Fault Lines
Fault Lines
Cochrane mask review, US ending COVID-19 emergency, egg prices, Nord Stream followup, Turkey earthquake, and "Fault Lines" misinformation report
Rounding the Earth
The following article serves as the show notes for the video presentation of the same name released through the Rounding the News series, presented by Rounding the Earth. It is provided to allow RTE listeners to verify my sources and conduct their own due diligence, and is intended as a supplement to the video. As such, I highly encourage readers of this Substack to watch the full episode and support Rounding the Earth, whose founder Mathew Crawford has provided me the platform and resources to conduct this important work. Thank you, Rounding the Earth!
Hello, everyone! My name is Liam Sturgess and I am your host for this weekly news roundup, presented by Rounding the Earth. Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that you can support the show by sending us a Rumble Rant, a tip on Rokfin, or LBRY tokens on Odysee. Even more importantly, I invite you to join us over on our Locals community, where I have posted the show notes for today's episode along with the links to watch the show live on Rumble, Rokfin and Odysee.
Join the community as a free member or sign up to support us for as little as $5 per month to gain access to Locals-exclusive livestreams.
On a personal note, I discovered last week that my dad subscribed to my Substack. This means that this article/episode is the first that will be pushed out to his inbox, and possibly the first that he will read/watch. This is meaningful for me as my dad is not only very smart, but has also been supportive of me throughout my unconventional career choices. As such, I want to thank him for choosing to check out what I’m working on with Rounding the Earth, and I hope he finds today’s episode stimulating and informative.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
Cochrane Collaboration re-affirms masks don’t work
Three years into the era of COVID-19, and the topic of face masks continues to come up as a point of contention. It’s understandable; if wearing a medical mask, an N95, a P100 or even a bandana or scarf prevented a lethal virus from spreading from you to the person around you (or vice versa) it would stand to reason that most people would embrace the protective measure.
So why are there ever-increasing numbers of “anti-maskers” refusing to simply comply with public health guidance? They must be selfish, anti-science Trump supporters!”
Or maybe they’re read up on the scientific literature. As has been pointed out since even before COVID-19, the evidence for face masks to “stop the spread” of viruses like influenza is shaky at best. Surgeons and dentists wear surgical masks to stop themselves from accidentally spitting into their patient’s mouth or open wound — this oft-cited use is simply not the same situation/use case as you or I covering our nose and mouth with a thin, poorly-made piece of paper or cloth to go to the grocery store.
As such, the results of the latest Cochrane systematic review should come as a surprise to nobody. Published on January 30, the review evaluated the use of medical/surgical masks, N95/P2 respirators and hand washing, including 11 new studies that had been conducted and published since the last such review.
Investigative medical reporter Paul Thacker at the British Medical Journal summarized the findings: “Cochrane found no evidence that masks prevent spread of COVID”, and “Even the much-ballyhooed N95 respirators were found to have no evidence backing their use”.1
Or, in terms used in the report itself, “Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness” or “laboratory‐confirmed influenza/SARS‐CoV‐2 compared to not wearing masks.”2
Read Thacker’s full report on the study at his Substack, The DisInformation Chronicle.
But of course, don’t just take Paul’s word for it! Make sure to read the actual Cochrane review as well.
COVID-19 Emergency to End in the USA
After just shy of three years, President Joe Biden has signalled that the United States will be ending its states of emergency for COVID-19 on May 11, 2023.
Coming only three days after the World Health Organization described COVID-19 as “still a public health emergency,” the announcement from the White House puts into motion a series of changes to policies and emergency infrastructure at both the state and federal level.3
There are actually two emergency declarations on the books — a public health emergency and a national emergency — both of which were declared in March 2020 by the Trump administration, and consistently renewed until this day. Based on this rolling renewal setup, the declarations are “currently set to expire on March 1 and April 11, respectively,” with the Biden administration choosing to extend them both one final time to May 11 in order to “provide time for an orderly transition.” According to the release, the administration had previously committed “to give at least 60 days’ notice prior to termination of the PHE.”4
While it seemed this day would never come, it does pose some interesting questions. For example, what happens to the Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) granted to the COVID-19 genetic vaccines? As of today, there is still no FDA-approved COVID-19 product in distribution, which suggests that the vaccine rollout should officially come to an end in May.
However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seems to have other plans. In a fact sheet released yesterday, the HHS states that “[a]ccess to COVID-19 vaccinations and certain treatments, such as Paxlovid and Lagevrio, will generally not be affected.” Furthermore, the agency says that “[t]here will also be continued access to pathways for emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for COVID-19 products (tests, vaccines, and treatments) through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)”.5
For more on this and how various agencies of the U.S. government are playing their own shell games around maintaining emergency powers in the absence of an emergency, I highly recommend watching the video on this topic by Ryan Cristián at The Last American Vagabond.
Also available on Rumble and Odysee.
WTF is happening with eggs?!
I really don’t know how else to ask the question. Seriously! From the beginning of the COVID-19 era, there has been a continuous series of here-then-gone-again crises of supply and demand, each with a unique spin.
Remember at the very beginning when stores were cleaned out of toilet paper by mobs of people preparing to be stuck at home for two weeks?6
How about the whole kerfuffle of masks being bought up by China, sent around the world (mostly to China, by Trudeau, no less),7 and otherwise made a huge fuss over by people like Anthony Fauci for nothing (see the first story in today’s article)?8
At one point in 2021, there was even a period where the Province of British Columbia attempted to ration gas with a 30 litre limit at the tank, as of a result of road closures caused by severe flooding that virtually cut off Vancouver from the rest of the country.9
And of course, who could forget the great Children’s Tylenol shortage of late 2022?10
In each of these instances, there was an official story plagued with all kinds of unanswered questions. These were definitely crises, but oftentimes they seemed to be caused by something other than what the emergency response communications teams within government directed our attention towards. What were we directed away from? I’d say incompetence of those responsible for avoiding this kind of thing. Throw in a couple of mass propaganda experiments, and you’ve probably mostly got a handle on the situation.
So, when I started to hear about the price of eggs skyrocketing across North America, my first reaction was to roll my eyes in disbelief. Unfolding over the course of several weeks, I began to hear more and more confirmation that eggs were, indeed, becoming more expensive, with jokes of “golden geese” becoming ubiquitous.
CNBC News reports that “[e]gg prices jumped 60% in 2022, according to the consumer price index, an inflation measure.”11 This suggests that the increase is primarily due to inflation, in the same way that absolutely everything is increasingly expensive. That's what inflation is. But eggs stood out above and beyond this "new normal" pricing. So what was the source of the crisis?
2022 Avian Flu Outbreak
As CNBC notes, “[t]he industry narrative has largely focused on a historic outbreak of avian influenza.” Narrative is right. Right under our noses, while us humans are busy fighting off not one, not two, but three Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC - and that’s COVID-19, monkeypox and polio), our poor chickens are dealing with their own set of sniffles.
Colour me skeptical. Especially because of this rather predictable tidbit from CBS News:12
Federal scientists are gearing up to test the first vaccines in poultry against bird flu in years, as Biden administration officials say they have now begun weighing an unprecedented shift in the U.S. strategy to counter the growing outbreak. …
"The decision to proceed with vaccination is complex, and many factors must be considered before implementing a vaccination strategy," USDA spokesperson Mike Stepien said in a statement, adding that the inspection service is discussing the options and "soliciting input from many different industry stakeholders that would be impacted."
While the Biden administration has so far not greenlighted the use of vaccines for highly pathogenic avian influenza, several shots had been licensed for potential use in previous outbreaks. Poultry are already regularly vaccinated for other diseases, like infectious bronchitis.
While animal vaccines can take years to be licensed, Stepien said some parts of the process can be accelerated for emergencies.
You don’t say.
Forbes does a good job of setting the reader up for this conclusion as well, under a more dire banner of a potential jump to humans:13
The government plans to mass produce vaccines once an outbreak occurs, which can take at least six months to create enough for the entire population. A majority of the approved vaccines are created by incubating doses in chicken eggs, but the disease’s rate of fatality among poultry poses an issue for these vaccines. The makers of Audenz, the only non-egg-based FDA approved H5N1 vaccine, expect to have 150 million vaccines ready within six months of an announcement of a bird flu pandemic. However, as the New York Times pointed out, there are seven billion people in the world. This means only 2% of the world’s population will receive the Audenz vaccine within the first six months of a potential pandemic. Scientists and researchers are attempting to get mRNA-based influenza vaccines FDA approved, similar to Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid vaccines, because mRNA vaccines take less time to produce.
The study cited as being representative of the “scientists and researchers” working hard to get an mRNA flu shot in every arm/wing is titled Message in a bottle: mRNA vaccination for influenza.14 Of course, it would help if Forbes was more proactive in disclosing that the authors Jessica Shartouny and Anice Lowen, are funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and hold a patent on flu vaccines.
Report: U.S. and Norway behind Nord Stream bombing
Remember back on September 30, 2022, when I covered the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany? At the time, I was one of many who followed the critical thinking advice of Robert Barnes and asked, qui bono? Indeed, who did benefit from the temporary or permanent incapacitation of Nord Stream 1 and 2?15
Well, what seemed obvious at the time has now become further substantiated by an investigative report published by veteran journalist and political writer Seymour Hersh.16
The report, titled “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline”, details the background, planning and execution of a joint U.S.-Norway military exercise that saw the planting of C4 explosives on the pipe lines by deep sea divers, under the cover of an exercise called Baltic Operations 2022 (BALTOPS22).17
It’s a compelling tale which fills in a lot of details previously not widely understood. Interestingly, the primary source of new information seems to come from an unnamed “source with direct knowledge of the operational planning” — not exactly something that readers can independently verify.
Predictably, various alleged conspirators within the United States government rejected the report as “completely and utterly false” and “complete fiction,” including the White House National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In their reporting via Channel News Asia, the Agence-France Presse (AFP) also noted the fact that the article was substantiated by “citing a single unnamed source”.18 They also reminded readers that the Western world blamed the attacks on Russia, without providing any explanation as to how such an act of self-sabotage would do anything other than threaten Russia's leverage over Germany and Europe at large.
Earthquake in Turkey and Syria kills tens of thousands
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Monday has devastated Turkey and Syria, with casualty estimates now exceeding 22,000.19
ZeroHedge reports:20
Meanwhile, inside Syria not only has Idlib been devastated, but buildings collapsed in Latakia and Aleppo as well, and the quakes were felt as far south as Damascus. But amid talk in the West of putting together an urgent humanitarian response, West-sanctioned Syria is apparently being bypassed and largely forgotten about.
Washington has at the same time shown no interest in living sanctions on Syria for the sake of humanitarian aid getting in at a faster pace.
This would be a really good time for officials to take a good, long look at current foreign policy and decide if they’re happy with how this is going. People are suffering in nations allied with the West, but also their immediate neighbours under Western sanctions. These are people divided by nothing other than an imaginary line on a map.
It goes without saying, and I will say it anyway: I can not imagine the pain and suffering that exponentially more people are feeling, as friends, family and neighbours are lost to this disaster. I am so, so sorry. I hold this pain in my heart today, as I try myself to understand the sheer scale of loss of life from this event.
Fault Lines: Government-funded Disinformation
On January 26, 2023, a very interesting report was released by the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), titled Fault Lines.
According to the report, the COVID-19 pandemic was wrought with “misinformation” and “disinformation” that led to thousands of deaths, hospitalizations and positive “cases.”21 Specifically, the report blames “science and health misinformation” which “contributed to over 2 million Canadians refusing to get a vaccine.”22
While it’s an interesting premise, readers are right to be skeptical of the CCA’s independence on the matter, given the report was commissioned and paid for by the Government of Canada through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).
Instead of acknowledging the incompetence and/or malice that led to the early and preventable deaths of thousands of Canadians, the government instead hired an academic think tank to come up with a thinly-veiled distraction by pointing at everyone who disagreed with their actions, blaming those people for the failure of the public health response.
The authors behind the report include a number of troubling individuals whose conflicts of interest speak for themselves.
Timothy Caulfield, for example, has been very busy throughout the COVID-19 era combatting so-called “misinformation” and “disinformation”. One of his main projects is called ScienceUpFirst,23 which was started with funding from the Government of Canada to promote acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines products. As described in the governments own words:24
The Canadian Association of Science Centres, in partnership with COVID-19 Resources Canada and the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta, have created ScienceUpFirst, a project to address misinformation in Canada by giving Canadians the tools to spread science-based information about COVID-19 and vaccines. Drawing on a network of scientists, healthcare providers, and science communicators, this national initiative aims to debunk misinformation with credible COVID-19 facts, as well as reach vulnerable populations with culturally relevant and scientifically accurate COVID-19 information.
Then, there’s the peer review team, which includes:
Ève Dubé, a member of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), responsible for approving COVID-19 vaccines in Canada;25
Peter Hotez, infamous vaccine developer and media/government mouthpiece;
David Rothschild, economist at Microsoft Research.26
I highly encourage everyone to read the report. It’s 260 pages long, but even if you disagree with the premise on its face, you still need to understand what arguments are being made in order to counter them and attempt to educate the public on how exactly they’re being manipulated.
And that’s exactly what the Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA) has done. On February 6, the Science and Medical Advisory Committee of the CCCA issued an open letter to Alex Himelfarb (Chair of the team behind the report). From the letter:27
Dear Dr. Himelfarb:
We in the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee (SMAC) of the Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA) have read with interest your aforementioned report. Here, we raise many issues that we found with our review of this document. In particular, we take issue with the characterization or lack thereof of what constitutes as misinformation, the disregard for legitimate concerns associated with the government handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and erroneous modeling and conclusions presented in Chapter 4. Several of our other concerns have already been highlighted in a recent Financial Post article that also offers an accurate critique of this CCA report.
Among the many problems outlined by the CCCA are the lack of competencies among the reports authors, the conflicts of interest held by the authors, the failure to define what exactly “misinformation” even is in the context of the report, and the rather obvious importance of not preventing robust, open scientific debate.
You can read the entire letter at www.CanadianCovidCareAlliance.org, where you can also explore the now-public profile of 24 of the CCCA’s leading scientists and community representatives on the shiny new “About Us” page.28
That’s all for this week, ladies and gentlemen. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please drop us a Rumble Rant if you’re watching on Rumble, or a tip on Rokfin/Odysee. And most importantly, before you leave, go sign up as a member of our Locals community at www.RoundingtheEarth.locals.com. You can even snag yourself a free month of premium support using the promo code included on the pinned comment, after which you can keep us going and gain access to behind-the-main-scenes discussions that we’re keeping within our more intimate community.
I have been Liam Sturgess, and you can find me at www.LiamSturgess.com, or on Twitter @TheLiamSturgess. See you next week!
PS: I am going to experiment with cross-posting this entire article (the “show notes”) to Locals, in order to consolidate access to Rounding the Earth subscribers.
Thacker, P. D. (2023, February 7). Researchers Find No Evidence (Again!) Of Mask Effectiveness, Yet Self-Styled Experts Continue Promotion. Substack. https://web.archive.org/web/20230209193227/https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/researchers-find-no-evidence-again
Jefferson, T., Dooley, L., Ferroni, E., Al-Ansary, L. A., van Driel, M. L., Bawazeer, G. A., Jones, M. A., Hoffmann, T. C., Clark, J., Beller, E. M., Glasziou, P. P., & Conly, J. M. (2023). Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2023(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd006207.pub6
Tanne, J. H. (2023). Covid-19: US will end public health emergency on 11 May, says Biden. BMJ, p262. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p262
Executive Office of the President. (2023). Statement of Administration Policy re: “H.R. 382 – A bill to terminate the public health emergency declared with respect to COVID-19” and “H.J. Res. 7 – A joint resolution relating to a national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020.” The White House. https://web.archive.org/web/20230209125753/https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SAP-H.R.-382-H.J.-Res.-7.pdf
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA). (2023, February 9). Fact Sheet: COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Transition Roadmap. Department of Health and Human Services. https://web.archive.org/web/20230209225403/https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/02/09/fact-sheet-covid-19-public-health-emergency-transition-roadmap.html
Moore, A. (2020, May 19). How the Coronavirus Created a Toilet Paper Shortage. College of Natural Resources News. https://archive.ph/VOz9y
Chase, S. (2020, March 26). Ottawa faces criticism for sending 16 tonnes of personal protective equipment to China in February. The Globe and Mail. https://archive.ph/aZtfW
Powell, K., & Prasad, V. (2021, July 28). The U.S. Government’s Noble Lies About COVID-19. Slate Magazine. https://archive.ph/f7FWk
Smart, A. (2021, December 14). B.C. gas rationing ends Tuesday. Canada’s National Observer. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/12/14/news/bc-gas-rationing-ends-tuesday
Bird, H. (2022, November). Children’s liquid pain meds not available over-the-counter in some N.W.T. communities. CBC News. https://web.archive.org/web/20221110002222/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/children-s-liquid-pain-meds-not-available-over-the-counter-in-some-n-w-t-communities-1.6646579
Iacurci, G. (2023, January 23). Egg prices rose 60% in 2022. One farm group claims it’s a “collusive scheme” by suppliers. CNBC. https://archive.ph/iOy9t
Tin, A. (2023, February 9). U.S. to test shots against bird flu outbreak, as Biden administration weighs poultry vaccinations. CBS News. https://archive.ph/Eq9eV
Johnson, A. (2023, February 8). Avian H5N1 (Bird) Flu: Why Experts Are Worried—And What You Should Know. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/02/08/avian-h5n1-bird-flu-why-experts-are-worried-and-what-you-should-know/?sh=438c00574d94
Shartouny, J. R., & Lowen, A. C. (2022). Message in a bottle: mRNA vaccination for influenza. Journal of General Virology, 103(7). https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001765
Sturgess, L. (2022, September 30). Did the U.S. Attack the Pipelines? Substack. https://web.archive.org/web/20230129203244/https://liamsturgess.substack.com/p/did-the-us-attack-the-pipelines
Hersh, S. (2023, February 8). How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline. Substack. https://web.archive.org/web/20230210163541/https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream
U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO Public Affairs. (2022, June 17). BALTOPS 22, the premier Baltic Sea maritime exercise, concludes in Kiel. U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa / U.S. Sixth Fleet. https://archive.ph/HTGX5
Agence France-Presse. (2023, February 8). White House rejects report that US was behind Nord Stream sabotage. Channel News Asia. https://archive.ph/ncwd2
Subramaniam, T., Sangal, A., Vales, L., & Vogt, A. (2023, February 10). Live updates: Over 22,000 dead from quake in Turkey and Syria. CNN. https://web.archive.org/web/20230210191700/https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-syria-earthquake-updates-2-10-23-intl/index.html
Earthquake Death Toll Soars Past 11,000 As US Sanctions On Syria Block Humanitarian Aid. (2023, February 8). ZeroHedge. https://archive.ph/n6Td0
Fault Lines. (2023, January 26). CCA Reports. https://web.archive.org/web/20230128035132/https://www.cca-reports.ca/reports/the-socioeconomic-impacts-of-health-and-science-misinformation/
Major, D. (2023, January 27). COVID-19 misinformation cost at least 2,800 lives and $300M, new report says. CBC. https://web.archive.org/web/20230208150239/https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cost-of-covid-19-misinformation-study-1.6726356
Who Are SUF: Organizations and People. ScienceUpFirst. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221026101251/https://www.scienceupfirst.com/who/
Government of Canada. (2021, April 29). Government of Canada funds two new projects to encourage vaccine uptake in Canada https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2021/04/government-of-canada-funds-two-new-projects-to-encourage-vaccine-uptake-in-canada.html
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2022, February 25). National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI): Membership and representation. Government of Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20220318105951/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/national-advisory-committee-on-immunization-naci/naci-membership-representation.html#fn1-rf
David Rothschild. LinkedIn. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/davmicrot/
Bridle, B. W., Britz-McKibbin, P., Chaufin, C., Gutschi, L. M., Hardie, J., Hsiang, Y., Karrow, N. A., Mallard, B., Nakatsu, K., Natsheh, S., Oldfield, P. R., Payne, E. T., Pelech, S., Pinto, C., Provost, P., Rancourt, D., Roscoe, W., Shaw, C. A., Speicher, D. J., & Wagter-Lesperance, L. (2023). Open Letter 6 February 2023 Re: CCA publication: Fault Lines -Expert Panel on the Socioeconomic Impacts of Science and Health Misinformation. Canadian Covid Care Alliance. https://web.archive.org/web/20230209195710/https://www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/23FE6_CCCA-response-to-CCA-misinformation-report.pdf
About Us. Canadian Covid Care Alliance. Retrieved February 8, 2023, from http://archive.today/2023.02.08-200418/https://www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org/about-us/
Welcome, Liam’s dad! You have helped bring a true gem into this world: aware, sharp, charming, with a huge heart. ❤️
Lucky Dad who can be super proud and learn lots about the world that travels under the radar and hat tip for raising the fine young man we adore for his smarts, style, sweat and sweetness! <3