Author Archives: stuartbramhall

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About stuartbramhall

Retired child and adolescent psychiatrist and American expatriate in New Zealand. In 2002, I made the difficult decision to close my 25-year Seattle practice after 15 years of covert FBI harassment. I describe the unrelenting phone harassment, illegal break-ins and six attempts on my life in my 2010 book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.

“You Know It’s Serious When Amish Get Involved”

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"You Know It's Serious When Amish Get Involved" - Truth Based Media

Zero Hedge

As Pennsylvania’s polls near closing, an unexpected twist has emerged: a massive mobilization of Amish voters. Known for their separation from mainstream society and reliance on traditional values, such as horse-and-buggy transportation (arguably more ‘green’ than EVs), these folks, traditionally not big participators in US politics, have been out in force at PA polling stations, voting for former President Trump after Biden-Harris’ big gov’t waged war on the community.

Let’s begin with the context. Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and big government Democrats targeted a small Amish farmer in Lancaster over compliance issues. This apparently infuriated the Amish community that many of them registered to vote and voted red in the last several days.

Real America’s Voice’s Tera Dahl was speaking at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Monday, and she explained that the Amish community is not a traditional group of voters in US elections.

“But they’re voting this year – and I think a big reason is the overreach of government – and one example that could’ve had a big impact was back in January. An Amish farmer was selling his milk – and the gov’t raided his home and stopped his business,” she said.

An Amish person was asked outside one PA polling station: “Who are you voting for?”

He responded, “Donald Trump.” He explained that the Amish had “more freedoms under Trump,” while government overreach drastically increased under Biden-Harris.

US Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., whose district includes Lancaster County, at the epicenter of America’s Amish population, told PBS News last week, “They just want government to stay not only out of their businesses but out of their religion.”

With family roots deep in the Amish community, Smucker forecasted a dramatic increase in the Amish vote, “basing that on the enthusiasm we see.”

There are currently 92,000 Amish in PA. It’s going to be a tight race, and these votes could make all the difference.

[…]

New Peer-Reviewed Study Calls for Immediate Global Moratorium on COVID-19 ‘Vaccines’

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By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

With the election behind us and immense government public health reform on the horizon, the study by Rogers et al, titled COVID-19 Vaccines: A Risk Factor for Cerebral Thrombotic Syndromes, was just published after successful peer-review in the International Journal of Innovative Research in Medical Science.

The methodology employed for this study is as follows:

Data were collected from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 2023. CTE AEs (cerebral thromboembolism adverse events) after COVID-19 vaccines were compared to those after influenza vaccines and after all other vaccines using proportional reporting ratio (PRR) analysis by time.

They found that brain clots (cerebral thromboembolism adverse events) are 112,000% more likely to occur after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine than after receiving an influenza vaccine. When comparing COVID-19 vaccines to all other vaccines combined, the likelihood is 20,700% higher. After COVID-19 vaccination, there were 5,137 reported cases of cerebral thromboembolism in just 3 years (36 months). For influenza vaccines over the past 34 years (408 months), there were only 52 reported cases. To visually express this enormous safety signal, I have created the following figure:

Accordingly, the authors concluded:

There is an alarming breach in the safety signal threshold concerning cerebral thrombosis adverse events after COVID-19 vaccines compared to that of the influenza vaccines and even when compared to that of all other vaccines. An immediate global moratorium on the use of COVID-19 vaccines is necessary with an absolute contraindication in women of reproductive age.

Their call for a global moratorium echoes the comprehensive study by Mead et al and many others:

1) World Council for Health

2) Florida’s Surgeon General

3) The Hope Accord

4) Doctors for COVID Ethics (D4CE)

5) Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)

6) McCullough Foundation

The Trump-RFK administration must ban these catastrophic injections on day one of taking power. Until these products are removed from the market, we can assume that regulatory capture is still rampant.

[…]

Via https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/breaking-new-peer-reviewed-study

Radical Left Activates Anti-Trump Protests As AOC Riles Up Rioters

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Zero Hedge

Not even 24 hours after President-elect Donald Trump won more votes in Illinois this general election than in the previous two, and after winning the US election in a massive red wave sweep, far-left protesters gathered outside the Trump Hotel in Obama’s Chicago.

The protests appear to have been highly organized and well-planned before the election, given the coordination among activists, the hundreds—if not thousands—of protesters—many holding signs—and the likely pre-approved protest routes from City Hall.

Organizers shouted into megaphones, “Trump is a fascist” and “racist,” echoing hate speech spewed by the defunct Harris-Walz campaign in the months leading up to November 5.

Separately, far-left activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was on X, saying the quiet part out loud: “There are … mass movements of people that mobilize to protect one another in times of fascism and authoritarianism … and this is the era that we are poised to enter.”

In other words, AOC appears to be giving marching orders to her followers, whom some Marxists regard as “agents of change” or “agents of history.” These folks will be herded like cattle—or “useful idiots”—onto city streets by a mysterious web of nonprofits funded by dark money from leftist billionaires.

The Democrat’s playbook to potentially unleash another wave of social unrest through activism campaigns, with command-and-control centers operated by nonprofits, will likely not be tolerated under a Trump administration.

It’s not just the Trump administration; it’s the American people – a strong majority now – who won’t tolerate far-left activism that burns buildings and trashes businesses. This new path in history has already shifted the Overton Window back towards the center. Plus, politics will focus on law and order instead of nation-killing progressive policies that push for destruction.

[…]

Via https://www.zerohedge.com/political/radical-left-activates-anti-trump-protests-aoc-gives-marching-orders

Trump’s top healthcare priority must be repealing Big Pharma’s legal immunity for vaccines

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Big pharma sues over California drug price law

By Alex Berenson

Lawsuits aren’t fun.

At best they’re draining and distracting – especially against big companies with tough legal teams. (Trust me.) Federal courts have now raised the bar even to reach the “discovery” phase of suits, where plaintiffs can see documents relevant to their claims.

No, lawsuits aren’t fun. No one sues a Fortune 500 company for kicks.

But sometimes they’re are necessary. Except, apparently, when it comes to vaccines1.

In its infinite wisdom, in 1986, Congress passed a law making it nearly impossible for any American to sue pharmaceutical companies over vaccine injuries. Instead, it routed all claims to a special federal court program that would judge possible injuries on a “no-fault” basis and compare them to a prespecified list of injuries.

In 2011, the Supreme Court affirmed and even strengthened the protection that the 1986 law gave Big Pharma, ruling that it prevented any lawsuits over “design defects” in the vaccines it covered.

In other words, as long as a drug company has issued boilerplate warnings about its vaccines, it essentially cannot be sued outside the vaccine court program unless it sells a contaminated vaccine batch.

The law covers any vaccine that the Centers for Disease Control has recommended for “routine administration” to children or pregnant women – that is, nearly all vaccines. (mRNA Covid jabs are for the moment covered separately, under a 2005 law about epidemic responses that offers even more complete immunity to Big Pharma. Eventually they are likely to move under the umbrella of the 1986 law.)

On principle, I think offering complete immunity to corporations is a mistake.

Tort lawsuits and plaintiffs’ lawyers can be annoying. They are also essential.

When companies cut corners on product design, when they hide problems or risks, when they mislead regulators (or buy them off with revolving door hiring), when they promote their products in blatantly false ways, lawsuits can be the only way to hold companies accountable. They’re a last resort, a way to get justice for defective or dangerous products from the Ford Pinto to Oxycontin.

And even the mere threat of lawsuits may force companies to consider whether they need to design their products better or disclose possible dangers.

[…]

When the 1986 law was passed, its advocates said vaccines were an exception; they were a low-profit corner of the drug industry that needed special protection from lawsuits because they could occasionally cause children devastating injuries. Without immunity, we would have no vaccines at all, the law’s advocates argued. (I know some of you think this is a good idea; I don’t agree.)

But that in the years since, drug companies have fundamentally changed that calculus. New vaccines are far more expensive, and they are much more biologically complicated than earlier, simple “inactivated-virus” or “live-attenuated” vaccines. As their names suggest, those are basically just dead or weakened viral particles given with a small “adjuvant” to provoke an immune system response.

mRNA shots are the ultimate example of this, and the mRNA Covid jabs were not just profitable but among the most profitable Big Pharma products ever in 2021 and 2022. They also offer – at best – far less durable protection than traditional shots, making them more akin to a traditional pharmaceutical product than a vaccine that offers decades or a lifetime of protection.

Why on earth would we encourage their manufacturers to take chances with public health by protecting them from lawsuits?

[…]

Via https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/trumps-top-healthcare-priority-must

RFK Jr. Declares War on Big Pharma: Vows to Clear Out ‘Entire Departments’ at the FDA in Push for Health Reform

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Jim Hoft

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his relentless stance against corporate influence in health policy, is now taking direct aim at the entrenched bureaucracies within the U.S. health agencies.

As a possible future Trump administration appointee, RFK Jr. has laid out a plan to rid the FDA and other key federal agencies of the deeply-rooted corruption that prioritizes corporate profits over public health.

Recall that Trump said that if he is elected, Kennedy will work on “health and women’s health ” and the nation’s food supply.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. we have. And he’s going to work on health and women’s health and all of the different reasons, because we’re not really a wealthy or a healthy country,” Trump said during his rally in Nevada.

“I told Bobby, ‘I want you to take care of health, I want you to look at the food and the food supply and what we put on the food and all sorts of — you can look at, but let me handle the oil and gas, Bobby,’” Trump added.

In Kennedy’s crosshairs are not only the FDA but also the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

On Saturday, Robert Kennedy Jr. announced that the Trump administration would advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from tap water on day one.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. “Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease. President ​Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump want to Make America Healthy Again.”

[…]

Via https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/rfk-jr-declares-war-big-pharma-vows-clear/

Regulators Reject Amazon’s Nuclear Datacenter Deal

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Dan Robinson

  

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cites grid stability concerns

Updated Amazon has hit a roadblock in its plans for nuclear-powered US datacenters. Federal regulators rejected a deal that would let it draw more power from a Susquehanna plant to supply new bit barns next to the site, on the grounds this would set a precedent which may affect grid reliability and increase energy costs.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order on November 1 rejecting an amended Interconnection Service Agreement (ISA) that would have increased the amount of co-located load from 300 to 480 MW, and to “make revisions related to the treatment of this co-located load.”

Co-located load means the Cumulus datacenter complex that Talen Energy built next to the 2.5 GW Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania which it operates, and which Amazon acquired in March via a deal worth $650 million.

The online megamart announced plans in May to expand the site with more than a dozen new datacenters for its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud subsidiary over the next decade.

Soon after that, official objections were filed by two utility companies, American Electric Power (AEP) and Exelon. They argued that the revised agreement between Talen and PJM Interconnection, the regional power grid operator, would give the Cumulus site preferential treatment and may result in less energy going to the grid in some circumstances.

Exelon and AEP also argued that the amended ISA should be subject to an official hearing because “it raises many factual questions,” and, in the absence of any such hearing, that FERC should reject the amended ISA. It seems a majority of the commissioners agreed.

Specifically, Exelon and AEP said the amended ISA had not been adequately supported, meaning no good reason was given as to why the amendments were necessary.

The FERC ruling notes that PJM says up to 480 MW of power could be delivered to “the co-located load” without a material impact on the grid, and any additional load beyond that would result in “generation deliverability violations” and require installation of system upgrades.

The amended ISA also states the co-located load “is not intended to consume capacity and/or energy from the PJM transmission system [the grid],” but it is “possible that it will.”

Exelon and AEP expressed concern that it was unclear what steps have been taken to ensure any such withdrawal of power from the grid would be properly metered and accurately billed when it does occur, and who would be financially responsible.

In its summary, FERC said PJM had not demonstrated that its proposed “non-conforming” provisions in the amended ISA are necessary deviations from the existing agreement, and therefore rejected it.

One dissenting voice was FERC Chairman Willie L Phillips, who claimed the order was “a step backward for both electric reliability and national security.” He said he believed that PJM had addressed reliability issues comprehensively in its filing, and the ruling risks America’s leadership in AI because “reliable electricity is the lifeblood” of the datacenters required for developing AI.

However, Commissioner Mark C Christie explained that co-location arrangements of this type present “an array of complicated, nuanced, and multifaceted issues, which collectively could have huge ramifications for both grid reliability and consumer costs,” and it was being rejected because PJM had failed to meet its burden of proof.

If the proposed amendment were approved at this time, he warned: “we would be setting a precedent that would be used to justify identical or similar arrangements in future cases.”

The move highlights the difficulties datacenter operators face in expanding their facilities to keep pace with the booming demand for training and operating the latest AI models, and the challenges that power companies face in delivering the energy required.

As The Register has covered recently, access to enough power has become a major issue in building or expanding those bit barns, with one major commercial property developer in the UK citing this as the single biggest constraint it faces.

Yet according to Bloomberg, the hyperscalers – Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft – are set to collectively splash out well over $200 billion this year chasing the AI dragon, despite increasing warnings the AI market is a bubble set to burst and many investors and enterprises are not seeing much return for all the cash they are throwing at it.

Amazon itself said in its recent earnings report it expects to spend $75 billion on capex this year and even more in 2025, largely due to rising demand for AWS services related to generative AI.

We asked the company to comment on the rejected Susquehanna power proposal.

The company has also recently pursued small modular reactors (SMRs) via a $500 million investment into three projects to develop these miniature nuclear plants. ®

Updated to add:

Amazon said of the decision that: “We remain committed to continue innovating and advancing carbon-free energy solutions with companies like Talen Energy to power datacenter operations in the United States and the many technologies supporting our customers and our daily lives.”

Moscow reacts to Trump’s vow to ‘stop wars’

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Moscow reacts to Trump’s vow to ‘stop wars’
FILE PHOTO: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova © Getty Images / Maksim Blinov

RT

US presidential election winner Donald Trump’s promise to end international conflicts should be backed up by concrete actions once he returns to the White House, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

During his speech on Wednesday in which he declared victory in the US election, Trump also stated that during his first term from 2017 to 2021 “we had no wars, except we defeated ISIS (Islamic State/IS).” The 78-year-old dismissed claims by his opponents that he would “start a war” once he returns to office. “I am not going to start a war. I am going to stop wars,” the Republican insisted.

When asked to comment on Trump’s promise, Zakharova told the Russia 24 TV channel that “of course, those theses must be followed by actions, concrete actions.”

According to the spokeswoman, the international community will judging Trump’s second presidency based on what he does, rather than what he says.

She also suggested that Trump’s promise to end foreign wars was an acknowledgment that the US needs to focus on its own problems.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reacted to Trump’s victory by pointing out that he has “one useful quality” for Russia.

“As a businessman to the core, he hates spending money on various freeloaders,” which includes the government in Ukraine, Medvedev, who now serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on Telegram.

However, he added that he does not expect the US funding of Ukraine to stop completely under the new president. “Trump might be stubborn, but the system is stronger,” Medvedev argued.

During his campaign against Democratic rival Kamala Harris, Trump repeatedly claimed that he would end the fighting between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours if reelected, but did not explain how he would achieve this.

Last month, Trump said that the Ukraine conflict was “a loser” and that Zelensky “should never have let that war start.” He described the Ukrainian leader as “one of the greatest salesmen I have ever seen,” referring to his ability to persuade the administration of US President Joe Biden to provide him with more military aid every time he went to Washington.

In June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on media reports that Trump’s team was developing a roadmap for settling the Ukraine conflict, and stressed that “the value of any plan lies in the details and whether it takes into account the situation on the battlefield.”

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Moscow is ready for talks to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict. He recalled that the two sides had already negotiated in Istanbul in late March 2022 and had reached a “mutually acceptable agreement.” However, Ukraine later rejected it, acting on “external advice,” Putin said.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/news/607209-trump-ukrainewars-zakharova/

What Does Trump’s Win Mean For the Middle East?

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In this image from 21 May 2017, US President Donald Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Saudi King Salman, grasp an orb during a forum in Riyadh. - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.11.2024

By Ekaterina Blinova

Donald Trump has won the 2024 presidential election, but what impact will that have on Middle Eastern nations?

“Donald Trump, of course, makes his own policies, but it is also important to see who he surrounds himself with,” Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University Qatar, told Sputnik.

Kamrava defines Trump as “transactional” in contrast to Joe Biden, who is “ideological” and believes in a “particular world order”.

By “transactional”, Kamrava means Trump is first and foremost a pragmatic deal-maker.

“During Donald Trump’s first term, we saw extremely close relations with Saudi Arabia and Israel,” the pundit noted. “Those were the two pillars of America’s policy in the region, and I think we will continue to see that.”

“I think we’re going to see deeper transactional relationships between the Middle East and the United States, deeper economic relationships, particularly in the Persian Gulf,” he added.

Kamrava said Trump had two solutions to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. He could either give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu full support, or call upon Tel Aviv to wind down the conflict in Gaza and in Lebanon “because it’s not good for business.” He believes the newly-elected president will pick the second option.

The professor also expects Trump to take a more cautious approach to Iran compared to his predecessor. During his first term Trump showed “an aversion to war” in the Middle East, he stressed.

“The Biden administration, in fact, did sleepwalk into a war, into escalatory conflict not just in Gaza and a genocide in Gaza, but then in the West Bank, in Lebanon, and of course, in relation to Iran,” Kamrava said.

[…]

Via https://sputnikglobe.com/20241106/what-does-trumps-win-mean-for-the-middle-east-1120798774.html

Israel chief of staff calls for end to Gaza war, prisoner exchange deal with Hamas

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Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi attends a wreath-laying ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day for the six million Jews killed in World War II, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on May 6, 2024. [Amir Cohen/Getty Images]

Middle East Monitor

Israel’s Chief of Staff, General Herzi Halevi, has said that it’s time to end the war in Gaza and reach a prisoner swap deal with Hamas, Sama news agency has reported, citing Israeli Channel 12. The Hebrew-language channel revealed details of a meeting between Halevi and families of hostages held by Palestinian resistance forces in the Gaza Strip.

According to Channel 12, sources said that the general recently met with relatives of Israeli prisoners and informed them that, “The time has come to work towards a deal that could bring an end to the war.” He assured the families that he had no concerns over concluding the conflict through a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

“We have achieved numerous accomplishments,” explained Halevi. “We are strong enough, and we must also be brave enough to reach an agreement.”

Meanwhile, Israeli sources noted that, during a brief meeting held on Sunday evening with security officials and several ministers, the coordinator for prisoners and missing persons in the Israeli army, Major General Nitzan Alon, made it clear that without a shift in Israel’s approach to Gaza, no agreement would be reached and Hamas would not alter its stance.

[…[

Via https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241106-israel-chief-of-staff-calls-for-end-to-gaza-war-prisoner-exchange-deal-with-hamas/

How Russian Sanctions and Departure of Western Junk Food Outlets is Improving Russian Health

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https://en.rtdoc.tv/episodes/1403-the-food-revolution

The Food Revolution

Directed by Natalya Novikova (2024)

Film Review

This RT documentary provides an intriguing glimpse into life for ordinary Russians following the start of the Special Military Operation in 2022 and the onset of massive Western economic sanctions. The film centers mainly around the experiences of a former Olympic star turned organic farmer, two doctors and a handful of Russian officials.

Surprisingly the sanctions have been extremely positive from a health perspective. Two Russian holistic physicians describe their immense relief to see the end of constant junk food ads, as well as the closure of fast food outlets like MacDonald’s and KFC (Burger King refused to close in Russia – see Burger King partner refuses to close 800 locations of fast food chain) and sugary drinks companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola (which also manufacture 7-Up). Overall Russian citizens seem far more health conscious in the last 2 1/2 years, as reflected in a heightened interest in growing and eating organic food.

Economically the sanctions have also been great for the Russian state, opening up new markets in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to wheat and other grains. According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, Russia now totally dominates the global grain market.

This is in addition to supplying millions of tons of free grain to starving African countries. One Russian official observes that the West (where food is controlled by mainly US and Germany multinational corporations) has no interest in helping starving Africans. But are only interested in obtaining African mineral resources as cheaply as possible.

I was intrigued to learn that unlike the West, Russia heavily subsidizes (to the tune of $5.7 billion in 2022) its organic food industry. The subsidies enable Russian organic farmers to industrialize production, making it less labor-intensive and cost effective.

The doctors interviewed are Dr Aleksander Ogulov, founder of “visceral” medicine, and Dr Natalya Zubanev, who is also a trained dietician and preventive medicine specialist.

Both weigh in on

  • gluten sensitivity –  both agree too many people avoid gluten unnecessarily and many manufactured “gluten-free” products contain harmful chemocals
  • vegan and vegetarian diets – Dr Ogulov (who’s been in practice longer) has noted a link between vegetarianism/veganism and gallstones. Dr Zubanev has noted that that vegans and vegetarians tend to consume too many carbohydrates (leading to weight gain).
  • coffee – okay on a full stomach but in excess can deplete essential nutrients.
  • intermittent fasting – good for detoxification
  • irritable bowel syndrome – Dr Ogulov specializes in treating this condition and recommends restricting raw foods, drinking hot water before meals and eliminating foods that cause bloating.
  • sugar (including fruit sugar) – both agree excess sugar intake has increased diabetes rates in Russia
  • GMO’s – 20% of Russians (including one of the officials interviewed, who compares it to selective breeding) believe GMO foods are safe). Both doctors feel they’re potentially dangerous. Dr Ogulov asserts that worms refuse to eat GMO apples.