...or reality or something.
Goddamit this is tiring. Debunking the P-G's Jack Kelly was at least fun. Debunking the climate change denials of the Trib braintrust was at least fun. This is a constant mindnumb, an ice cream brain freeze without the pleasures of a good chocolate chocolate chip with sprinkles.
So be it. Let's do this thing.
If you were
to stumble across
Wendy Bell's facebook
page, and scroll down a day or so, you'll find this:
Yep, she got snagged by the fact-checkers at Facebook. Yet again.
If you were to click on that "See Why" button, you'd see this:
Fact Check: Video From Georgia Does NOT Show Suitcases
Filled With
Ballots Suspiciously Pulled From Under A Table;
Poll Watchers Were NOT
Told To Leave
Which is what Wendy was asserting. If you don't feel inclined to believe
Facebook, other's have fact-checked this false assertion as well:
The story's just not true, Wendy. When will you be correcting the record?
(Y'know, to protect your journalistic credibility?)
But that's the false claim Facebook caught. They have yet to snag her on
this bit of false
from last Tuesday. Wendy described it thusly:
When a researcher’s study of COVID deaths (conducted at a respected
institution) goes against the narrative pushed by big government, big tech and
big media, then gets RETRACTED, common sense Americans have their greatest
fears realized. Everyone is corrupt.
And she opens with this little bit of projection at a little under one minute
in. She asserts that she has "very basic values" but, alas, there's a
pushback:
...against those values - about basic integrity, about honesty, about
morals, about being able to go to bed at night knowing that you did the best
job you could, that you didn't cheat or lie or steal or deceive for your own
benefit to the detriment of others.
And yet every single day in this country, that's all we see. We see people
corrupted by greed and thirsty beyond thirsty for power who are willing to
sell out their morality and put other people in danger and at risk for their
own benefit.
Does the Angel of Death not possess even a
soupçon
of introspection? Can she not see that she's describing herself here?
I suppose not.
Anyway, she brings to you the story after dutifully telling you about the good
folks giving her money for so she can do her DIY broadcasts. She says:
(05:29): What triggered this whole conversation for me today was a friend
of mine had forwarded me an article that was published November 22nd [by the
Johns Hopkins school newspaper].
Ah...this'll be good. Wendy continues that if it's from Johns Hopkins, it's
gotta be true, right? Right??
She adds a little familiar COVID virus
denial for good measure:
(06:42): [It's] a virus that, if you talk to almost any doctor will tell you,
operates just like other viruses - it impacts those who are the weakest
and the most at risk first and does have some outlier effects on healthy
people but very rarely. A 99% survival rate with this virus ladies and
gentlemen.
Misinformation like this (99% survival rate, it's just like other viruses) is going to get people sick and some of them will die, Wendy.
Any statement that downplays the deaths of 270,000+ of our
fellow citizens is morally reprehensible and marks the person making the
statement as complicit in those deaths. I say that because basic integrity,
honesty and morality demand it. I say this because it's simply immoral to put
other people in danger for their own benefit.
Note: This edition of Wendy Bell Radio is sponsored by
Attorney John D'Onofrio and
Dr. Richard Rafferty of the Disc Institute of Pittsburgh
and
Tom Yakopin of West Penn Life & Health. Give them a call and let them know how you feel about Wendy Bell's take on the deaths of so many of our fellow citizens.
But back to Wendy. She spends a few minutes breathlessly summarizing the
November 22 article, which contained this:
[Genevieve] Briand also noted that 50,000 to 70,000 deaths are seen both
before and after COVID-19, indicating that this number of deaths was normal
long before COVID-19 emerged. Therefore, according to Briand, not only has
COVID-19 had no effect on the percentage of deaths of older people, but it has
also not increased the total number of deaths.
These data analyses suggest that in contrast to most people js assumptions,
the number of deaths by COVID-19 is not alarming. In fact, it has relatively
no effect on deaths in the United States.
Mmm Wendy like but then Wendy sad:
(24:04) Wouldn't you know somebody found out about that article because just
five days later they retracted the article about this Johns Hopkins
researchers' research. They retracted it. Somebody got to them ladies and
gentlemen.
See that?? Somebody got to them! Maybe it was the cigarette smoking man! Maybe it was Ted Cruz' father! Maybe it was Professor Moriarty! In
either case, it must've been someone connected to George Soros, right?? I'm
sure Q will tell us once Trump finishes his divine quest of clearing the swamp
and imprisoning all the pedophiles in the Demonrat party.
Wendy
seems to think that because the article was published it effectively debunked
the CDC/WHO/mainstream narrative that the virus kills lots of people. Furthermore she seems to think that
it's being quashed simply because it contradicts that narrative. Reacting to
the paper's retraction, Wendy says:
From the retraction:
(24:41): Editor's note: We decided on November 26 to retract this article to
stop the spread of misinformation.
Wendy reacts:
How is using CDC data and analyzing how many people in what age groups died
from what causes this year and going back and comparing that same data to two
years prior misinformation? It's misinformation if the information you
get contradicts the narrative. Bingo!
Except that the article wasn't retracted because it conflicted with the
accepted narrative. It was retraced because it was factually incorrect.
There is a
difference, you know. It's as clear as the difference between fact and opinion. A journalist would know the difference, Wendy. Do you?
From the retraction:
Briand was quoted in the article as saying, “All of this points to no
evidence that COVID-19 created any excess deaths. Total death numbers are
not above normal death numbers.” This claim is incorrect and does not take
into account the spike in raw death count
from all causes
compared to previous years. According to the CDC, there have been almost
300,000 excess deaths
due to COVID-19.
Additionally, Briand presented data of total U.S. deaths in comparison to
COVID-19-related deaths as a proportion percentage, which trivializes the
repercussions of the pandemic. This evidence does not disprove the severity
of COVID-19; an increase in excess deaths is not represented in these
proportionalities because they are offered as percentages, not raw numbers.
But they're not alone. Newsweek
has looked into this story:
In late November, the student-run Johns Hopkins News-Letter published a story,
since retracted, about a study claiming that there have been no extra deaths,
known as "excess deaths," in the U.S. this year from COVID-19 compared to
deaths expected in an otherwise normal year.
This year, there have been nearly 300,000 excess deaths attributed to
COVID-19, as of early October, according to Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) data.
The story was published on November 22, then taken down, with a retraction
published on November 27. The retraction said the study cited in the story
"has been used to support dangerous inaccuracies that minimize the impact of
the pandemic."
[Bob Anderson, chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch at the National Center
for Health Statistics at the CDC] said taking down the story was warranted.
"The study was retracted by the newsletter for a reason," Anderson said. "It's
because it wasn't very good at all."
The student-run publication said its decision was made "to stop the spread of
misinformation," and it acknowledged that it had inaccurately claimed that
there was "no evidence that COVID-19 created any excess deaths" and that
number of total deaths were "not above normal death numbers."
The facts:
"Overall, an estimated 299,028 excess deaths occurred from late January
through October 3, 2020, with 198,081 (66%) excess deaths attributed to
COVID-19," according to a report on the CDC's website. "Excess deaths
are defined as the number of persons who have died from all causes, in
excess of the expected number of deaths for a given place and time."
Then there's this from Factcheck:
An economics professor’s flawed interpretation of U.S. mortality data
has prompted a viral, false claim that COVID-19 hasn’t led to more
deaths than normal this year. In fact, multiple analyses have found
there to be a higher-than-normal number of deaths during the pandemic —
as much as 20%, according to some studies.
And this from Health Feedback:
Firstly, the study the claim refers to was not a scientific study, but
instead an article published in a student newsletter at Johns Hopkins
University. Secondly, the claim that no excess deaths have occurred in
2020 is false. Data from the U.S. CDC clearly shows that the number of
deaths in 2020 is higher than that of previous years, most likely as a
result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And:
The U.S. has recorded more than 200,000 excess deaths (about 300,000
according to the latest CDC data) from all causes in 2020 compared to
the average number of deaths in previous years. Excess deaths in 2020
have also been observed in all age groups, ranging from young adults to
the elderly.
When will you be correcting the record, Wendy? You're still downplaying the severity of the virus and as such you're morally complicit with all the extra suffering you're causing.
How do you sleep at night?
