Implications of the Serotonin and Beta Amyloid Scandals for the Fall of Climate Change

How Two Fallen Theories of Medicine May Herald the Fate of Global Warming / Climate Change

Bad science does not stand forever, but it may stand long enough for people to make a lot of money on it. THAT will be the THEME of the three huge science scandals I’m going to discuss.

In case you’re short on time, the TLDR…..

TL;DR – Two fresh scandals showing how industry money and scientific misconduct kept bad theories “alive” for decades, may explain why the bad science behind politically useful climate alarmism persists.


I. Serotonin Uber Alles

The “serotonin scandal” is very diffuse, which is why it’s in many ways analogous to “climate change”. The bottom line is that what the pharmaceutical industry tells patients about antidepressants, and what scientists know about antidepressants, are not the same thing.

It’s best to start off with the following Tucker Carlson video.

LINK: https://rumble.com/v1dm0nv-tucker-carlson-it-turns-out-the-entire-premise-behind-the-most-commonly-pre.html

An extremely important selling point of antidepressants, used by both doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, is the idea that people who are depressed, and therefore “need” to take them, actually have some kind of chemical imbalance in their brain that needs to be fixed. More often than any other chemical alleged to be “imbalanced” is serotonin – and hence the emergence of SSRIs, meaning serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitors.

Carlson’s centerpiece is a recent metaanalysis of antidepressant research which showed there is little or no evidence for this “chemical imbalance” assertion.

Antidepressants may work in some people, and thank God they do, but IF they do, and WHEN they do, the simple “chemical imbalance theory” is probably not the reason why.

There is a very good explanation of the study HERE:


No evidence that depression is caused by low serotonin levels, finds comprehensive review

20 July 2022

LINK: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/jul/no-evidence-depression-caused-low-serotonin-levels-finds-comprehensive-review

After decades of study, there remains no clear evidence that serotonin levels or serotonin activity are responsible for depression, according to a major review of prior research led by UCL scientists.

The new umbrella review – an overview of existing meta-analyses and systematic reviews – published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggests that depression is not likely caused by a chemical imbalance,and calls into question what antidepressants do. Most antidepressants are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which were originally said to work by correcting abnormally low serotonin levels. There is no other accepted pharmacological mechanism by which antidepressants affect the symptoms of depression.

Lead author Professor Joanna Moncrieff, a Professor of Psychiatry at UCL and a consultant psychiatrist at North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), said: “It is always difficult to prove a negative, but I think we can safely say that after a vast amount of research conducted over several decades, there is no convincing evidence that depression is caused by serotonin abnormalities, particularly by lower levels or reduced activity of serotonin.

“The popularity of the ‘chemical imbalance’ theory of depression has coincided with a huge increase in the use of antidepressants. Prescriptions for antidepressants have risen dramatically since the 1990s, with one in six adults in England and 2% of teenagers now being prescribed an antidepressant in a given year.

“Many people take antidepressants because they have been led to believe their depression has a biochemical cause, but this new research suggests this belief is not grounded in evidence.”

MORE:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/jul/no-evidence-depression-caused-low-serotonin-levels-finds-comprehensive-review

For more information, you can also go to the actual paper here:

LINK: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0

Just for the record, I am personally NOT a fan of these sorts of “metaanalysis” papers. In my opinion they tend to be QUASI-OPINIONS with a veneer of science. However, in my own opinion, metaanalyses can be useful when highly conclusive or by reinterpreting data – but should be trusted even less than normal observational science.

Now – it is important to point out that this metaanalysis is not actually telling us anything NEW. Most scientists in the field ALREADY KNEW from all the various studies that were looked at by the metaanalysis, that the simple “chemical imbalance” idea was a load of crap. They’ve known this for YEARS.

REALLY? Yes. Really.

A good description of the state of things is here:


A Popular Theory About Depression Wasn’t “Debunked” by a New Review

Published: July 22, 2022

Ruairi J Mackenzie

LINK: https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/articles/a-popular-theory-of-depression-wasnt-debunked-by-a-new-review-it-got-debunked-years-ago-363986


The title is a bit deceptive – at least more so than the link which adds “it got debunked years ago”. Ah, the techniques of clickbait!

Anyway, the title could rightfully say:

A Still-Popular But Unproven Old Theory About Depression Wasn’t “Debunked” By A New Review – It Was Simply Confirmed To STILL Be Unsupported By The Data, Despite Being Pushed For Decades By Doctors And Big Pharma Who KNEW It Wasn’t True

Please click the link if you want all the details, but my proposed title says it all. People kept using the theory as a sales and prescription gimmick. Big Pharma “suggested” the theory to doctors, and doctors “suggested” the theory to patients, to get them to take a kind of drug that patients are sometimes very resistant to taking.

Remember – antidepressants do, in fact, work for many patients – particularly for very serious cases of depression. Many people who in the past had to be hospitalized, can now live happy, functional lives in society because of these drugs.

It’s understandable that doctors try to convince patients to take the drugs they think will work to treat their problems.

But should your kids be getting antidepressants because of “school trouble”?

A whole ‘nuther question.

Because THAT is the end result of the little white lie that “people can have an imbalance that needs these drugs.”

We NORMALIZED antidepressents by NORMALIZING an ABNORMALITY that didn’t even exist.

ANYWAY – if the very fact that a WRONG THEORY has been KNOWINGLY spoon-fed to you by “the experts” for DECADES, is not giving you ideas about “climate change” – particularly in the post-COVID world…..

BUT WAIT.

Not quite yet. We have ANOTHER scandal to look at, first.


II. It’s Bush’s Beta Amyloid’s Fault!

This scandal is at the opposite end of the spectrum, from the above one, in which an entire industry and all of medicine KNOWINGLY told a little white lie to the public.

In this case, ONE SCIENTIST tipped the scales inappropriately, sending the entire world, including the rest of science, on a wild goose chase.

The LIE was only caught after years, and almost accidentally.

This is a rather long and interesting story, and I’m not going to recount it all here. But I will give you links and extensive quotes. It’s FASCINATING.

One of the best quick summaries is in, of all places, The Daily Kos.


Two decades of Alzheimer’s research may be based on deliberate fraud that has cost millions of lives

LINK: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/22/2111914/-Two-decades-of-Alzheimer-s-research-may-be-based-on-deliberate-fraud-that-has-cost-millions-of-lives

Last month, drug company Genentech reported on the first clinical trials of the drug crenezumab, a drug targeting amyloid proteins that form sticky plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. The drug had been particularly effective in animal models, and the trial results were eagerly awaited as one of the most promising treatments in years. It did not work. “Crenezumab did not slow or prevent cognitive decline” in people with a predisposition toward Alzheimer’s.

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) narrowly approved the use of Aduhelm, a new drug from Biogen that the company has priced so highly that it’s expected to drive up the price of Medicare for everyone in America, even those who never need this drug. Aduhelm was the first drug to be approved that fights the accumulation of those “amyloid plaques” in the brain. What makes the approval of the $56,000-a-dose drug so controversial is that while it does decrease plaques, it doesn’t actually slow Alzheimer’s. In fact, clinical trials were suspended in 2019 after the treatment showed “no clinical benefits.” (Which did not keep Biogen from seeking the drug’s approval or pricing it astronomically.)

Over the last two decades, Alzheimer’s drugs have been notable mostly for having a 99% failure rate in human trials. It’s not unusual for drugs that are effective in vitro and in animal models to turn out to be less than successful when used in humans, but Alzheimer’s has a record that makes the batting average in other areas look like Hall of Fame material.

And now we have a good idea of why. Because it looks like the original paper that established the amyloid plaque model as the foundation of Alzheimer’s research over the last 16 years might not just be wrong, but a deliberate fraud.

MUCH MORE:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/22/2111914/-Two-decades-of-Alzheimer-s-research-may-be-based-on-deliberate-fraud-that-has-cost-millions-of-lives

This story is fantastic, and so I recommend starting with the above Daily Kos article.

Before going into more detail, let me begin to give you my perspective on Alzheimer’s drugs.

I’ve watched a lot of drug classes accumulate new and improved drugs over nearly half a century of interest in the topic, but the TWO categories that have stood out to ME as the WORST in terms of success have been antivirals and Alzheimer’s drugs.

Antivirals first.

As you have seen over the last two and a half years, antivirals are not impossible to find, and while they don’t work 100% of the time, they’re still sometimes VERY helpful.

What has been more shocking to me is that it’s clear that the pharmaceutical industry frequently and reliably OPPOSES successful antivirals, when they can’t make money off them. The industry wants NEW antivirals they can patent, and they are willing to DEFAME and DENY old antivirals, even SUPERIOR and SAFER antivirals, just to create a market for new ones.

New antivirals that may be CRAP, and dangerous as hell. And they will even LIE to the Commander In Chief about them.

But set the antivirals aside for now, knowing that the situation is corrupt.

Anti-Alzheimer’s drugs are even worse, because THEY JUST DON’T WORK. They’re notorious for not actually working. They’ve never worked. In desperation, the FDA occasionally approves these worthless drugs, if only for investigation, but they are “mercy punts”. The drugs get approved, as long as they don’t show too many side effects, because they are “better than nothing”. But that’s it.

The drugs out there for dementia, senility and Alzheimer’s are WORTHLESS.

A LOT of people thought this was suspicious. I was one of them. Every once in a while, when researchers would reveal just how BAD the next drug actually was – how terrible and limited the results were – I would “go back to my mental drawing board” and ask the question:

“Why don’t these drugs work? Maybe the theory behind them is wrong. What could the truth possibly be?”

HA! I had no idea! No clue!

NOBODY – and I mean nobody – suspected that it was because of FRAUD.

At least, not until recently.

So let’s move on to the fraud in more detail. SCIENCE MAGAZINE.

I am including a long segment which is just the beginning of the article. Please note an important point – the investigator was actually looking at a DIFFERENT fraud in the same field of Alzheimer’s research, when he found this one.


BLOTS ON A FIELD?

A neuroscience image sleuth finds signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease

LINK: https://www.science.org/content/article/potential-fabrication-research-images-threatens-key-theory-alzheimers-disease

In August 2021, Matthew Schrag, a neuroscientist and physician at Vanderbilt University, got a call that would plunge him into a maelstrom of possible scientific misconduct. A colleague wanted to connect him with an attorney investigating an experimental drug for Alzheimer’s disease called Simufilam. The drug’s developer, Cassava Sciences, claimed it improved cognition, partly by repairing a protein that can block sticky brain deposits of the protein amyloid beta (Aβ), a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. The attorney’s clients—two prominent neuroscientists who are also short sellers who profit if the company’s stock falls—believed some research related to Simufilam may have been “fraudulent,” according to a petition later filed on their behalf with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Schrag, 37, a softspoken, nonchalantly rumpled junior professor, had already gained some notoriety by publicly criticizing the controversial FDA approval of the anti-Aβ drug Aduhelm. His own research also contradicted some of Cassava’s claims. He feared volunteers in ongoing Simufilam trials faced risks of side effects with no chance of benefit.

So he applied his technical and medical knowledge to interrogate published images about the drug and its underlying science—for which the attorney paid him $18,000. He identified apparently altered or duplicated images in dozens of journal articles. The attorney reported many of the discoveries in the FDA petition, and Schrag sent all of them to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which had invested tens of millions of dollars in the work. (Cassava denies any misconduct [see sidebar, below].)

But Schrag’s sleuthing drew him into a different episode of possible misconduct, leading to findings that threaten one of the most cited Alzheimer’s studies of this century and numerous related experiments.

The first author of that influential study, published in Nature in 2006, was an ascending neuroscientist: Sylvain Lesné of the University of Minnesota (UMN), Twin Cities. His work underpins a key element of the dominant yet controversial amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer’s, which holds that Aβ clumps, known as plaques, in brain tissue are a primary cause of the devastating illness, which afflicts tens of millions globally. In what looked like a smoking gun for the theory and a lead to possible therapies, Lesné and his colleagues discovered an Aβ subtype and seemed to prove it caused dementia in rats. If Schrag’s doubts are correct, Lesné’s findings were an elaborate mirage.

Schrag, who had not publicly revealed his role as a whistleblower until this article, avoids the word “fraud” in his critiques of Lesné’s work and the Cassava-related studies and does not claim to have proved misconduct. That would require access to original, complete, unpublished images and in some cases raw numerical data. “I focus on what we can see in the published images, and describe them as red flags, not final conclusions,” he says. “The data should speak for itself.”

A 6-month investigation by Science provided strong support for Schrag’s suspicions and raised questions about Lesné’s research. A leading independent image analyst and several top Alzheimer’s researchers—including George Perry of the University of Texas, San Antonio, and John Forsayeth of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)—reviewed most of Schrag’s findings at Science’s request. They concurred with his overall conclusions, which cast doubt on hundreds of images, including more than 70 in Lesné’s papers. Some look like “shockingly blatant” examples of image tampering, says Donna Wilcock, an Alzheimer’s expert at the University of Kentucky.

The authors “appeared to have composed figures by piecing together parts of photos from different experiments,” says Elisabeth Bik, a molecular biologist and well-known forensic image consultant. “The obtained experimental results might not have been the desired results, and that data might have been changed to … better fit a hypothesis.”

Early this year, Schrag raised his doubts with NIH and journals including Nature; two, including Nature last week, have published expressions of concern about papers by Lesné. Schrag’s work, done independently of Vanderbilt and its medical center, implies millions of federal dollars may have been misspent on the research—and much more on related efforts. Some Alzheimer’s experts now suspect Lesné’s studies have misdirected Alzheimer’s research for 16 years.

“The immediate, obvious damage is wasted NIH funding and wasted thinking in the field because people are using these results as a starting point for their own experiments,” says Stanford University neuroscientist Thomas Südhof, a Nobel laureate and expert on Alzheimer’s and related conditions.

Lesné did not respond to requests for comment. A UMN spokesperson says the university is reviewing complaints about his work.

To Schrag, the two disputed threads of Aβ research raise far-reaching questions about scientific integrity in the struggle to understand and cure Alzheimer’s. Some adherents of the amyloid hypothesis are too uncritical of work that seems to support it, he says. “Even if misconduct is rare, false ideas inserted into key nodes in our body of scientific knowledge can warp our understanding.”

MORE

https://www.science.org/content/article/potential-fabrication-research-images-threatens-key-theory-alzheimers-disease

This article goes deeply into the fraud. It’s a great detective story. It raises a whole bunch of tangential issues.

For starters, the fact that you are even hearing about this is because the investigator (Matthew Schrag) didn’t wait for NIH to do anything – particularly after it AWARDED MORE MONEY TO THE FRAUDSTER.

Yes – you got that right.

He [Lesné] became a leader of UMN’s neuroscience graduate program in 2020, and in May 2022, 4 months after Schrag delivered his concerns to NIH, Lesné received a coveted R01 grant from the agency, with up to 5 years of support. The NIH program officer for the grant, Austin Yang—a co-author on the 2006 Nature paper—declined to comment.

Notice how the “revolving door” nature of the science is on display. “Insiders” who are buddies with and coworkers of “outsiders”, give those outsiders the precious grants.

However, Schrag was not caught with his pants down by NIH “Comeyism” (failure to discipline friends). Schrag had also taken his evidence to Science magazine. SMART MOVE. But then, it appears that Schrag was raised by Mennonites, home-schooled, and in the military. Interesting.

More from the Science article:

IN HIS WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT to NIH about Lesné’s research, Schrag made its scope and stakes clear: “[This] dossier is a fraction of the anomalies easily visible on review of the publicly accessible data,” he wrote. The suspect work “not only represents a substantial investment in [NIH] research support, but has been cited … thousands of times and thus has the potential to mislead an entire field of research.”

The agency’s reply, which Schrag shared with Science, noted that complaints deemed credible will go to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity (ORI) for review. That agency could then instruct grantee universities to investigate prior to a final ORI review, a process that can take years and remains confidential absent an official misconduct finding. To Science, NIH said it takes research misconduct seriously, but otherwise declined to comment.

See how that works? Seriously – you CANNOT trust NIH, any more than you can trust Anthony Fauci.

NOW – things are starting to get interesting as all this news is hitting the mainstream media.

Gil00 brought me a link, in which the most famous coworker of the fraudster, Karen Ashe, finally responded to inquiries. Meanwhile, the fraudster has remained silent publicly. NOTE that in Schrag’s investigation (see below), Ashe was found innocent. ONLY in papers working with Lesné, were any of Ashe’s papers ever found to contain fraudulent images. Ditto for other authors. Lesné was the nexus of the fraud.

BUT the problem WAS spotted long ago, and yet this knowledge never bubbled up to a level of effectiveness in mainstream science. An early French coworker of Lesné found his images suspect, and refused to work with him after that.

From the Science article:

Questions about Lesné’s work are not new. Cell biologist Denis Vivien, a senior scientist at Caen, co-authored five Lesné papers flagged by Schrag or Bik. Vivien defends the validity of those articles, but says he had reason to be wary of Lesné.

Toward the end of Lesné’s time in France, Vivien says they worked together on a paper for Nature Neuroscience involving Aβ. During final revisions, he saw immunostaining images—in which antibodies detect proteins in tissue samples—that Lesné had provided. They looked dubious to Vivien, and he asked other students to replicate the findings. Their efforts failed. Vivien says he confronted Lesné, who denied wrongdoing. Although Vivien lacked “irrefutable proof” of misconduct, he withdrew the paper before publication “to preserve my scientific integrity,” and broke off all contact with Lesné, he says. “We are never safe from a student who would like to deceive us and we must remain vigilant.”

Schrag spot checked papers by Vivien or Ashe without Lesné. He found no anomalies—suggesting Vivien and Ashe were innocent of misconduct.

SO – what does Karen Ashe have to say?


University of Minnesota scientist responds to fraud allegations in Alzheimer’s research

While defending results, U researcher said it is “devastating” that a colleague might have doctored images. 

LINK: https://www.startribune.com/senior-university-of-minnesota-scientist-responds-to-fraud-allegations-in-alzheimers-research/600192351/

A senior University of Minnesota scientist said it is “devastating” that a colleague might have doctored images to prop up research, but she defended the authenticity of her groundbreaking work on the origins of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Karen Ashe declined to comment about a U investigation into the veracity of studies led by Sylvain Lesné, a neuroscientist she hired and a rising star in the field of Alzheimer’s research. However, she criticized an article in Science magazine that raised concerns this week about Lesné, because she said it confused and exaggerated the effect the U’s work had on downstream drug development to treat Alzheimer’s-related dementia.

“Having worked for decades to understand the cause of Alzheimer disease, so that better treatments can be found for patients, it is devastating to discover that a co-worker may have misled me and the scientific community through the doctoring of images,” Ashe said in an e-mail Friday morning. “It is, however, additionally distressing to find that a major scientific journal has flagrantly misrepresented the implications of my work.”

MORE:

https://www.startribune.com/senior-university-of-minnesota-scientist-responds-to-fraud-allegations-in-alzheimers-research/600192351/

If you want to know more about Ashe, look HERE.

LINK 1: https://www.startribune.com/february-2012-karen-ashe-stalking-alzheimer-s/139159894/

LINK 2: https://www.startribune.com/karen-hsiao-ashe-a-q-a/139160259/

I’m undecided about this lady. This is a bit of a tangent, but it may be significant.

I trust her to some extent, based on the fact that Schrag found Ashe’s work CLEAN when it was NOT associated with Lesné. In my opinion she’s innocent.

AND YET, Ashe’s background is PERFECT for a two-stepper ChiCom, potentially brought to America as the child of secret socialist sleepers. [NOTE: “Two-steppers” are basically bi-generational spy families, with extreme cover used on the parents to throw off suspicions on the second generation as plants.] Ashe’s background – similar to that of the notorious Vindman twins, is also almost identical to several classic Chinese two-steppers in American media and politics, including relentless Trump character assassin, Weijia Jiang.

LINK 1: https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-journalists-shred-cbs-reporter-weijia-jiang-for-behavior-during-press-conference

And don’t think this is just aimed at Karen Ashe – that I’m just blaming the innocent victim, which she may very well be. Let’s look at Sylvain Lesné. Let’s do a deep dive on the possibility that he was intentionally sabotaging science for more than just personal advancement.

This is just a theory to add to the pile of theories. But it’s a very intriguing theory, with enormous consequences, like – oh, say – “climate change”.

French communists, both agrarian and urban, are THICK in Normandy – where Sylvain Lesné grew up and went to university. The urban centers of Caen, Le Havre, and Rouen are communist strongholds.

You can see that Caen leans even further to the left than “worker’s paradise” Le Havre, where bleak Stalinist architecture rules. The vote against Le Pen was strong in Le Havre, but even stronger in Caen.

https://elections.letelegramme.fr/resultats-presidentielle-2022/calvados-14/caen/

Lesné is married to an American. Their wedding was in France, in Beavoir-Sur-Mer, on the Atlantic coast.

LINK: https://www.inforum.com/caroline-lesne

There is a reason why communism is persistent in Normandy. Not only is there a regional historical tradition of Jacobin thought – there was aggressive spread of Soviet-style communism to the area by Stalin, both before World War II and afterwards, in the devastation of the Allied liberation.

This was a significant part of the motivation for the Marshall plan – to not let the war feed Stalin’s slow but relentless ambitions, already at work in post-war France.

We already know that French “above-ground” communist Agnès Buzyn, who is weirdly allied with “conservative” Emmanuel Macron, was indicted for a plethora of COVID-19 “mistakes”, in which she seemed to aggressively “do the wrong thing” as COVID-19 began spreading into France.

LINK: https://www.euronews.com/2021/09/10/france-s-ex-health-minister-agnes-buzyn-indicted-in-covid-19-handling-probe

We here in America are more familiar with one of these aggressive scientific mistakes – the “hiding” of hydroxychloroquine from the public by changing it from OTC to prescription only. (Please note that this “error” was at the bottom of the list, and is not even mentioned around the time of the indictment, which focused more on Buzyn’s downplaying of COVID dangers.)

LINK: https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/why-france-is-hiding-a-cheap-and-tested-virus-cure/

Now – it’s very instructive to see how the French media (particularly the left-media, but all of it, really) has aggressively covered up for Buzyn on this point, with “fact-checking” in the Snopes style, where there are both clickbait strawmen and evasion on technicalities.

While the FORMAL reclassification of the drug HCQ from OTC to prescription occurred in January of 2020, which would make it seem more vindictive against Didier Raoult, and reactive against the treatment of the disease, that was merely the date of the effective reclassification.

The connection to Didier Raoult is a bit of a red herring, provided largely by his fan base. That is a typical irony useful to disinformation.

It turns out that the reclassification action itself took place in November of 2019. This point is then alleged by the fact-checkers to prove Buzyn’s “innocence”. As we now know, the deepest players in the COVID scam KNOWINGLY took many actions in September, October, and November of 2019.

Thus, in my opinion, these “fact checks” attempting to exonerate Buzyn’s scientific misconduct are in fact even more indicting, and indicative of her premeditated criminality.

Here is an exemplary fact check:

French: https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2020/03/27/coronavirus-et-hydroxychloroquine-le-couple-buzyn-levy-cible-de-publications-mensongeres_6034663_4355770.html

English: https://www-lemonde-fr.translate.goog/les-decodeurs/article/2020/03/27/coronavirus-et-hydroxychloroquine-le-couple-buzyn-levy-cible-de-publications-mensongeres_6034663_4355770.html?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Thus, if an analogous theory is correct, that Sylvain Lesné was intending to prop up bad science for more than just his own advancement, then there must be some VALUE in doing so.

Gil00 provided a possible answer to this – in thinking that perhaps there was an immunological connection to the scandal. THAT jumped out at me like a red flag. An immunity connection in Alzheimer’s is not only a known competitor of the beta amyloid theory – it fits in with my recent belief that the entire depopulation plot is connected to and being implemented through a very intentional and surreptitious set of actions leading to a decrease of individual human immunity, to make us EACH more vulnerable.

Thus, Lesné’s actions, which sent the majority of Alzheimer’s research down a primrose path to nowhere, may have been a DIVERSION away from the immunological origins of Alzheimer’s disease.

You know – an origin such as VACCINES.

Yes. Timing is everything.

NOW – even if Ashe and Lesné are completely innocent (and that would include brainwashing by communists), I think this is an EXCELLENT time to look at Alzheimer’s AGAIN, as a potential product of things like viruses and vaccines, which we KNOW can have neurological effects.

LINK: https://www.science.org/content/article/why-pandemic-flu-shot-caused-narcolepsy

Yes. Vaccines which “go wrong” can affect the BRAIN through autoimmune actions.

Just sayin’.


III. Could Global Warming Concern in the Face of an Imminent Mini-Ice Age and an Incipient Full Ice Age Actually be Some Kind of Really Bad Science?

It should now be totally apparent that BAD SCIENCE on a global scale is not just possible – it’s EASY. This is without even bringing in the COVID debacle.

PLANET VULCAN, ANYONE?



You’ve seen it here in part I. BILLIONS of dollars have kept LIES alive and well in pharmaceutical science.

If it pays everybody to tell people there is a chemical imbalance that means they need a drug, it will be done, to sell the drug, or to tell the patient that there is hope. The bad information will be forwarded to doctors, and then to patients, to make those patients feel OK taking the drug. Eventually, it just becomes part of Fake Normal.

I mean, just ask PBS.

LINK: https://www.pbsnc.org/blogs/science/sunlight-happiness-link/

But WAIT – there’s MOAR.

Sometimes, not everybody is in on the “secret”.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04533

Consider (part II) that even a single author on a single scientific paper, followed by a few more images from that author on maybe a few dozen more papers, carrying subtle but convincing false evidence, can send BILLIONS of dollars, maybe tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, down a blind alley.

Not only that – the system will try to keep that money flowing in the same way, even when it is KNOWN by government bureaucrats to be based on faulty data.

Is it impossible that this kind of ERROR could extend to TRILLIONS of dollars?

I mean, who would actually WANT trillions of dollars?

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) were joined by Democratic lawmakers from both the House and Senate on February 7, 2019, to introduce Green New Deal legislation.

There is NOTHING in “anthropogenic global warming” or “climate change”, explained by the current theories, that cannot be explained equally well by the idea that a carbon dioxide prediction boondoggle (remember COVID models?) has occurred, as the result of BAD SCIENCE.

Indeed, the multiple and long-running FAILURES of the climate field would seem to this “poor” scientist to be rather similar to the FAILURES in anti-Alzheimer’s drugs. This kind of failure SHOULD point to severe theoretical problems in any NORMAL science situation, once freed from TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS of bad economic bets by politicians and financiers.

I remember – PERSONALLY – when we scientists were told by the leadership of the American Chemical Society that “anthropogenic global warming” was “settled science”. I knew MANY scientists in all branches of science – who were all SCIENTIFICALLY AFFECTED by this idea – who were still very actively debating the topic – and who like me were not convinced of AGW being real, true, or important, even if it did exist. The entire enterprise seemed HASTY and WRONG.

It seemed TOP-DOWN. It seemed IMPOSED. It seemed to contradict everything we knew about how science was supposed to operate – with major ideas normally taking YEARS if not DECADES of FIGHTING INSIDE SCIENCE to become crystal clear.

And OH YES – we had TIME.

SO – after reading about these two incidents of WRONG science being perpetuated by industry or academia, both knowingly and unknowingly, I do NOT think that “climate change” should be granted a pass.

I think the whole question of climate needs to “go back to the people”. That includes both SCIENTISTS who tell us WHAT IS FOUND, and THE PEOPLE who tell us WHAT MATTERS, once we find the truth.

Everybody else – the money, the media, the “leaders”, the shills, and the malevolent liars – need to get out of the way.

In particular, the MEDIA that pushes scientists’ opinions around with their “fake normal” and “fake science news” needs to STFU.

Don’t “trust the science”.

LET SCIENCE DISTRUST ITSELF.

And maybe, in fact definitely, YOU THE PEOPLE can help US, THE SCIENTISTS to DISTRUST SCIENCE……

BY NOT TRUSTING THE SCIENCE.

W

Back In My Day – The Warrior Queen

Continuing with our newly created theme I need to bring things forward in a more intense way because the primary subject of today’s thread would undoubtedly want it that way. She is remembered for the intensity of her stare. It was a glare that could cause knees to buckle of grown women and men.

In my lifetime role of being Forest Gump’s imaginary younger brother, Goober Gump, I am compelled to follow the previous story of The King with one about The Warrior Queen. Not all of my posts will be as long as this one. Well, maybe only a couple more. There is a lot to unpack and to make this a two parter would be difficult since it is all interwoven.

First, I need to describe the location of today’s as well as some of my future stories. I will not spend as much time on it in the future. I realize the story could dox us somewhat, and that is OK because the story is important and I care about my fellow Q-Treeps. We live in a generally rural, unincorporated bedroom community burb in rural east TN at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains. Even now, most folks living here would have difficulty understanding that our community has grown into the largest population center of this rapidly growing county, except when they go to vote. The county’s public servants and candidates all show up that day to shake hands and hand out cards, then leave after the election concludes and proceed to forget we exist. Fortunately, the state DOT has awoken to our needs in recent years, making major road improvements with more in the works. Public utilities are well thought out, planned and addressed. If at one time we desired to stay rural, we no longer have those delusions.

We chose to move here because it was halfway between our two jobs like many other married couples in the area. There are relatively low property tax and insurance rates with a good quality of life in general. It’s easy to get to know your neighbor, make lifelong friends, and look out for one another such that the limited number of county deputies available usually do not have too much to do. Especially considering how pro-second amendment Tennessee is. After we were married, we moved into our new home and began attending churches to find that home as well. We settled on a growing 250 member UMC church congregation that had started up 4-5 years before. We had no idea who many of the members were yet. We just agreed with the denomination’s doctrine back in those days (80s), enjoyed the worship services and small groups, liked the pastor and felt accepted. I mean it’s rural hillbilly land, not much to see here, right? Just average folks.

Well, not exactly. Turns out there were several people in the congregation that were living in our community who had done things, but did not want a lot of attention so they could enjoy a normal life at home. One such person turned out to be the matriarch of women’s collegiate basketball.

Yep, HOF Lady Vol Head Coach Pat Summitt lived here for a couple of decades and was a member of our church family along with her now ex-husband, RB, and their son, Tyler. The Warrior Queen on the court who made women’s basketball into the international game it became was our friend along with her husband and child for many years. So within this small, rural UMC congregation and community back in my day, I will start with her and only speak about what I believe the subjects would approve. Much of about their lives has been openly publicized, however, I will add some information that I doubt they would mind me sharing.

I will not spend much time rehashing the public, basketball life of Pat as there are plenty of sources for learning more if you were not already a fan. You can go to Wiki to see a snapshot of an unbelievable body of work. On the job she was fierce and demanding. She expected her players to be as well. No betas permitted. That meant you had to be in the best physical and mental condition of your life. You had to handle your academics well. You did not get in trouble off the court. She made it clear that to be a LV was an honor and privilege that carried with it responsibilities to each other and the world. If you messed up, you knew there would be quality basketball players nationwide eager to take your spot. As a result you did what you were supposed to do.

Her players worshiped her and would run through brick walls if she asked. She had their backs and they knew it. Nobody messed with one of her girls. She promoted the game selflessly worldwide and with Title IX in force, many other schools jumped in and developed quality programs. As most know, Gene Auriemma and the UConn Lady Huskies became the LV’s arch rival. This led to even more publicity, televised games and growth. Attendance for home LV games was spectacular. Sell outs in the 20 K seat arena were common.

None of that portrayed the personal sides of Pat that we locals knew. During the 80s into the mid-90s she was one of us when away from the court even if the demands on her time made it so she could not be around as often. She was friendly, a lot of fun, considerate, giving and caring. Friends in need of work found jobs at UT with her assistance. Area kids in poor living conditions received assistance. If your community organization or charity needed a speaker, she was there. She just went about helping and serving others. She wanted things done right, but was not judgmental of others at all and was very accepting. I still remember the glow on her face when she told some of us at church that she was pregnant with Tyler as well as how proud and happy RB was. Her OB/GYN was a client of mine, so we had common connections there as well.

31 Mar 1996: Head Coach Pat Summitt of Tennessee celebrate with her son Tyler after the Lady Volunteers defeat Georgia in the championship game of the NCAA Women”s Final Four played at Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Many of you may have previously remembered the scene of the photo I posted above of Tyler as a young boy cutting down the nets with her after yet another championship was celebrated. Proud momma bear moment right there. The LV players adopted Tyler as their kid brother. Through the years our daughter got to know Tyler from his participation in our church youth group activities. RB was also always there for the program and team, attending all of their games and doing his part while offering support.

Pat’s success and fame spread such that the coaching contracts grew in compensation to the annual seven figures range, a first in women’s basketball history. But so did the expectations, demands and pressures. As the SEC and national championships continued to roll in with a program she literally built from ground up, she became an international icon. Book deals, print media stories, major awards and television appearances happened. As her time constraints grew, the couple saw a real need for her to be closer to the campus facilities and airport. So, they decided to build a home in a neighboring county overlooking the lake with a style that would be good for entertaining, especially since most of the players spent time in their home frequently. She was not just a coach, she was also another mom to her ladies and they would stop by to discuss life as well as have fun get-togethers that usually involved cooking in the kitchen. Their home in our community was much too small and harder to access for those purposes. As the new home was completed, that meant saying farewell to their regular involvement in our church family and community as they would be joining a new church home closer to their residence. It was a bittersweet time; proud of her success while understanding the reasons, but sorrowful for no longer being able to visit with them as much. RB pledged that he and his family’s bank would always meet the needs of our rapidly growing local church in the future even after they moved. It was a promise he faithfully kept.

With the move, RB’s commute to his senior officer role in their family controlled bank became much longer and in the opposite geographical direction from Pat. He progressed in his career to being named President and CEO. The banking community knew RB and his family well, including his father who was the Chairman of the bank (more on him later), as he volunteered to work in state banking association roles. Quality family time became a much more rare event in their household. As we know, marital relationships in particular are hit hard when there is not enough quality time spent physically together, when times are hectic and everybody is going different directions much of the time. At one point, after about 25 years of marriage, serious mistakes were made. Numerous media reports exist if you want to know more and I will leave it at that. Two years later their divorce was final. Tyler was about 17 years old and already living with Pat when it was finalized. In my opinion the couple had drifted too far apart and the marriage simply could not be fixed. The year was 2008. I remember it well because it was the year the financial debt markets collapse on Wall Street began. Banking and Wall Street were in a free fall. RB’s occupational stress would have been high as would the stress from Pat’s high profile as it was the year of her last national championship.

Many of us who knew Pat and her personality reasonably well, began to see occasional, subtle changes. We attributed it to the divorce, which hardens many people. She was still riding high as a coach and promoter of the game, but her coaching staff began turning over as long time assistants left. Some recruiting wars for top national talent were lost, which was unusual. She was still traveling the world seemingly tirelessly. We all just accepted that her time was limited and that we were friends for a season of life. We still loved her and wished her great success and happiness while faithfully going to games and supporting the program, especially after what she shouldered during the divorce. However, during that very same year of 2008 another thing happened that was very concerning. She and Geno of UConn had a very hateful, public spat over recruiting violations committed by Geno in their co-pursuit of a much heralded recruit, Maya Moore. The alleged violations were secondary, not the kind that would cause a serious UConn program probation. Yet, Pat went off the deep end over it. What folks may not have realized is that there had been numerous public barbs thrown at Pat by Geno along with some other questionable recruiting actions for a decade before the Moore issue to try to get under her skin and throw her off her game. He succeeded, just not in the way he envisioned. Pat had enough of it and cancelled the most visible and important series in women’s basketball that the entire sports world loved to watch. That angered Geno immensely and the bad blood spilled out publicly into the media who fanned the flames of the feud. Reconciliation was no longer in the cards. Pat later offered an explanation of her position and actions in a book that was released in early 2014. It was at that point in 2008 and beyond that we who followed the LV’s and sport began to see a slow decline in our perception of Pat’s game day coaching. Some of her decisions and choices seemed really odd or inconsistent in our opinions. We all talked about it and wondered if the staff turnover may have contributed.

A couple of years after the divorce and the blow up with Geno, I had the occasion to meet with RB in his bank office over a local church business matter. Both of us with our banking backgrounds talked shop and discussed the huge impact the market collapse had on community banks like his and others. There was no shame with this as the industry in general had been in extreme trouble. During this visit, Pat called. She exchanged greetings with me via RB on the phone and proceeded to talk with RB about Tyler’s activities and her own issues at work. Their relationship had healed and they remained amicable. RB hung up the phone I could tell something was troubling him. He confirmed what many of us had observed, that Pat had grown really harsh with people, even more so with her players and coaches. She was not sleeping well. His deep concern for the mother of his child and former wife was obvious. He asked my opinion and for prayer. I offered no opinion as I had not heard directly from Pat, but told him prayers for him, her and the situation were always being offered by us and their former church family. With our business concluded, we parted, spoke a time or two on the phone and went about our lives. However, it did prod me to work through things I had observed and heard for several years. I did not tell him at the time that I had seen Pat and her Athletic Director in the parking lot of a popular restaurant near campus a week before my visit with him. Her AD spoke to me as we had met a time or two. However, Pat looked right through me and kept walking, no recognition at all after around 25 years of casually knowing each other on friendly terms even after the divorce. It had not been that long since she and the team had signed a poster for us commemorating going over 1000 wins in her career. I passed it off as her being distracted and busy. It bothered me though, it was not like Pat to do that. After the discussions with RB a week later, well, it all seemed to add up to something different.

What set off warning bells in my head was related to experiences my wife and I had being the primary care givers along with the assisted living center staff for her mother who battled dementia. She had been diagnosed with it some ten years before this time and was in the final stages of her body shutting down. Our sweet Momma, had gone through a stage of harshness even to the point of lashing out physically that was the exact opposite from how she lived her life before the disease. We were very aware of dementia patients in Momma’s assisted living center who were in their 40s and 50s. Before her public announcement we would discuss Pat when we saw something out of character on game days – a specific look on her face, a fit of rage, even an an occasional blank stare while sitting. They were all things we had observed in Momma’s journey. We soon learned the awful reality of Pat’s diagnosis as she announced to the world in August of 2011 she had been diagnosed by the Mayo Clinic with early-onset Dementia, Alzheimers Type. Our worst fears for her had been realized.

Our precious Momma died 2.5 months after Pat’s announcement. It was a blessing to see her body finally relax and know that she was in the presence of the Lord she loved so much all of her life. Nearly all of our local family were by her bedside when she passed on. It brought great closure. She did not know any of us for a couple of years prior to it happening except for brief flashes. However, she somehow sensed we were all connected to her.

We knew what awaited Pat, her family and the university on her journey as the disease is no respecter of persons. In typical Pat fashion she informed the world that she was going to battle it and there would “be no pity parties.” And there wasn’t. She kept coaching for as long as she could until she needed to take an emeritus type role in the program as an ambassador for the LVs. The Pat Summitt Foundation was formed to take on the evils of Alzheimers. Many celebrities joined in to promote and raise funds. The SEC and NCAA sponsored games dedicated to the cause to raise awareness and funds which continue to this day. Even Geno and Pat reconciled a few years later with Geno later writing a big check or two to her foundation. The foundation began its operations including the diagnosis and counseling of patients and families in its offices at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

Pat died about 5 years after her announcement in 2016 at 64 years of age, which is a normal lifespan after diagnosis. Her televised memorial was inspiring and much support was given to her family as her mother was still alive and in attendance. Much of the world grieved with the passing of this legendary coach and person. Yet, many have benefitted from the foundation she started and its on-going work. One such person was the neighbor friend I discussed on here recently who has now happily adjusted to life in the memory care unit of a local assisted living center. Fortunately, she no longer remembers her husband who passed from COVID caused heart failure after being jabbed and boosted. She and her children were helped greatly by the foundation as they struggled to understand the disease more and deal with the effects of her dementia.

Tyler’s life led him into collegiate coaching that eventually led to being the women’s head coach of Louisiana Tech as a young married man. Unfortunately, Tyler became embroiled in a scandal of his own making there that was highly publicized. Per media reports he now lives in Ohio, having married a player on the Tech team he coached with whom he had had relations. They live near her family in Fairborn where she is the high school basketball coach for the girls’ team. They have a young son. Tyler states he never plans to coach again. He does not have to work as he is the designee of Pat’s state pension that pays him $173,000 annually for life. He takes care of their son and home, while assisting with the foundation and has thankfully returned to the faith of his youth. His mom would approve of his faith walk, however, in my opinion I am very sure she would want his tail out there in the workforce doing something productive. As she said, no pity parties. Hopefully, he will do so at some point once his spirit has healed.

RB still lives locally. His family’s bank needed to take on outside investors during the tough years to remain open and his role was reduced as the price for the capital injection. The bank was slowly rebuilt financially over time and recently sold. He remains active in local community and charity organizations. We still hold much respect for him.

I promised more about RB’s father. He was a very good banker, but he was widely known to be an overly stern man to his employees at times. An example involves my wife. Before we met and not long after graduating from a local business college, my wife worked for him and the bank for five years. During that time she trained a young RB, who had left a job as a bank examiner after graduating from UT to return to the family business. One day RB’s dad refused to allow my wife time off for a pressing family medical matter. Back in that day there were no federal laws to permit what is required today. So much to RB’s dismay, she had enough and walked across the street. She was hired on the spot by their primary bank competitor who had begged her to work for them for years. She offered to work a notice and RB’s dad refused the offer. It was a really good move for my wife’s career and she progressed through the years to Loan Officer and VP. RB never held a grudge and they have remained friends all of their lives. Along the way her new employer sent her to graduate banking schools, one of which was in Memphis. At that time she was going through a failed marriage and had filed for divorce. At that same school was this guy, who had returned to a banking career after working in utilities management roles for a half dozen years in Arkansas. I was also going through a failed marriage and had filed for divorce. I was a last minute addition to the school having been placed on a waiting list. Two enrollees withdrew for personal reasons the week before its start and I was admitted.

So, my wife and I have her ex-employer, RB’s dad, and two bankers with other things more important to do in their lives, for us having met each other 38 years ago. Which all led to me taking a banking officer position in a very familiar east TN area near my family’s origins, dating my future wife, starting our lives together in this community, joining a church we liked that led to getting to know Pat Summitt, with Pat and my wife having children at the same late 30’s age a few years apart, which led to me being able to tell this story to you. The Lord sure works in mysterious ways.

Things change and life moves on. It pays to pay attention to everything that happens during the journey. You may not understand it right away, but clarity will come at some point, especially if you trust in the Lord. You now know more about The Warrior Queen who was a legend of a human being. I believe some solid life lessons are contained in this story and I hope they provide some benefit to you. So let’s hear your thoughts and stories.

For you, Pat. We miss you.