I’ve previously mentioned Cochrane. It’s the organization that collates, analyzes and summarizes the latest medical research for doctors to improve their practice in line with the latest scientific findings. The last time it came up here was due to accusations of too much big pharma influence creeping in.

However, that seem irrelevant to these Cochrane findings:

We included 12 trials (10 cluster‐RCTs) comparing medical/surgical masks versus no masks to prevent the spread of viral respiratory illness (two trials with healthcare workers and 10 in the community). Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness (ILI)/COVID‐19 like illness compared to not wearing masks (risk ratio (RR) 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84 to 1.09; 9 trials, 276,917 participants; moderate‐certainty evidence. Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza/SARS‐CoV‐2 compared to not wearing masks (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.42; 6 trials, 13,919 participants; moderate‐certainty evidence). Harms were rarely measured and poorly reported (very low‐certainty evidence).

The final bolded part means there’s not much good research out there on the subject. After three years. For some reason.

Well that’s it. Until someone does breakthrough research that shows something different, The Science is that there’s no evidence masks do shit.

There’s no wriggling out of it this time. Cochrane isn’t some devious MAGA org.

The reaction of Hypochondria Twitter has been different to what I expected. I thought there’d be outrage and cries of “blue murder!” but instead they seem to already accept the science and instead claim every person in the world should be wearing an N95 respirator every time he leaves the house, just until the end of time.

About that:

Six journalists arrested over footage of South Sudan president wetting himself.

He should have said it was a deep fake.

A swimming dog race was cancelled due to controversy surrounding the entry of a swimming cat into the competition.

Deaths 17 per cent above historical average amid last year’s Omicron wave:

In the first eight months of 2022, the first year when all major COVID-19 restrictions were dropped, 129,000 Australians died. That was 13.2 per cent more than in the same period the previous year and 17 per cent above the historical average, in part due to COVID-19 as well as higher than average deaths from other diseases.

COVID directly accounted for 7700 of those deaths.

There seems to be a key figure missing in this article: the total number of excess deaths.

129,000 is about 17% higher than 110,000, so the missing number is about 19,000.

19,000 minus 7700 equals 11,300.

11,300 is larger than 7700.

Most excess deaths are not Covid related. Nevertheless, the article and most of the following comments screech only about how recently lifted Covid restrictions will kill us all.

I wonder what’s going on with all those other deaths. The media and health authorities apparently do not wonder because there’s no chatter about it.

Only actuaries seem concerned:

‘Disruptive’ science has declined — and no one knows why:

It is important to understand the reasons for the drastic changes, Walsh says. The trend might stem in part from changes in the scientific enterprise. For example, there are now many more researchers than in the 1940s, which has created a more competitive environment and raised the stakes to publish research and seek patents. That, in turn, has changed the incentives for how researchers go about their work. Large research teams, for example, have become more common, and Wang and his colleagues have found³ that big teams are more likely to produce incremental than disruptive science.

HSBC Steals Bitchute’s Assets:

When the Constitution was written, there were no non-governmental organizations so powerful that they could rob us of our liberty in any systemic way. Now that this has changed, we need to hold our legislators accountable to do what needs to be done: Consider large banks, large corporations, large tech companies and NGOs as if they’re arms of the government – because they really ARE. The recently released Twitter files, and public admissions by the Biden administration, that it works with social media companies to “fight disinformation” are evidence enough of this.

Papua New Guinea’s official population doubles OVERNIGHT: Researchers find the country has 17 million rather than 9.4 million:

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape had to admit that he didn’t know how many people lived on the Pacific island nation he governed as a study from the United Nations contradicted the government’s previous total . . .

The United Nations Population Fund conducted the study alongside the University of Southampton. Using satellite information and housing data, they were able to correct the mis-reported population estimate.

One thought as to why the population had gone so poorly underestimated is to an increase in people living in the island’s remote highlands. Communities live through subsistence farming, providing for themselves and going unaccounted.

It is also particularly dangerous in the highland areas, with much of the land considered ungoverned and controlled by tribal gangs. 

Once you divide the GDP by this much greater population, PNG comes out as one of the poorest nations on Earth.

This was more interesting that I expected:

This is the main thing happening this week. Click to see the whole thread:

Another case of a sick Canadian offered death instead of treatment — this time, a veteran.

Woman featured in pro-euthanasia commercial wanted to live, say friends.

Medically assisted deaths prove a growing boon to organ donation in Ontario.

Medically assisted deaths could save millions in health care spending: Report.

Long Covid – exclusively a left wing condition

While some are throwing oil over works of art by dead white men, a gallery in Western Australia has found that a simpler path to decolonization is to keep these pieces safely hidden from public view:

It owns priceless pieces of art by the likes of Sidney Nolan, Russell Drysdale, Norman Lindsay, Tom Roberts and even Lucien Freud, as well as one of Australia’s most recognisable masterpieces, Frederick McCubbin’s Down on His Luck.

But if you were hoping to see any of these renowned treasures at the Art Gallery of Western Australia for much of the past two years, you’d have been disappointed.

Most of them haven’t been on display at all . . .

Historical collections curator at the gallery Melissa Harpley said she felt a keen responsibility to look at the gallery’s role in society in the contemporary context of Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and climate change.

The next step will be to claim that the bad juju emanating from villainous works in storage is causing actual harm to whatever the trendy nomenclature for blacks is by then, thus they ought to be ceremonially taken out and burned.

Still among the Sandgropers, I once thought that the best possible way to own physical gold without keeping it in your own custody would be to do so through the Perth Mint. It’s state-owned, high security and had a sterling reputation. They also did gold-backed crypto, which again I thought ought to be as legit as you could get with such things. And they sell commemorative coins etc.

Canadian federal government reveals plan to bring in 500,000 immigrants per year by 2025

That’s about 1.3% of Canada’s current population per year.

China’s war on COVID-19 spurs expat exodus, but lockdowns are only part of the story

Like the Beeb, the ABC has lately been publishing a lot of Five Eyes press releases, particulary on China. However, I’m a little more inclined to believe this one because (a) I know about a dozen people who’ve lived in China over the last decade and all but a couple confirm this, and (b) because they manage to provide some figures:

Official figures show the number of foreigners in Shanghai decreased from 208,000 in 2010, to around 163,000 in 2020.

The downturn was even starker in Beijing, where the number of foreign residents declined by 40 per cent over the same period.

However, since 2020, those numbers are thought to have dropped even more dramatically.

Excellent thread. Too few understand this is what happened everywhere, which means we’ll do the same tail-chasing next time round: