behind in speech.
I know I'm damaged, I have a completely different view of most of my fellow humans and I know my temper is much shorter than it used to be. I am cynical and untrusting.
On the other hand I no longer fund the BBC or have anything to do with them which is a wonderful feeling. And my children and I are very close.
Oh and I've met some great people on line 😀
I tend to look at it as a worldwide IQ test.
Many failed.
The most important test that any of them ever took.
Scary
It was deliberate. It was evil. And they have a good idea on who will comply and who will not. Get ready for the next one.
Regarding the ridiculous measures in the ‘fight’ versus a ‘deadly pandemic’, wasn’t it Governor Cuomo(NY) who stated and I’m paraphrasing “It’s worth it if we save just one life?” That statement alone might be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in my life.
Pay no mind to the wife regarding your posts. They’re not too long. I enjoy the quantity because they are quality throughout.
Great post Mark ! Never give an untested drug to a pregnant woman, that was more than obvious and people fell for it . The damage has been done for me , all trust is gone forever. We are suppose to forgive , I just can’t do it .
Pearl Harbor Day today … to all our relatives/ family/ friends / and Americans who served . 🙏. Thank you 😘
Thank you for remembering. Our Uncle Bill was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He would tell us of standing on the roof of the barracks on that Sunday morning and watching the Zeros flying towards him. At first, he thought it was a training flight out of Hickham AFB. Then he saw the red "meatball" on the planes and saw, as he put it, "the first bombs of WWII being dropped". He said that they flew so low, he looked straight across into the cockpit of one of the planes and saw the pilot. Said he would never forget that face.
We spent the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor with Uncle Bill and so glad we were able to do so, as he passed away 9 months later.
In a way, I am grateful that most of the WWII generation is gone; they no longer have to see what has become of the nation for which they fought so hard.
Mrs. "the Knife"
My old neighbor Ed was locked in a supply boat storage closet on a bombed ship somewhere in the South Pacific. He wouldn’t talk about it, but to tell me he visited the veterans hospital often to deal with his PTSD. The signs were visible on his face, and the ‘facial tick’ got worse as time went on.
He always said he was worried about the condition of the world I would be left with. He passed in his late 80’s about 9 years ago. Exactly 6 months after his beloved Lucille passed. They had no children but could dance up a storm and rode horses and volunteered with youths and horses.
He’d pick me up for trail rides, into his 80’s, and we’d have the best times and talks. A true gentleman.
He never told me of his story in the military but his doctor or liaison at the veterans hospital told me after the funeral.
Ps, I’m in Central Oregon, the psy-ops was bad here, but not as bad as in Portland.
Hi, Karen, we are sort-of neighbors. We live in the "greater Seattle area" - we still see people walking/jogging/driving alone all masked up. Not sure which is worse, Seattle or Portland.
Your neighbor reminds me of the older gentleman who owned the place we kept our horses for 20+ years. He was an engineer and was sent to Germany at the end of WWII to assess the tech that the Army was finding. He even was sent to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. He was a very gentle soul and I still miss him very much.
Mrs. "the Knife"
My dad is gone too … never knew how bad his battle of the demons were till he told me a month before he passed . God Bless all the vets . 🙏
Brandon, I'm so sorry for the pain you dad lived with all those years. My grandpa (Battle of Midway, Okinawa, etc.) was in a detail that went ashore after the enemy had butchered villagers during their retreat. He was never able to shake the images of those poor people - he had nightmares for the rest of his life. He is safely home with the Lord now, for which I am grateful.
Mrs. "the Knife"
So sad, the vets just held all the horrors in. I'm sorry about your dad, bless him for finally telling you, for getting it out.
I am so lucky, my dad is alive, mom too. He's 91, they've been married for 71 years. He was in the army, but WW2 was long over. Born at the right time to miss WW2, Korea and Vietnam.
We are neighbors sorta, aren't we. My brother is in Bothell and my folks are in Chehalis.
I'm glad our veterans had the healing power of horses.
😊 It is such a small world! I had family in Bothell for years, and my paternal side is from Centralia! I also have family in Tualitin, Bend, and Hillsborough. I am very grateful for the Substack community; it has been such a blessing to connect with like-minded people in the midst of all horror and chaos.
And yes, horses are the best mental health medicine I know! The barn is my happy place, even if it is just shoveling stalls! 😂🤣
Blessings to you and yours,
Mrs. "the Knife"
Oh dear Bro - I too struggle with forgiving.
Dearest Lord - forgive me for being unforgiving. 🙏🙏🙏
Most lockdowners show no contrition.
God does not tell us to forgive only if someone shows contrition.
But it sure would be nice.
That’s a good topic Laura . You are both ahead of me on that topic . All I know it’s a terrible struggle for me . 😣
I know Bro. 😘❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏
The damage is permanent. And it will go unpunished. The problem as I laid it out in December 2022 at the Miami Brownstone event is that the population hit Peak Wuhan Exhaustion around, say, October 2022. Those of us who know Fauci, Birx and the rest deserve to stand trial for crimes against humanity can just suck up the fact that not only will they never face justice, but they have been amply rewarded. Fauci is extolled as a god by the totalitarian Left who love anyone who will exert micro control over the deplorables.
I had the insane happenstance a while ago of being introduced to a DC lobbying firm for one of the companies I advise. It was a warm introduction to one of the partners, so I did not do any research before arriving at their offices. Imagine my dismay to find out Deborah Birx was one of the new partners there.
It's over. I am delighted I got to write for Brownstone. I am delighted to have met so many smart people. I am sad to note that the paper I wrote in March 2020 was absolutely correct about the pointless madness which came as a man-made tsunami of illogic and governmental hubris.
I am 1000% happy that I live in Florida, the Last Free State in America, where we watched all this bullshit happen from afar while we lived our lives.
It was a national and international disgrace. If the sheeple don't wake up, that will be even more of a bummer.
The DC elite are the absolute worse. What should we call these people? "Beltway bellends"?
I partly grew up in a DC suburb and, sure, everyone was really booksmart and ambitious and accomplished, but damn if it wasn't a noxious, oppressive bubble. My high school was at least 50% entitled, self-important, class-president types who were woke before woke was a thing. I'm sure a bunch of them now work for lobbying firms and other establishment organisations.
ONLY 50% ? You lucky duck! My high school on Long Island - no joke, was deemed best in the whole damned nation while I was there - was chock-a-block with folks who would have been improved by being obnoxious, entitled bell-ends. Ah, the magical hubris of the Northeastern snowflake wunderkinder! Such a special breed of horrid child.
The damage is done, permanent, irrevocable. We have not even spent 0.2% on any attempt to 'undo' it nor or we likely to do so.
True. So many want to "move on."
But there's so much wreckage that can't be cleaned up.
Excellent analysis Mark. All things considered, to me the only logical conclusion is that this was planned from the top down. WHO, WEF and all their whores in local and state governments. Event 201 at Johns Hopkins reinforces that conclusion.
Agreed. This whole thing was planned LONG ago. Just my opinion, no proof to show.
Also indirect proof from RFK’s fine book.
There is actually quite a bit of proof. Indirect proof from Katherine Watt, Karen and Sasha, direct proof from the extensive work of David E. Martin
What I meant was I don't have any proof to show someone who asks.
As to the idea that the lockdown was not merely government incompetence, an overage of excitement among pen-pushers being asked to engage their lifelong penchant for controlling situations in the first really meaningful way ever, that is true. ‘Flatten the curve’ may have excited nerds in government buildings across the world, but incompetence and “ooops!” does not explain the lockdown. There is evidence for this hypothesis in the scope and coordination of the myriad operational components involved in the lockdown. The application of bureaucratic integration, vertical and horizontal, was stunning... and utterly smothering to any opposition, hesitancy, or public reflection on the matter. It was a military-like operation because it was, in-fact, a military operation (DOD). The lockdown was employed by government and its corporate partners against the civilian population. No accident.
Yes, from the start the COVID response in the West was treated as a national security issue, not public health. And that is why they lied to us repeatedly -- those at the top were sworn to military secrecy and the media was given injunctions or D-notices -- or whatever you call the types of protocols that are invoked when specific facts about a situation cannot be communicated to the population.
It is sickening that even now all of the officials at the top keep doubling down. Is there no one willing to break rank and come clean? Does no one have a conscience?
I love your stories. It reminds me of a better time when kids were outside playing and taking risks that the helicopter parents of today would never allow. I didn’t have the same level of thrills that you had, but we would leave the house in the morning and check in at mealtimes (we were hungry!) It was an amazing time and a perfect time to be a kid. I did my best to raise my kids the same way. I hope they appreciate it.
Thanks, Lemmin.
It pains me deeply to see how controlled life has become. And how many fewer kids are around now to hang out with.
I never tire of your writings long or short. They are written in a manner we all can relate which sparks my mind to my childhood memories that are relatable. I really think that is the problem today with the various ages groups it doesn’t seem to only affect the young it’s all ages.
Nobody reads! Most are addicted to the short videos, because
Technology has them addicted to short attention spans where it doesn’t require thinking or observing. Reading slows down and allows the brain to develop and comprehend. Our school’s, homes, and parents are not teaching our most precious commodities the precious gift of reading and writing.
Mark, I love your posts - particularly I love the stories and reminiscences. So many of them mirror many of my own experiences, growing up as we did in the same era. So giving due consideration to your dear wife, please keep writing as you do. We all love you and your work here.
Thanks, Shirley.
My wife really does have good judgment. I could cite many examples. Here's one: she didn't jabs, even though she gave up a job opportunity over her refusal.
What better example of her good judgement Mark, in that she married you?
I completely agree Shirley! Mark’s writings always make me feel as though I’ve traveled in a time-machine back to the “good old days” and I can relate to so much with my own life’s experiences! I always look forward to Thursdays!
Love the writing, long or short. It helps knowing there are other free thinkers out there! thank you.