Further Evidence That Lockdowns, Closures, Masks, Vaccine Mandates, and NPIs Were Worse Than Useless

Still more evidence just keeps on piling up, from New York to Taiwan to Australia to Cornell University, that lockdowns, closures, masks, vaccine mandates, and NPIs have been utterly useless or worse than useless, as the ever-insightful Ian Miller (author of Unmasked) has noted recently.   It is so bleeding obvious now that no sane person can possibly deny it any longer.  Of course, as the old adage goes, people tend to go mad in crowds, but only recover one by one.

And school closures turned out to be even worse than we thought, per the latest evidence from Brazil, a country that famously eschewed lockdowns and most types of NPIs for the most part, but bizarrely had some of the longest school closures in the world, making it possible to readily tease out the costs and benefits of this one particular NPI.  One new study, which dovetails nicely with other studies in both rich and poor countries around the world, found that remote learning resulted in truly MASSIVE learning losses and increased dropout rates compared to in-person education.  And yet another Brazilian study found that it was ultimately all for naught, as the overall Covid death rates in communities who reopened schools earlier were not significantly different from those in communities who kept schools closed longer.  This was notably true even for high schools, which were once thought to be so much riskier than middle and elementary schools in terms of spreading the virus that even Sweden felt the need to close them during most of the first wave and again briefly at the very height of the second wave.  Thus, we can conclude that school closures at any age or grade level were basically all pain and no gain overall, at least for prolonged closures, and that remote learning simply does not work well.

(And of course there is plenty of evidence from the USA, UK, and elsewhere that not only are school closures exceedingly harmful to children, but also opening them encumbered with worse-than-useless dystopian restrictions like antisocial distancing and mask mandates is really not that much better either.)

In other news, study finds that water is wet, and that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

UPDATE:  Oh yeah, and about those jabs?  Well, those on balance also seem to be worse than useless as well for most people, and especially for kids.  Wonder no more where all those formerly rare but now ubiquitous reinfections are coming from these days.  That's not us just saying that, that is actually taken straight from Pf*zer's very own clinical trial of children under age 5.  Looks like Sweden, who never forced them on anyone and currently refuses to give these jabs to children under 12, and Florida, who also never forced them and currently refuses to purchase it for children under 5, are vindicated yet again.

And if you think Long Covid is bad, just wait till you hear about Long Lockdown and Long Jab Injury!  The data are piling up and increasingly showing exactly which side of the debate is on the right side of history.

As for efficacy, the Chinese inactivated whole virus vaccines (that is, actual vaccines) Sinovac and Sinopharm, really don't seem to be much better either, as evident in excess death rates in Chile, a country that largely preferred those ones at least three to one over the mRNA jabs.  And India's Covaxin, which is also made the same way as the Chinese ones, also seems to be quite lackluster as well.  Kinda like regular flu shots, in fact.  Same thing, different virus.

And once again, the ever-insightful Ian Miller thoroughly debunks, debones, slices, dices, and juliennes the pro-mask arguments, and lays waste to their utterly scorched remains for good.  And check out the latest new study from Josh Stevenson about masks for kids as well, likely the very best one yet.  Spoiler alert:  masks STILL don't work.

A recent Australian study confirmed via experiment that surgical masks (and by extension, cloth masks as well) are utterly useless against aerosolized viruses, as are even N95s unless they are properly fit-tested and NO mistakes are made.  The latter, of course, does NOT apply to the general population, as Germany unfortunately learned the hard way when their general N95 mandate failed so spectacularly to contain or control their Covid outbreak.

Are you listening, New Zealand?  Because the "clue phone" is ringing louder than ever now.

AUGUST UPDATE:  We see yet another strike against the jabs now.  As the late Bill Sardi predicted, it looks like the century-old BCG vaccine (against tuberculosis) does in fact seem to work at least as well against Covid as the gene therapy jabs do, according to the latest research.  And perhaps other unrelated diseases as well.  Not only because some of what is labeled as Covid is simply misdiagnosed TB or co-infection with both (which is likely true too, as also likely happened in 1918), but more likely due to the BCG's general effect on training the innate immune system to be more effective.  And it is indeed fascinating what they found.  Note as well that this same nonspecific "trained immunity" can also be promoted with beta-glucan supplements (from yeast) and/or thymus gland extract supplements as well, no jabs needed, which Bill Sardi also discussed.  

Perhaps they finally cracked the code of the holy grail that is a truly universal vaccine?

The Next Plandemic?

Just as the COVID-19 pandemic is basically over now as the virus and its descendents has transitioned to one degree or another of endemicity after reaching a level of functional herd immunity from mass infection (largely no thanks to the jabs!), no sooner does another potential one appear seemingly out of nowhere.  And that virus is.....MONKEYPOX! 

Monkeypox is mainly found in wild animals in parts of Africa where it is endemic at a low level, and related to smallpox but much milder and far less contagious between humans, hence it being quite rare in humans.  It generally requires VERY close contact to transmit it, and it is not known to spread in the absence of symptoms either.  But very recently there has been a rash (pun intended) of cases in several countries where it is not normally found among people with no history of travel to Africa, such as the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Australia, Canada, and now the USA.  The numbers remain quite small, less than 100 confirmed cases total and no deaths yet, but it is being closely monitored.

The ever-insightful Michael P. Senger (author of Snake Oil:  How Xi Jinping Shut Down The World) points out that, just like the COVID-19 pandemic was preceded by just a few months by a tabletop simulation of a SARS-like viral pandemic called "Event 201", so too was this monkeypox outbreak preceded just a year ago by another tabletop simulation of, and he quotes, a "global pandemic involving an unusual strain of monkeypox beginning in May 2022".  In fact, it takes place as beginning on May 15, 2022, accurate almost to the DAY.  Now, that is one eerie coincidence if there ever was one!  Or is it really a coincidence at all?  Things that really should make you go, hmmmm....

And Senger also points out that, at the center of both simulations is....George Fu Gao, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control.  Yes, really.  And he and his colleagues have been awfully quiet lately.

But don't worry, they have plenty of vaccines ready now--smallpox vaccines to be exact, which supposedly also work on this related virus as well.  Bill Gates must be salivating like a Pavlov's dog as we speak!

Meanwhile, the NYC Health Department is currently a world outlier among public health agencies in recommending that people wear masks again (!) to protect against monkeypox.  Yes, really.  Not even the CDC is saying that, and there is really no hard evidence that masks work against monkeypox in the general population.  But that didn't stop NYC from advocating it, because reasons.  Or something. 

We at the TSAP do NOT believe that this will actually become a real pandemic, rather, this outbreak will most likely fizzle out on its own as a mere flash in the pan.  But as the past two and a half years has so painfully shown us all, we must never, ever underestimate what sorts of evil machinations the global oligarchy is capable of, both in terms of deliberate or "accidental" release of natural or manmade bioweapons, as well as collateral damage from illiberal and totalitarian responses to same.

And all this just as the infamous WHO pandemic treaty is being revised in an increasingly illiberal direction and being actively debated as we speak....

Either way, whether it is a hoax, a real threat, somewhere in between, or some combination of both, this has the fingerprints of the oligarchy all over it.

No More Excess Deaths!

While we officially crossed the grim 1 million threshold for cumulative Covid deaths in the USA since the beginning of the pandemic just the other day (based on official CDC numbers of course, which count all deaths "with Covid" and not necessarily "from Covid"), we also reached another significant milestone at the same time that the mainstream media did not seem to acknowledge.  According to the CDC's own data, there have not been any excess all-cause deaths at all since the week of March 12, 2022, despite "cases" rising significantly since then (especially in the Northeast) for the past two months thanks to both seasonality and the BA.2 subvariants.  Of course, it can take several weeks for excess deaths to be fully counted, but this is the longest stretch of time since March 2020 that we have gone without excess deaths.  In fact, deaths are currently running below normal, as the proverbial ferryman already got more than his fair share of money by now.

So what does this all mean?   It means that the virus is currently endemic, and that the pandemic is essentially over now.  It is basically the new seasonal flu and the new common cold rolled into one.  In fact, just before the different-enough Omicron variant hit, actual influenza made a comeback already before being temporarily suppressed by Omicron's viral interference.  And with no new major variants detectable on the horizon (only subvariants and sub-subvariants), it is unlikely that the resulting endemic equilibrium will be disrupted enough to create another major death and hospitalization wave anytime soon.  Even if there is a "casedemic" wave from time to time, herd immunity will prevail overall.

It is thus no wonder that even some top FDA officials are now finally saying that Americans should treat Covid like the flu.  What we at Team Reality have already been saying for a while now, in other words.

Bottom line:  Covid is endemic, Zero Covid is a pipe dream, and lockdowns, masks, and NPIs are useless or worse than useless.  The vast, vast majority of Americans, including children, have already had the virus at least once by now.  We know how to treat it effectively, and the largely failed "vaccines" have been around and available more than long enough to know that they weren't exactly worth waiting for.  It is long past time to adopt the "flu strategy" and move on.

UPDATE:  We are still learning more and more about how lockdowns, masks, and NPIs have done far more harm than good, especially for children, and also that "immunity debt" is in fact a real thing after all.  All for naught.  Hindsight is indeed, well, 2020.  Future generations will all surely look back with absolute horror and disbelief at the conduct of our "leaders" and their sheeple followers over the past two years!

We at Team Reality hate to say we told you so, but....

(Fortunately, the unusual spike in non-Covid excess deaths (read: mostly jab deaths plus numerous collateral deaths from lockdowns, closures, and NPIs) in the second half of 2021 and into very early 2022 now seems to have also since receded by now as well, though alas the damage is already done.)

Meanwhile, in Australia....

And for any natural immunity deniers still out there, particularly as regards to Omicron, this rebuttal is just for you.  Seriously, just take the L and move on.

Why A Cashless Society Is A Terrible Idea That Must Be Resisted At All Costs

In recent months, there has been more and more talk about phasing out cash in favor of a purely digital currency, especially a central bank digital currency (CBDC).  While the idea does have its benefits, such as making banking maneuvers and electronic transactions of all kinds simpler and almost completely frictionless, there is nonetheless one major, outweighing, and inescapable design flaw to such an otherwise promising idea that should make any reasonably sane and liberty-loving society reject the idea absolutely.   So what is this fatal flaw?

In a nutshell:  a purely digital currency would be controlled completely by whoever is in power, which generally means the greater oligarchy of government, central banks, and of course the elite "shadow government" who runs both.  It can be turned on and off at will by whoever controls it, which means that your bank account, credit cards, and stuff like that would effectively be turned on and off at will by these same oligarchs and technocrats.  Next up would be social credit scoring, and so on.  All of this would be a very effective way to control We the People in ways that the dictators of old could not have ever dreamed of!  And without physical cash as an alternative, there is no way to get around such a scheme (especially once they ban cryptocurrencies next on their agenda).

That more than outweighs any potential benefits of CBDCs.  It is inherently totalitarian, and one need look no further than China to see its rotten fruits in action.  Or Canada, when they cracked down on the Freedom Convoy and froze the bank accounts of them and their supporters, for an earlier stage of this.  Imagine what they could have done if cash no longer existed!

For the record, the TSAP fully supports a Universal Basic Income (UBI), provided it really is done with NO strings attached.  Done properly, contrary to the naysayers it will increase the bargaining power of the working class and will actually reduce perverse incentives and dependence on the government compared to the utterly broken status quo.  But we will NEVER, EVER support a CBDC or anything else that leads to the elimination of physical cash, period.

The oligarchs may be able control We the People to one degree or another regardless of the monetary system in place.  But they cannot control us 100% as long as physical cash exists as an alternative to digital currency.  Once cash is gone, all bets really are off!

A cashless society is, at best, a solution in search of a problem.  At worst, it is a sure gateway to an unprecedented level of irreversible dystopian totalitarianism.  We ignore all of this at our own peril.

Will Roe v. Wade Be Overturned?

A recent leak from the US Supreme Court, which currently has a conservative majority, reveals that the nearly half-century old precedent of Roe v. Wade is likely to be overturned in the near future.  This, especially on the heels of one red state after another recently imposing more and more restrictions and bans on abortion, would be a disaster for women's reproductive rights, and slopes are FAR slipperier than they appear.  If a woman loses her reproductive rights, who knows what rights she can lose next?  This is one of the first of several steps towards Margaret Atwood's worst nightmare, at least in the red states.

This further drives home the point that we cannot afford to be complacent at all, even for major victories that were thought to be settled long ago.

If it does actually get overturned, women may want to go on a Lysistrata-style sex strike until either the SCOTUS reverses and restores Roe, and/or a federal law codifying Roe and/or a new constitutional amendment is passed guaranteeing reproductive rights to women.  Because otherwise, with the coming red wave (thanks in part to two years of the Democrats' self-sabotaging and illiberal Covid restrictions, and many years of silly performative wokeness), it really doesn't look very good at all.

UPDATE:  It should really go without saying, but we do NOT support, condone, or tolerate anyone vandalizing churches or places of worship of any kind, period.  That kind of behavior is grossly unethical, and also does nothing to address what governments are doing in regards to reproductive rights.  KNOCK IT OFF!

Also, here's another good piece exposing the rank hypocrisy of "pro-life" (anti-choice) zealots.

Surprise! New Study Finds Face Masks Are WORSE Than Useless

The ever-growing mountain of evidence can no longer be denied:  masks are literally worse than useless.  And a new study of European data confirms this by finding that higher rates of mask compliance had no statistically significant correlation with the number of Covid cases.  And worse, higher mask use was significantly correlated with MORE deaths.  

Reread that last sentence for a moment and let it sink in.  Indeed, more masks = MORE DEATHS.  (And more cases too, even if that was not statistically significant.)

This finding dovetails with the hypothesized Foegen Effect that was apparently observed in a recent German study that compared case fatality rates in various Kansas counties with different mask rules.  That is, face masks were hypothesized to backfire in terms of death rates by further concentrating and incubating the virus compared with no mask, as a result of repeatedly rebreathing the virus deeper into the lungs.  And the Kansas data bear that out, much like the new European data.  Only in the European data, there was no benefit in terms of reduced cases, while the Kansas data showed a modest reduction in cases, albeit with more deaths.  Thus, even the supposedly reduced cases in Kansas may have simply been an artifact of bias or residual or unmeasured confounding.  Either way, masks made it deadlier on balance, and perhaps even increased the likelihood of long-term sequelae in the survivors as well.

OOPS!  Maybe the powers that be should have thought of that before even recommending, let alone mandating, these worse than useless devices on the masses.  And maybe they should not have so casually tossed the wisdom of the ages out the window like so much garbage in their zeal to slake their overwhelming urge to panic.

And that's to say nothing of all the collateral harms of prolonged mask wearing as well, especially for kids (but really for all ages).  Those pushing mask mandates, and especially those who continued to do so despite mounting evidence against such illiberal and counterproductive measures, have a LOT to answer for (and a LOT of blood on their hands too).

The environment is also harmed as well by these ubiquitous "paper" (actually polypropylene plastic) masks.  Right now, there are more of these discarded non-biodegradable, single-use items in the oceans than there are jellyfish!  There is certainly nothing even remotely "green" about that at all.

If the True Spirit of America Party were to make a list of all of the biggest regrets we have ever had since our founding in 2009, our early and fairly brief advocacy of masks and mask mandates (albeit as an alternative to lockdowns) in the spring and early summer of 2020 would probably come in at #1, displacing our former foolish advocacy of fiscal austerity (and Austrian economics in general) prior to 2014 for the top spot on the list.  Done from a place of ignorance, we really should have listened to the past century worth of research that cast major doubt on (if not thoroughly debunked) the use of masks to stop airborne respiratory viruses of any kind.  The mosquito and chain-link fence analogy applies here.

The experts knew already that masks didn't work in 1918, and thus they were abandoned just a few months later in early 1919.  So why in the world did it take so much longer to realize that this time?

And to think that the mask mandates would only last a few weeks was naive at best.  The most important lesson of the past two years was that you cannot meet tyranny or insanity in the middle.  Give them an inch, and they take a mile every time.  Also, another lesson is that what appears to work in the lab, or at a small scale, does NOT necessarily work in the real world, especially on a large scale.  History has been made, all right.  Just not in a good way.

UPDATE:  A new editorial online at Yahoo! on May 6, 2022 now admits that there is no evidence that masks work.  For a mainstream editorial to say this shows that the Overton window has shifted dramatically in the past several months, in a very good way.

And yet another study confirms that masks lead to (re)breathing excessive and dangerous levels of CO2 (carbon dioxide) by the wearer.  Worse, the effect was larger in children than in adults.  In other news, study finds that water is wet and the sun rises in the east.

And for the love of all that is good, STOP MASKING TODDLERS YESTERDAY!  It's no wonder there has been a mysterious increase in disease in that group recently.  NYC Mayor Eric Adams, I'm looking at YOU!  

And once again, the ever-insightful Ian Miller thoroughly debunks, debones, slices, dices, and juliennes the pro-mask arguments, and lays waste to their utterly scorched remains for good.  And check out the latest new study from Josh Stevenson about masks for kids as well, likely the very best one yet.  Spoiler alert:  masks STILL don't work.

Turmeric May Be Effective Against Covid, Particularly Omicron

The latest addition to the already-known 20+ possible treatments and prophylactics against Covid (particularly Omicron in this case) is apparently curcumin, the bioactive phytochemical component of the spice turmeric.  This is not actually surprising given that we already know that curcumin acts as a protease inhibitor (which Pfizer's magic pill does too).  And now a new study fleshed this out further with an additional effect, finding that curcumin also binds to specific amino acids on the Omicron-mutant viral spike protein, more so than chloroquine does.  Read that last sentence once more and let it sink in.

This may be one of several reasons why India, who really got slammed by Delta last year, did not get hit anywhere near as hard by Omicron or any of its subvariants to date, despite (or perhaps even partly because of) low vaccination rates and almost no mRNA vaccines (which seem to be a magnet for Omicron) used there at all.  Turmeric is famously used quite ubiquitously in Indian cuisine.  As is black pepper, which contains piperine, a compound known to boost the effectiveness of turmeric in general.

So turmeric (and don't forget the black pepper and/or olive oil to boost it) is one more thing to add to one's spice rack and medicine chest.  It is certainly a LOT safer than Big Pharma's latest nostrums.  Ditto for resveratrol, quercetin, and fisetin as well.  But remember, as the late Bill Sardi warns, do use caution not to overdo turmeric supplements, many of which can be far more potent than most people realize.

A Pandemic Report Card Study

Well, there is now finally a study comparing the several states in their performance during the pandemic.  The paper can be found here.  It looks at health, economic, and educational outcomes, and then combines them into a composite score and then converts to letter grades A through F.  Covid death rates are adjusted for age and metabolic health, while excess all-cause deaths are adjusted for age.

The results?  Spoiler alert:  Free and open states like Utah, Florida, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Vermont each got an A overall while the most stringent states such like New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, California, Illinois, and Washington, DC each got an F overall.  And the middling states were, well, somewhere in the middle overall.

Like the song says, some will win, some will lose, and some are born to sing the blues.  And greater stringency only increases the odds of falling into the latter category.   The restrictions turned out to be not only useless, but actually worse than useless. 

How To Whip Inflation Now (WIN) In Five Easy Steps

Well, it's official.  The infamous "Inflation Dragon" has finally been rudely awakened after a long 40 year slumber, and what was thought to be merely "transitory" last year has turned out to be anything but.  This inflation has several causes, and the collateral damage from lockdowns (and the FERAL Reserve and federal government's attempts to paper it over with unprecedented spending, money creation, and rock-bottom interest rates), supply chain snarls, and corporate greed all played a part.  And that is before the most recent cause, namely the Russia-Ukraine war and the resulting sanctions that decreased fuel supplies and increased fuel prices, with knock-on effects on food prices as well.

We do know how to solve this though, despite the FERAL Reserve and federal government apparently being far too milquetoast to do so as of yet:

1. Raise interest rates, sharply and quickly, as high as it takes, until inflation drops below 3%.  Then, and only then, should rates be cut.
2. Shrink the Fed's massively bloated $9 trillion (!) balance sheet by ending Quantitative Easing (buying bonds) and beginning Quantitative Tightening (selling bonds).
3. Raise the reserve ratio to at least 10% and sterilize all excess reserves.
4. Suspend all fuel taxes for 90 days, if not all general sales taxes as well.
5. The federal government should buy fuel, food, etc. at a premium, and sell it to the population at a loss.  Just like the Pentagon already does with the military.  That would also incentvize production as well, and thus reduce the supply shortages that are the root cause of inflation.

And it should go without saying, but also we need to also end all remaining Covid restrictions and states of emergency, and yesterday is not soon enough.  And the Russia-Ukraine war needs to be brought to a swift and diplomatic end ASAP, or at the very least no further escalations.  The sanctions against Russia have basically served their purpose already now, so let's not cut off our proverbial nose to spite our face.

And even if raising interest rates high enough ends up triggering a recession like in 1980-1982, remember that persistently high inflation can have an even worse effect in the long run, so temporarily hiking rates is the lesser evil here.  And once inflation is under control, then cutting rates fairly quickly should ameliorate any lingering adverse effects of high interest rates.  Another round of stimulus checks may also be called for once inflation is finally beaten.

Raising interest rates works by increasing the demand for dollars via the reward for holding such dollars, thereby increasing the value of the currency.  It is this effect, far more so than the decreased supply of dollars, that really squeezes inflationary expectations out of the system.  Of course, keeping rates too high for too long increases "cost-push" inflation by increasing borrowing costs, so it is a balancing act.

As Rodger Malcolm Mitchell notes, the best way to cure stagflation is to 1) raise interest rates to cure the inflation, and 2) increase federal deficit spending to cure the stagnation.  Which is exact what happened in the early 1980s, albeit with a lag between measures 1 and 2.  Had there been no lag between the two, the effectively "engineered recession" may not have even occurred at all, or would have been much milder.  

As for oil (and thus gasoline, diesel, etc.) prices in the 1980s, well, the market ultimately worked its magic and the oil shortage eventually turned into an oil glut.  And prices subsequently crashed to levels not seen in a while, not to rise even close to their previous peak until decades later.  Funny how that works when markets are left to their own devices long enough.

One mistake NOT to make, of course, is government-imposed price and wage controls like Nixon did, which inevitably lead to shortages and rationing, making the problem worse in the long run.  Prices are essentially signals for the market, and trying to bluntly and artificially force prices down by legislative or executive fiat has a very long history of backfiring.  That said, a "windfall profits tax" on corporations would go a long way to taming the root causes of inflation from the corporate greed angle.

So what are we waiting for?

FINAL THOUGHT:  Some may argue that all of this inflation, and the policies that promote it, is a deliberate "controlled demolition" of the world's major currencies, so that the globalist oligarchy (WEF, IMF, World Bank, and all of their many tentacles including the various central banks and corporate banks) can usher in a global Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and global Universal Basic Income (UBI) after crashing the dollar and other national (or supranational) currencies.  That may be so, thus the best thing that Monetarily Sovereign nations like the USA can do would be to 1) Increase the value of their own currency by hiking interest rates yesterday, 2) Issue their own UBIs (with truly NO strings attached) in their own currencies to pre-empt the globalists by beating them to it, and 3) Do NOT even THINK about phasing out cash in favor of purely digital currencies of any kind, and/or giving up the nation's Monetary Sovereignty to any global or supranational entity!  What the globalist oligarchs want is a totalitarian's dream come true, with plenty of strings attached in the form of CCP-style "social credit" scoring on steroids--and the worst nightmare for the rest of us.

JUNE UPDATE:  The Treasury has another tool they can use, the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), to help increase production and thus reduce the large and widening mismatch between supply and demand.  That would actually target the supply side of the equation, something that merely raising interest rates cannot do.  So what are they waiting for?

State Of The Planet Address 2022

It is now 2022, and this year the TSAP will not waste any time giving our annual State of the Planet Address as we do every year.  Yes, we know it is a bit of a downer to say the least.  So sit down, take off your rose-colored glasses, and read on:

Our planet is in grave danger, and has been for quite some time now.  We face several serious long term problems:  climate change, deforestation, desertification, loss of biodiversity, overharvesting, energy crises, and of course pollution of many kinds.  Polar ice caps are melting.  Rainforests have been shrinking by 50 acres per minute.  Numerous species are going extinct every year.  Soil is eroding rapidly.  Food shortages have occurred in several countries in recent years.  Weather has been getting crazier each year thanks to climate change.  We have had numerous and often record-breaking wildfires, floods followed by long periods of drought, and a "storm of the century" at least once a year for the past several years.   And it is only getting worse every year.  In fact, 2020 is tied with 2016 as having been the hottest year on record.  Look no further than the three record-breaking storms in the past 15 years:  Katrina (2005, highest storm surge), Sandy (2012, largest diameter), and now Harvey (2017, a 1000-year flood, and overall worst hurricane on record), followed by Irma and Maria which devastated Puerto Rico, for a taste of the not-too-distant future.  And that was before Hurricane Michael devastated a rather large chunk of Florida.  And now Texas is being plagued by wildfires.

None of this is an accident of course.  These problems are man-made, and their solutions must also begin and end with humans.  We cannot afford to sit idly by any longer, lest we face hell and high water in the not-too-distant future.  Our unsustainable scorched-earth policy towards the planet has to end.  Yesterday.

While we do not invoke the precautionary principle for all issues, we unequivocally do for the issue of climate change and any other environmental issues of comparable magnitude.  In fact, for something as dire as climate change, as of 2015 we now support a strong "no regrets" approach.  With no apologies to hardcore libertarians or paleoconservatives, in fact. We are not fazed one bit by the naysayers' pseudoscience as it does not really "debunk" the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming. The only serious debate is about how fast it will happen, and when the tipping point (or points) will occur. It is not a matter of if, but when. And the less precarious position is to assume it is a real and urgent problem. We need to reduce CO2 emissions to the point where the CO2 concentration is at or below 350 ppm, ASAP.  And it is currently at an unsustainably high level of 400+ ppm, and growing rapidly every year.

Given the latest IPCC report, which is truly nothing short of horrifying, the general consensus among climate scientists is that we have only at most 12 years left (now more like 11) to act radically before truly catastrophic climate change is a foregone conclusion.  And 2030 will be here before we know it.  

Now THAT is a national emergency!  And a global one, in fact.  Thus, a full-steam-ahead, Green New Deal 2.0 is LONG overdue.  We have already squandered over a whole decade since Copenhagen, and we cannot afford to squander even one more day, let alone another decade.

Solving the problem of climate change will also help to solve the other ecological crises we are facing, for they all ultimately have the same root causes, not least of which is our insatiable addiction to dirty energy.  However, there is a right way to solve it, and several wrong ways.  Technology is important, but it won't be decisive on its own (economics geeks may recall Jevons Paradox).  The real problem is the paradigm that our society has been following, and that system is based on wetiko, the parasite of the mind and cancer of the soul.  It often seems that the only difference between capitalism and cannibalism is the spelling.

The TSAP endorses the ideas embodied in Steve Stoft's new book Carbonomics, most notably a tax-and-dividend system that would tax carbon (i.e. fossil fuels) at the source, and give all Americans an equal share of the revenue generated from this tax.  (Note that our proposal to tax natural resources and pay out an Alaska-like citizen's dividend already includes this.)  Yes, prices for various things would undoubtedly rise due to this tax, all else being equal, but the dividend will allow Americans to pay for this increase. The average American would in fact break even, but those who (directly or indirectly) use less energy than average will effectively pay less tax, while the energy hogs will effectively be taxed more, as they should be. Thus it is certainly not a regressive tax, and may even be mildly progressive. This is both the simplest and most equitable way to reduce carbon emissions as well as other forms of pollution, not to mention waste of dwindling non-renewable resources. The real challenge is getting the feds to accept something that won't directly benefit them (in the short term).  Carbonomics also includes other good ideas, such as improving how fuel economy standards are done, and crafting a better verison of the Kyoto treaty.   

In addition to the ideas in Carbonomics, we also support several other measures to help us end our addiction to fossil fuels once and for all.  Our Great American Phase-Out plan would phase out all fossil fuels by 2030 at the latest, via alternative energy, efficiency, and conservation.  One good idea to further the development of alternative energy would be the use of feed-in tariffs for renewable power sources. 

Of course, it is not enough to stop emitting carbon dioxide, we also need to remove the current excess levels of it from the atmosphere as well, as that stuff can otherwise linger for centuries and continue wreaking havoc on the climate.  We support ending net deforestation completely, planting a LOT more trees, and putting carbon back in the ground through carbon sequestration. One method is known as biochar, a type of charcoal made from plants that remove carbon dioxide from the air, that is subsequently buried. This is also an ancient method of soil fertilization and conservation, originally called terra preta.  It also helps preserve biodiversity.  Another crucial method would be regenerative organic farming, which also turns the soil into an effective carbon sink as well.  And we will most likely also need to employ higher-tech methods of sucking carbon out of the air as well.

We've said this before, and we'll say it again.  Our ultimate goal is 100% renewable energy by 2030, but we need to hedge our bets.  We can phase out fossil fuels, or we can phase out nuclear power, but we can't do both at the same time--and fossil fuels need to be phased out first, and quickly.  Nuclear is doing a pretty good job of phasing itself out as it is.  So let's not get rid of it prematurely.  

LENR (low energy nuclear reactors) and fusion power are also worth considering.

But the biggest elephant in the room (make that the elephant in the Volkswagen) is overpopulation.  It does not make for pleasant dinner conversation, but it must be addressed or else all other causes become lost causes in the long run. We absolutely need to have fewer kids, or nature will reduce our population for us, and the latter will NOT be pleasant to say the least. The TSAP believes in voluntarily reducing the total fertility rate (TFR) to 1.5-1.9 children per woman to do so, but let us be clear that we do NOT support draconian and/or coercive measures of population control (like China has used).  We believe that more liberty is the answer, not less.  In fact, the two most effective means of reducing the birthrate are poverty reduction and female empowerment.

Fortunately, America's TFR has recently dropped to a record low of about 1.73 with no indication of rising back above replacement rate in the near term.  And with the massive social and economic fallout from the pandemic and especially the lockdowns, the TFR is forecast to drop to 1.6 for 2021 (and even that is most likely an overestimate).  But clearly we cannot keep growing and growing, that's for sure (in fact, we need to shrink). And our insatiable addiction to economic growth (despite being decoupled from well-being) is also every bit as harmful as overpopulation as well, if not more so.  Growth for the sake of growth, the ideology of the cancer cell,  is clearly one of the most asinine obsessions our nation (and world) has ever had.  We clearly need to transition to a steady-state economy, most likely following a period of what Naomi Klein calls "selective degrowth" as well.  And to do that, we need a radical paradigm shift to happen yesterday.  Put another way, we need to leave room for Nature, lest Nature not leave room for us.  We have been warned, decades ago in fact.  Unfortunately, such warnings have largely fallen of deaf ears until very recently.

Yesterday is the time to jettison the Twin Big Lies that "everybody must work for a living" and "everybody must procreate".  Because doing so is the sine qua non of any realist plan to avert ecological catastrophe.

Last but not least, the TSAP now believes that as long as men remain in charge, we are all merely rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  Let's face it, it ain't gonna be us fellas who will save the world, as the past 7000 years or so have shown.  We paved paradise and put up a parking lot, we created a desert and called it peace.  We devoured and suffocated our own empire, and our proverbial 15 minutes of fame is almost up.  Only when women finally take over and reclaim their rightful position as the new leaders of the free world--and they will--will there be any real permanent solution.

Bottom line: we need to take the environment much more seriously than we do now.  We ignore it at our own peril.  And while the current administration in DC clearly doesn't care, We the People must act nonetheless.  With no apologies to the deniosaurs or Big Oil, Big Gas, or Dirty Coal.

Oh, by the way, wanna hear a joke?  Peak Oil.  Not saying it won't happen, of course--it will eventually peak and decline at some point--but climate change kinda supersedes it.  While conventional oil most likely has already peaked, there is more than enough total oil (including unconventional) to deep-fry the Earth--and most of which needs to stay in the ground if we wish to avoid catastrophic climate change.  Fossil fuels are, after all, what Buckminster Fuller referred to as our planet's "energy savings account", which we need to wean ourselves off of and save just in case of a planetary emergency--and he first said this in 1941!

So quibble all you want, but the truth must be faced head-on.  Hindsight is 2020, and we have a planet to save.  So let's roll!

UPDATE:  We never thought we would ever have to say this, but the TSAP does NOT support a "climate lockdown" or any other type of lockdown for that matter.  It is at best a category error, and would do far more harm than good in the long run.  And of course it flies in the face of the basic principles of anything remotely resembling a free society.  So take that off the table now!

It should also go without saying, but we at the TSAP DO NOT support the WEF "Great Reset", social credit scoring, or a cashless society (aka CBDC) either.  Those are a totalitarian's dream come true, and our worst nightmare come true for the rest of us.  We believe that the answer is MORE liberty and democracy, not less.

Behold, The Millennial Remover

Two years ago at the start of the pandemic, the COVID-19 virus was very tastelessly nicknamed the "Boomer Remover" giving how age-stratified the death rates were already known to be, thus disproportionately killing Baby Boomers.  And now, two years later, there is now apparently a "Millennial Remover" in town these days, and this time it's not a virus.  Rather, it's a group of novel experimental gene therapy jabs masquerading as "vaccines" that have been imposed by force, coercion, and/or blatant fraud on millions of people.  And the victims are disproportionately young, including children, teens, and younger adults, as well as older adults too.

First, Google "died suddenly" and click News.  Then look at the surprisingly young ages of those who died.  Then look at the Google Trends curve for "died suddenly", it practically looks like a hockey stick from Q3 of 2021 onwards.  Then look at how the supposed lifesaving effect of the jabs is largely an artifact of deliberately ignoring the first two weeks of data after the first dose (and probably the second and third dose as well), and looking only at virus deaths.  Negative efficacy (by the jabs suppressing the immune system, ironically) in the first two weeks basically pulls forward and front-loads many infections and thus deaths that would have otherwise occurred a bit later, in addition to the jab injury excess deaths on top of it.

As Steve Kirsch has noted, the insurance industry has recently reported a 40% increase in overall death rates among 18-64 year olds in Indiana in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels.  That is huge!  Normally, overall death rates don't change anywhere near that much from year to year.  And it was worst in the third and possibly fourth quarters of 2021.  The official press release seems to insinuate that it was the virus that caused all (or nearly all) of the increase, but they are clearly ignoring the massive elephant in the room--the jabs.  And given the timing and the age group, the jabs are the largest and most likely culprit of all.  Notice they didn't compare 2021 (virus and vaccine) specifically with 2020 (virus but no vaccine), as that would have been too obvious, of course.  

If that is not a screaming loud safety signal, the largest in all of recorded history in fact, we really don't know what is!  (Over 1000 studies concur.)

Looking closer, we can see the age group 25-44 year olds (i.e. Millennials) are seeing an 84% excess death rate now, as Edward Dowd has pointed out.  This is the worst excess mortality seen in modern history!  If not the jabs, what else could it possibly be?  We didn't see anywhere near this kind of excess among people that young in 2020 or even early 2021, so blaming it on the virus (or even its sequelae) rings hollow.

And for those who are still not convinced, the Department of Defense data on death rates in the US military (one of the most vaccinated institutions in the nation, and known for keeping excellent records in general) are also quite disturbing as well.

Keep in mind that these deaths are, of course the very tip of a very large iceberg of jab injury.  Many more have yet to be uncovered, and many many more people, of course have been maimed by these jabs, sometimes likely permanently.

Some may still speciously claim that all or nearly all of these excess premature deaths are actually Covid, or perhaps longer-term sequelae of Covid, deaths disguised as non-Covid deaths.  But New Zealand had barely any Covid or flu in 2021, not getting their first real wave in earnest until February 2022.  And yet, they still had excess deaths in the latter half of 2021, coinciding almost perfectly with their extensive "vaccine" rollout.  So either 1) the New Zealand government has been lying through their teeth all along about their Covid numbers, or more likely, 2) the "vaccines" are in fact at least as deadly as the skeptics feared (and, at least for those under age 70 and reasonably healthy, significantly deadlier than the virus itself).  Neither of which is very flattering at all to either Team Vaccine OR Team Zero Covid.  

And embalmers in the USA have seen some pretty scary stuff recently as well.  Put it all together and apply Occam's Razor.  The conclusion is obvious.

Not only do all mandates need to end, but these jabs must be taken off the market, and yesterday is NOT soon enough!  And the liability shield of the manufacturers must be revoked for fraud, and let the trials begin.  Nuremberg 2.0, here we come!

UPDATE:  See the latest deep dive here, about just how increasingly impossible-to-ignore the jab injury death toll is becoming now.  No wonder the purveyors of these jabs are rushing for the exits as we speak now.

A new study finally admits that mRNA jabs (Pfizer and Moderna), not just the DNA/AAV ones (J&J and AstraZeneca), can cause fatal blood clots.

And yet more proof that pretty much any studies that make the jabs look "safe and effective" are rigged.

JULY UPDATE:  Even more excess deaths in New Zealand were seen again in January and February 2022, during and after the booster rollout, but crucially beginning before Omicron had established itself in that country and while virus prevalence was still quite low.  Then, of course, Omicron predictably exploded in late January and February after finally breaching Fortress New Zealand.  But the timing of these excess deaths suggests they are primarily jab-related rather than virus-related, as any Omicron death wave would not have even been noticeable until March given the typical lag of three to four weeks.  And while NZ's Omicron wave was less deadly than Hong Kong's and South Korea's, one is left to wonder if that was only because one cannot die twice.

Speaking of South Korea, one can observe that their cumulative excess death rate was equivalent to Sweden's.  Only difference was that most of the former's excess deaths occurred after the jabs, rather than before as in the latter's case.  Oh, and by the way, the same can be said about Denmark in terms of cumulative excess deaths as well.  So it looks like those favorite cherry-picked Nordic comparisons did NOT age well at all, as they no longer show Sweden as an outlier in a bad way anymore, but rather show Norway as the real global outlier in a good way.  And if you include their Baltic neighbors in the comparison, then Sweden was never even an outlier at all except perhaps briefly in the first wave.

Team Reality Vindicated Yet Again

Looks like us at Team Reality have been vindicated yet again:  two years into the pandemic, we still see no correlation between stringency and excess all-cause deaths.  And this was from a famous mainstream British medical journal, The Lancet, of all places.  One can see that not only did Sweden do better than the European average, but they actually did about the same or better than all of their immediate neighbors except Norway (and Norway wasn't even all that much stricter for the majority of the pandemic).  We can see that not only Sweden, but also Belarus, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Brazil, Uruguay, the Faroe Islands, Florida, Utah, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota were generally within error bounds of their much stricter neighbors (and/or the USA or world average), and in some cases actually did better.  Even Arizona was apparently within error bounds of their much stricter neighbor New Mexico.  And furthermore, a simple population age adjustment puts Florida and California at roughly equivalent to each other and the USA national average despite radically different policies, even if it makes Nevada look terrible by the same token.

The very worst country by far was Peru, who had one of the earliest, strictest, and longest lockdowns in the region, if not the world.  And the very worst US state was Mississippi, whose stringency was not very different from the national average overall.

But overall, the net result is that most countries and states simply ended up within error bounds of each other regardless of what they did policy-wise.

Cumulative excess all-cause deaths is the best way to compare states and countries since it shows us the "final bill" with no bias from the wide differences in counting Covid cases and deaths.  It thus captures all the collateral deaths from lockdowns and such, as well as direct and indirect virus deaths.  And it also captures any deaths from the very biggest elephant in the room of all--the experimental "vaccines".

Like the song goes, some will win, some will lose, and some are born to sing the blues.  And the latter category seems to be dominated by the perpetual quasi-lockdown countries and states repeatedly punctuated by on-again, off-again full lockdowns and other mandates and restrictions.  They have remained mired in an "epidemic yo-yo" with the worst of both worlds overall.  Basically, you either do China (excluding Hong Kong), or you do Sweden (or less).  Anything in between basically does far more harm than good on balance.  And China's brutal and totalitarian strategy, one with still no end in sight to this day, is of course utterly incompatible with anywhere even remotely close to being a free country.

Thus, lockdowns, mask mandates, and NPIs really need to be taken off the table forever. Period.

UPDATE:  Of course, all purely utilitarian arguments are ultimately built on quicksand, so that cannot be our only argument against lockdowns and such.  We must note that the real argument is, individual rights are inalienable, and thus NOT up for grabs, regardless.  It is an egregious affront to human dignity to violate such rights.  That, and the Hippocratic Oath of "first, do no harm" (since all of these restrictions and mandates are by definition, harmful to one degree or another) are the only arguments we need.

And for those who are still scared and miss the phony "security blanket" of universal masking, remember that you are still perfectly free to wear one yourself even well after mask mandates are lifted.  Better yet, build up your own "invisible mask" via the following:  Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin K, Vitamin A, Zinc, Quercetin, Thiamine, Magnesium, NAC, Niacin, Selenium, the amino acid Lysine, Resveratrol, Fisetin, Oregano Oil, Omega-3, and mouthwash and nasal spray such as Xlear, dilute Povidone-Iodine, or Betadine Cold Defence with Carageenan.  And all without the dreaded Foegen Effect or any of the numerous other adverse effects of face masks.

See also here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

And use common sense.  Wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, don't touch your face, and stay home when actually sick.  Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate.  Vulnerable people should avoid crowds as much as possible when case numbers are elevated.  In other words, adopt the "flu strategy" and move on.

A Hot War With Russia Would Be a VERY, VERY Bad Idea

The True Spirit of America Party hereby unequivocally condemns Vladimir Putin's abominable behavior, including (but not limited to) his most recent brutal rape of the Ukraine.  We agree that there is nothing redeeming about what he is currently doing there, period.  No argument from us there.

That said, it is nonetheless entirely possible to both condemn his misbehavior and still understand that a hot war between the USA and Russia is a VERY, VERY bad idea on balance for all concerned.  Or between any NATO country and Russia, for that matter.  Russia is a still very much a nuclear-armed quasi-superpower to this day, and they are also one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.  A hot war with them can easily turn VERY ugly and nuclear VERY fast, and would not be worth the cost. The same goes for any hot war with China either.  Thus, the TSAP unequivocally opposes any attempt by anyone to foment such a war, for any reason.  Period.

Unfortunately, too many people don't seem to do nuance anymore these days.  And they probably don't even know what the word "nuance" means.

And while it is very politically incorrect to say it out loud, NATO has not exactly been entirely innocent either in recent years.  There is far, far more to this complex and nuanced larger NATO vs Russia issue than meets the eye, and the roots go very, very deep indeed.  And the MSM rarely if ever tells the whole story.  We believe that the many years of warmongering and provocations on both sides is really, really stupid and dangerous, and we urge both sides to resolve this crisis diplomatically as quickly as humanly possible.  And while there are really no GOOD options currently, imposing swift and tough economic sanctions on the Russian oligarchs themselves (including Putin himself, the second richest person in the world) would probably be the least worst thing for the USA, NATO, and the UN to do.

As protest folk singer Phil Ochs once famously sang in "What Are You Fighting For?" in the 1960s:

But the hardest thing I'll ask you, if you would only try

Is take your children by their hands and look into their eyes

And there you'll see the answer, you should have seen before

If you'll win the wars at home, there'll be no fighting anymore.

Such excellent and timeless advice, both then and now.  And as Sting famously and poignantly sang in 1985, "I hope the Russians love their children too".

How To Make Sure This NEVER Happens Again

With the official narrative having completely collapsed and the tyrants now meeting meaningful resistance from We the People, and the Covidians now cynically rushing for the exits via the Great Pivot, one thing should be clear. Going cold turkey yesterday back to 2019 Normal must be the FLOOR, not the ceiling, of what We the People demand going forward.  After all, 2019 Normal was clearly not enough to prevent these past two years of madness from happening in the first place, and we need to make sure this can NEVER, EVER happen again.  

Like, ever.  Seriously. 

Not only do we demand an immediate and permanent end to all pandemic-related mandates and restrictions, leaving no traces behind, period, but we also demand the following going forward as well:

• Individual human rights and civil liberties must be UNCONDITIONAL and inalienable, period.  Regardless of the supposed "facts" on the ground or the "greater good" or any other utilitarian concerns.  Otherwise, they are not really rights at all, but rather privileges and indulgences.
• Especially bodily autonomy and bodily integrity must be as absolute as humanly possible, period.
• Emergency powers of any kind for any reason at any level of government must be severely limited in time, space, and extent going forward, and completely and permanently revoked for any "leaders" who have abused them in the past.  Any emergency powers related to Covid need to be revoked permanently at all levels of government everywhere.
• New constitutional amendments and legislation must be put forth to explicitly spell out and guarantee these changes.
• In other words, the perceived legitimacy of the basis for these mandates and restrictions must be eradicated completely.
• DO NOT EVER again attempt to meet tyranny or insanity in the middle!  You will lose, guaranteed, every single time, period.
• All of the major players in this catastrophe, both government and corporate, need to be forced to resign immediately at a bare minimum, and then must be brought up on charges of Crimes Against Humanity and tried and punished accordingly.  Nuremberg 2.0, in other words.
• And finally, demand full reparations for all vaccine injuries, and for all damages (economic and otherwise) done by government-imposed lockdowns, shutdowns, restrictions, and mandates of any kind.  The Takings Clause in the Constitution already demands as much.

So what are we waiting for?

UPDATE:  See this excellent article by Jeffrey A. Tucker.  The roots of these emergency powers go far deeper than many people realize.  And we must end and fully gut these powers, root and branch, yesterday.  Otherwise, they will grow back.

Also see this excellent article from The Daily Sceptic in the UK.  The points in that article apply here in the USA as well.  All emergency powers must be fully revoked yesterday.   Never Again is NOW.

Its The Final Countdown!

Like the famous 1980s song by the Swedish band Europe goes, "It's the final countdown!"  The fat lady has finally sung, and it's all over but the shouting.

The two year long COVID-19 pandemic is now effectively over for the most part, the virus has become endemic, and the vast majority of people want to go back to 2019 normal.  More and more countries are ending all or practically all restrictions now, starting with Denmark, and now Sweden too (lifting what little restrictions they had before).  Much of Europe is at least starting to loosen restrictions as well.  The Freedom Convoy of truckers in Canada is clearly making an impact there as well, and provincial governments are taking note.  And a good chunk of US states are effectively back to normal.

But still not everywhere yet.  Several states and countries have yet to see the light, and are apparently maintaining or even doubling down on their restrictions.  Though as they become an increasingly lonely club, the pressure will be on them to follow the other states and countries, of course.

A new and excellent meta-analysis of numerous studies on the effects of lockdown and related restrictions on Covid mortality rates was recently released, and the results are not at all flattering to the purveyors of the narrative.  The finding was that these restrictions basically had little to no practical benefit at all (and some of the studies examined even found increases in deaths with greater stringency), and given their well-known and obvious harms in terms of collateral damage, that makes these restrictions worse than useless.  The authors thus concluded that these restrictions "are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument".

And the now-retreating Omicron variant has also completely laid waste to what little had remained of the "vaccine" narrative as well.  The same can also be said of mask mandates, as a cursory glance at the epicurves of places that had such mandates and those that did not would show, just like before Omicron too.

If all of this doesn't constitute the ultimate off-ramp to go cold turkey yesterday from all restrictions permanently and never look back, I really don't know what does.  So what are we waiting for?

UPDATE:   No sooner did the lockdown-debunking meta-analysis come out, than yet another meta-analysis came out that found (surprise!) that face masks were also effectively useless as well.  Again, the lack of evidence of benefit against the virus, combined with the known harms of forcing these things on people, makes these mandates worse than useless on balance.  No wonder so many erstwhile pro-mask politicians are rushing for the exits now!

And both Pfizer and Moderna investors are now rushing for the exits as well.  Turns out, even the manufacturer immunity (from liability) for these "vaccines" is also rather leaky as well.  These companies apparently forgot that FRAUD (if proven) still leaves them wide open to product liability regardless of anything--and the clinical trials that they used to gain authorization for their products are looking more and more fraudulent with each passing day.  No wonder Moderna's CEO abruptly deleted his Twitter account and dumped his stock.  Get your popcorn, this will get very, very interesting.