What follows is an initial report of an ongoing research project investigating the UK Government’s use of behavioural science ‘nudges’ in their Covid communications strategy to promote compliance with restrictions and the subsequent vaccine rollout. (An academic journal article, drawing …
The Road to a New McCarthyism
I wonder how many people have recoiled with horror at what happened in the House of Representatives recently. I am referring to the decision, effectively, to ban the social media platform, TikTok, in the United States (to ‘protect Americans from …
The Virality Project’s Censorship Agenda
In November 2023 Alex Gutentag and I reported on the Virality Project’s internal content-flagging system, as released by the US House Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
Initiated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency …
How Did American Capitalism Mutate Into American Corporatism?
In the 1990s and for years into our century, it was common to ridicule the government for being technologically backwards. We were all gaining access to fabulous things, including webs, apps, search tools, and social media. But governments at all …
Germany’s Role in What Happened
The ‘story of the decade,’ ‘smoking gun,’ ‘case closed.’ The story of US-funded – or, as the case may be, even not funded – gain-of-function research on coronaviruses has been widely presented in recent weeks as the solution to the …
Reflections on Brownstone’s Retreat
My mind “hurts.” I just got back from the Brownstone Institute’s Retreat in Avon, Connecticut, February 22-25, 2024. Thirty-five people from a diverse mix of backgrounds and professions were invited to participate in two and a half days of presentations, …
The Year of Elections
This is the year of elections, with 50 (World Economic Forum), 64 (Time), or 80 (Guardian) countries and the EU going to the polls, accounting for almost half the world’s total population. The list includes the US and India, the …
The Silent Shame of Health Institutions
For how much longer will health policy ignore multimorbidity, that looming, giant elephant in the room, that propagates and amplifies suffering? For how much longer will the ‘trend’ of increasing diagnoses of multiple health conditions, at younger and younger ages …
Shifting Alliances and Building Tribes
Church leaders didn’t want me there. The minister had even called me into her office to ask me to stop passing out anti-war flyers and articles on the Iraq War. Why? Because I led a church peace group that was …
Health Care: Right, Privilege, or Neither?
Much of the current debate surrounding health care – putting aside momentarily the catastrophic failure of the public health system during the pandemic – is whether or not it is a “right” or a “privilege.”
Critically, though, what should be …
Australia to Face an Honest Inquiry
On 19 October, the Australian Senate agreed to hold an inquiry under the auspices of its Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee into proper terms of reference for a Covid Royal Commission to be established in 2024. An impressive alliance of …
We are Being Systemically Blinded
[This testimony was given at the US Senate, Monday, February 26, 2024.]
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we must zoom out if we are to understand the pattern we are gathered to explore, because the pattern is larger than the …
Politics as Lawfare
There is a wonderful quote from noted scary fascist (back when fascism was still a vogue and “the coming thing”) Oscar Benavides who was president of Peru from 1933-39. it’s as apposite as ever today:
To my friends, everything; to …
The AMA is Wrong About Julie Sladden
[This article was co-authored by Dr Jeyanthi Kunadhasan, Treasurer of the Australian Medical Professionals Society, and Dr Duncan Syme, Vice President of the Australian Medical professionals Society]
Last week, the AMA publicly called for the disendorsement of Tasmanian Liberal candidate …
Free Speech on Trial
In a lifetime of observing policy controversies and court cases, we’ve never witnessed anything as crucial to the future of the idea of freedom itself compared with what will transpire on March 18, 2024. On that day, the Supreme Court …