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Sometimes it feels like the great question of our time is "Is all the lunacy by design or occurring naturally?" Intellectually, I'd go with naturally. Human beings, when operating in large groups, can adopt a lot of very silly behaviors. But every once in a while—late at night, usually—a few of the old "conspiracy theory" neurons start firing in my brain and I wonder, "What if...?"

I don't know. But as a natural pessimist, I highly doubt that 2022 will be less crazy. It will be more. But as you said, Happy New Year! Here's to "hope."

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Where has Alex Jones actually been completely wrong as opposed to just garbled and confused?

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That's a VERY good point. If the guy could just slow down a bit, he might prove highly prophetic.

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I really enjoyed the Tablet article, thanks for posting it.

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Now this is worthy of a multi part investigation.

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Received a note from my child’s preschool, a preschool that specializes in a near totally outdoor learning environment, that kids need to wear masks in this setting due to the omicron surge. Masks have always been a desired thing at the preschool but our kid just doesn’t want to ear em, and frankly we don’t even make the slightest attempts to force it. But this time I shot off a reply shaming them for moving forward with such an absurdity, given the actual science on the topic and the damage it’s doing to our wee ones. I also don’t want to be talking about this. As a reasonable person I find it ridiculous that we’re engaged in something so completely incongruous with reasoning. But it’s time to stop being silent. Let’s face it, and we all know this is true - “they” are constantly loud about their fears. Their neurotic tendencies are the driving force of all of this nonsense. If the reasonable aren’t willing to say, “no” even when it may seem useless (as my wife believes my email to have been), then they win. So don’t stop clapping back. Silence is acquiescence.

I’m in Ireland right now and even here, where they all actually believe COVID can be held at arms length (one day…), they don’t mask their kids under 12. And again, the hype about “the cases” is much more prevalent here then the states; it’s like America in summer of 2020. Plays there’s not a lot of alternative news stories here because these people still believe that the BBC is telling them the truth - can you believe that? As you can imagine, the people that watch the news four and five times a day have no actual knowledge of COVID the disease. For example, when I mentioned that COVID victims are primarily very old, obese or severely immune compromised, the person in this household that watches the news 4 and 5 times a day told me that wasn’t true. It’s frightening to think that’s the more you watch televised media, the LESS you understand the dangers. But you will know the number of cases, and the change, between the noon broadcast and the 8 pm broadcast.

So be vocal. They don’t know. But understand that you being vocal my not move the needle. But it still needs to happen.

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There’s some great research on the massive developmental and psychological damage being done to kids from masking and school closures. Have you seen it? Terrifying. Personally I think we’re going to see a wave of rageful young people killing their parents.

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A friend teaches kindergarten, 5 year olds. She tells me that because of lockdowns, the returning 5 year olds are at 2.5 year old maturity level; they can't take direction from an adult, so even basics don't get covered in what they're usually expected to learn. IF the insane schools systems are going to do lockdowns, they really should also do therapeutic programs for how the kids have all been badly affected. We are going through the least thought-out, most idiotic knee-jerk policy platforms ever (like defunding police for instance)

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Stay strong and don't give in to the mask mandates for little children.

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Not sure where people like Michael are living but here in Scottsdale, AZ we’ve been back to normal for well over a year. I often go days without seeing a single mask. Any mention of the sinister Omicron, which has the intensity of a seasonal cold, is typically met with a sigh and an eye roll. Covid is the biggest grift in human history and it’s unfortunate that so many areas throughout the US still haven’t woken up to that.

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It is refreshing to hear about places that are sane. I live near Portland, Oregon, so... yeah. Everyone is masked everywhere (almost).

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Yeah, you’ve had a rough couple years. I have a friend in Seattle that’s reached his breaking point and plans to move here in Feb.

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Happy New Year Michael. At least in 2022, I can look forward to reading more of your sane posts in an insane world.

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Happy new year, Michael, and thank you for remaining a sane voice! Keep up the good work!

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Michael, I care and just want to make sure you don't miss this: your favorite Hot Mess started accusing her Republican male adversaries, *in multiple tweets*, of harboring sexual thoughts about her....

Narcissists often act out on holidays, so be careful out there, y'all!!!

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Follow the Money remains relevant.

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Happy New Year, MT. I look forward to all your posts. It's kinda like time travel, going back to an earlier era, where reasonable people with ample vocabularies could civilly dissect and discuss the events of the day. The media was not yet in full we're-all-gonna-die-soon (even the earth itself) mode 24-7. When the teevee "news" comes on, I'm off to other endeavors. I refuse to subject myself to constant if ham-handed propaganda campaigns, which has to be said are the work product of a soul dead system and the lost purveyors of such. Of course I dip my toe in so I can see what the bastards are up to now. (Got to remember to disinfect and quarantine that toe.)

Cheers!

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I suggest you take your own advice and stop writing about COVID. There is always going to be someone who completely contradicts anything you say. The "terrain" is so muddied that no one knows what's going on anywhere. Our government is lying to us and folks like Robert Malone are lying to us. The data that needs to be collected isn't being analyzed in any meaningful way because the studies are too short and/or they've been bought out already by Big Pharma -- or someone. The Oxford PRINCIPLE study on Ivermectin has been halted, supposedly because they can't get Ivermectin. The UofMN study on treatments for Covid has asked for an EUA to be released for Fluvoximine but they haven't said anything about Ivermectin.

In the face of this hurricane of disinformation, you become a tiny voice no one can hear.

I'd like some analysis of what's going on in Ukraine where "theSakar" (backed independently by Scott Ritter) suggests war is going to break out in the next few weeks.

I got COVID. I'm alive and doing fine. I don't want to hear about it any longer.

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I have some optimism. Omicron will reveal the stupidity of these people --that vaccines are not working and likely causing mutations. But will spread before they can create another idiot vaccine. And I have hope many people see how horrible this authoritarian administration is -- and how dangerous it is to expand government and put these people in charge of every aspect of our lives. We'll see. Not that they won't do their best to keep things horrible. Thanks, Michael.

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At this CDC link, it says as of 12/29/2021, there have been a total of 678 deaths *involving* C-19 in ages 0-17. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#SexAndAge

Nowhere on the page does it define "involving". Does involving mean they died from C-19, with C-19 or both?

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Johns Hopkins lady will simply block you when you jam her stupid womanish fearmongering in her face in a few months. No one ever tells someone like her that she's wrong, especially not on a platform like twitter.

Johns Hopkins was already busted and is now on the 'low trust' list. They've already hidden what are obviously rigged numbers and were caught back in 2020. We have a non-pandemic. An innocent and honorable science student caught it at Johns Hopkins, and it was shrouded from view immediately. That should tell you something.

https://education-ny.blogspot.com/2020/11/johns-hopkins-and-cdc-numbers-are.html

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Nice little thought-provoking article Michael. I always love the statistical comparisons to the flu, and the tie to a happy new year is of course apropos today.

I don’t have any kids of school age, so it is not really my fight, but it is going to be interesting to once again watch the battle between the total risk avoidance and risk mitigation forces as they mobilize to get there way.

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I predict that a new cabinet-level bureaucracy will emerge , phoenix-like, from the ashes of Covid lessons we have learned. It will be named the Department of Public Safety & Health.

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I doubt things will get less ridiculous in 2022. Doomsayers, and those who financially or societally benefit from hyping them, do not recant and apologize for their failed predictions of death, destruction, chaos, and mayhem - they simply realize they made a calculation error for the date of TEOTWAWKI and revise their predictions to take place at some other future date. The end is always nigh. The sky is perpetually falling. And anybody too foolish or arrogant to believe these 21st century prognosticators, and whom fail to conform to their prescribed means of salvation, is deserving of any and all pain and suffering that may come their way, including that which these people may choose to intentionally inflict upon the filthy unrighteous.

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To their credit.... they should be canceling BECAUSE everyone is vaxxed and boosted.

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/vaccine-evasion-and-and-oas-signal

But seriously, nobody should be worrying about Omicron more than they worry about getting a cold.

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