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 …
The Tennessee Battle Over Vaccine Lysenkoism
[This article was co-authored with John Drummond.]
Trofim Lysenko believed that acquired traits were inherited, claimed that heredity can be changed by “educating” plants, and denied the existence of genes. Lysenko was supported and empowered by Stalin, and Soviet Communist …
A Vision for a New Liberalism
The freedom-oriented movement that has steadily grown and galvanised opposition to government and corporate coercion in the last four years has produced many brilliant analyses of problems and culprits. Yet precious little time has been spent thinking about how a …
Ruled by the Capricious Whims of Politicians
They got him. Two failed impeachments and a very messy criminal case that is probably falling apart in Georgia couldn’t do it, but a civil case in New York did. The verdict? A $355 million fine and a ban on …
When Military Rule Supplants Democracy
If you wish to understand how democracy ended in the United States and the European Union, please watch this interview with Tucker Carlson and Mike Benz. It is full of the most stunning revelations that I have heard in a …