Skip to main content

COVID Kerfuffle!

Photo from Pixabay.

Readers may have seen the kerfuffle between Dr. Robert Malone and journalist Alex Berenson. They were both guests on Fox News to talk about big tech censorship when Berenson, apropos of nothing, accused Dr. Malone of inflating his credentials and misleading people about ivermectin. After the interview, Malone immediately listed several of his patents and papers on his substack; Berenson so far hasn't produced any evidence to back up his accusations. And the accusations have blown up in his face: readers are unsubscribing to his substack, Unreported Truths, en masse and supporters are closing their wallets. Many of them have gone over to the substack of Robert Malone. 

I haven't seen anything like this since Denise Minger debunked The China Study. Even the documentary Fathead, which debunked Supersize Me, didn't seem to cause such an uproar. But both Minger and Tom Naughton (who made Fathead) brought the receipts and neither The China Study nor Supersize Me stood up to their mathematical and scientific scrutiny. 

So why did Alex Berenson make accusations without backing them up? My best guess, based on his book Pandemia, is that his physician wife and their New York City friends are very unhappy with his stance on the COVID vaccines and his appearances on Fox News. Perhaps he also wanted to shake off the wing nuts in his audience. Many of the comments on his substack are batshit crazy theories about depopulation and election fraud that would never be approved here on Pain, Pain, Go Away. Maybe he figured trying to discredit Dr. Malone would run off the nutters and placate his wife at the same time. If so, he's likely succeeded--more than he intended. 

Dr. Malone followed up with a post about ivermectin in Uttar Pradesh. This site shows they've had a very low death rate compared to other Indian states, and other states mentioned in various news sources as using ivermectin likewise have had low death rates. So this is some observational evidence that ivermectin is helpful against COVID. (Others have dived far more deeply into this subject than I'm willing or able to.) He adds that a colleague on vacation in India sent him a picture of one of the COVID care packages distributed throughout the region:

Source: https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/socrates-thought-police-ivermectin

Assuming the contents of this pack are saving people from dying of COVID, could the other ingredients  be having an effect? Paracetamol is Tylenol, so likely nothing more than a pain reliever. Zinc--possibly. D3? Two doses, even two big ones, may or may not have much effect since it takes time for your body to build up its vitamin D level. Doxycycline is an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory; this study didn't show any benefit for COVID patients. So maybe ivermectin is helping people.

It may not matter much at this point. It's almost all Omicron now. Even here in Indiana, where we've lagged most other places, cases are starting to go down in Indianapolis and the outskirts of Chicago. My coworkers in the suburbs of Indy are catching COVID left and right, yet I haven't heard about a serious case among them. I feel left out! One person thought I had immunity from the colds I've caught; another thought my blood type (O) helped. Thanks to immunity and repurposed drugs being treated as stepchildren, we'll probably never get a good answer to any of these questions.

Alex Berenson has written recently that COVID is over and boosters are over. Be that as it may, COVID vaccine injuries, health agency malfeasance, and the effects of the government response, all of which he writes about, are all still important. He's done some terrific reporting (aside from his latest appearance on Fox News) and for that reason I'm keeping him on the blog roll.  I still recommend his book Pandemia. If the quality of his reporting diminishes, though, I will revisit the decision to support his work.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fermented bread and butter pickle recipe ft. L. Plantarum

After Dr. Davis said the other night that  L. plantarum  may reduce some of the effects of the herbicide glyphosate (which is everywhere), I'm re-running my recipe for fermented bread and butter pickles. Pickling cucumbers naturally have  L. plantarum  bacteria on them, and fermenting them with some brown sugar multiplies these bacteria. (Just don't use chlorinated water to wash them.) And if you're growing your own cucumbers, avoid spraying the fruits with  Bacillus thuringiensis , or Bt (leaves and vines are OK). It's unclear what effect a big dose of Bt would have on humans. Another benefit of DIY pickles: no emulsifiers like polysorbate 80, which is a common ingredient in pickles. If you have GI problems, it could be from emulsifiers. These sweet-and-sour pickles are the tastiest I've ever made. There's just a little added sugar (some of which the bacteria will consume) and turmeric that gives the pickles their bright color.  Special equipment Quar...

Collagen-filled Low Carb Burritos

Low-carb, grain-free Mexican food is hard to find, but it's easy to make your own at home. This recipe has an authentic ingredient: carne de lengua, or beef tongue. Don't be put off: beef tongue is tender, delicious, and full of collagen. Look for it directly from farmers in your area. To cook it, cut it in 1" to 1-1/2" slices and pressure cook for one hour. Enjoy the delicious broth as a bonus. Ingredients 1 slice cooked beef tongue, peeled and cut into small cubes 1 egg wrap (I use these  from Egglife) 1/4 cup cooked black or pinto beans Chili pepper Oregano Garlic (powdered or minced) Cumin Guacamole (with no emulsifiers) Salsa Shredded cheddar cheese Sour cream or homemade cream cheese  with no emulsifiers  Put the egg wrap on a plate and put the beef and beans down the middle of it. Sprinkle with the herbs and spices. Wrap, turn over and microwave for 1-2 minutes. Spoon salsa over the burrito and sprinkle with cheese. Add guacamole and sour cream or homemade crea...

15% Off Starter Culture

Starter culture for the wonderful cream cheese I made is 15% off for the next two weeks (through June 18, 2025). The shop (BacillusBulgaricus.com) also offers rennet and starter for other cheeses, yogurt, kefir, kombucha, sour cream, fermented vegetables, and more. They ship to 118 countries across six continents. The coupon code is LORI_sekd3tkb at bacillusbulgaricus.com .  Photo from Pexels .

Carrageenan: A Sickening Thickener. Is it a Migraine Menace?

Let me tell you about my ride in an ambulance last night. I woke up at six o'clock from a nap with a mild headache. I ate dinner and took my vitamins, along with a couple of extra magnesium pills. Since magnesium helps my TMJ flare-ups, I thought it might help my headache. Then I went to see my mother. A few hours later, I had a severe headache, sinus pain and nausea. During a brief respite from the pain, I left for home, but less than a mile later, I got out of my car and threw up. A cop, Officer Fisher, pulled up behind me and asked if I was okay. He believed me when he said I hadn't been drinking, but he said I seemed lethargic and he wanted the paramedics to see me. (Later he mentioned that a man he'd recently stopped was having a stroke.) Thinking I had a migraine headache, the paramedics wanted to take me to the hospital. But since I knew that doctors don't know what causes migraine headaches, and I didn't know what effect their medicine would have on m...

Getting Over Palpitations

Note to new readers: please note I'm not a health care provider and have no medical training. If you have heart palpitations, I have no idea whether the following will work for you. Over the past several days, I've had a rough time with heart palpitations and feeling physically jittery. I was wondering if I was going to turn into one of those people who can't sit still. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it would be a major lifestyle change. Kidding aside, something wasn't right and I really needed to get back to normal. I tried popping potassium pills like candy. I ate more. I doubled up on my iron dose. I went to yoga and even got on the treadmill at 6 AM yesterday. I tried the nuclear option of eating more carbs to stop peeing away minerals. Most of these things helped, but the problem kept coming back. A comment from Galina made me look up epinephrine, one of the drugs my surgeon used to anesthetize me Friday. First, the assistant at the surge...