Tag Archives: Nick Hudson

Covid, Daily Maverick and Isaiah 5:20

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

A Girardian dystopia awaits us all when publications like the ‘Daily Maverick’, the ‘Conversation’ and ‘Bhekisisa’ betray journalism by parroting received truths fabricated by researchers such as Baker & Robinson, in order to denounce readers.


This post was partly written November 2021 but set aside in order to build a solid response to friends, family and the powers that be who argue that Covid vaccines are safe, and that anyone who does not wish to be vaccinated against Covid is a public risk and should be punished (see here). Fortuitously, the aforementioned task now serves as scaffolding for this post which sets out to show how I believe the South African media betrayed journalism, democracy, their purported liberal values, South Africa, and the future.


In the run-up to the municipal elections (1 November 2021) in South Africa, Stephen Grootes, political analyst for the Daily Maverick (DM), penned an essay, Anti-vaxxing politics — an ideal wedge issue for the desperate and low, arguing that ‘certain people’ are trying to generate vaccination hesitancy or even anti-vaccination sentiment for their own nefarious ends. Those in question were Reverend Kenneth Meshoe leader of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and Mzwanele Manyi, head of policy for the African Transformation Movement (ATM).

In addition to the post’s title, Grootes’s first paragraph sets the tone for his hit piece: ‘disgusting’, ‘disturbingly…selfish’, ‘(causing) untold damage’, all of which ‘(threaten) democracy’.

Wedge drivers

I do not want to fly the flag for either the aforementioned gentlemen (Meshoe or Manyi) but for the DM to complain about ‘desperate’ and ‘low’ wedge-driving that ‘threatens democracy’ when they themselves block readers from commenting on their pro-vaxx propaganda, which they’ve pumped out since the beginning is, in my view, hypocritical.

The above-mentioned post penned by Grootes, was, however, an exception, I assume, because it was deemed primarily political so a window of opportunity was provided by an open comments’ section for me to say my say, so I posted a response that, minutes later, DM, true to form, canned.

Fortunately anticipating this might happen I took a screen shot of the thread in question:

Covid-related comments that the ‘Daily Maverick’ spiked

The above is just one recent instance. There have been other, the most egregious being DM’s hit pieces aimed at Nick Hudson founder of Pandemics Data & Analytics (Panda) here & here also with no comments allowed, so Hudson could not be defended or be permitted a right to reply. Even Zapiro joined the mob (see here).

At this point I want to emphasise that the DM is not unique in this regard. For instance two of my comments to PoliticsWeb were intercepted for ‘moderation’, and I assume spiked, as they failed to appear. Only Biznews and Vrye Weekblad locally here in South Africa, as far as I know, enabled Covid to be discussed throughout this period.

Back to Grootes: what for me was so disappointing was that Grootes had always been fair, so why the vituperation? DM had always been my go-to publication for insight matched with integrity, so why this sudden betrayal of both their name (‘maverick’) and principles (liberal and democratic)?

Pro-vaxx propaganda dressed up as science

DM might argue they’re applying the unanimity-of-messaging principle of public health in line with the South African Disaster Management legislation (see the screen capture below):

South African Disaster Management legislation ‘Daily Maverick’ uses to justify shutting down all Covid-related debate

but as Dr Jay Bhattacharya points out in his Uncommon knowledge interview with Peter Robinson (see the link below), the science behind the current vaccination drive is far from settled, so trumpeting their pro-vaxx message is partisanship, not science:

In this case we had a new virus, we had enormous uncertainty about its death rate, who was most at risk, how it spreads, what interventions work and don’t work, enormous fights going on within the scientific community [ .. ] and before it was resolved people like Dr Fauci jumped to this public health norm [ … ] It actually had very pernicious effects so it, in effect, shut down scientific debate

Click here for the full segment until 1:03:51

In the same interview Bhattacharya observed how when the chips are down (DM take note):


the professed ideals that many people have: concern for the poor, concern for the working class, concern for children, as best I can tell that concern was lip service, as soon as the fear of Covid hit

Click here

Bhattacharya’s observation mirrors that of Giorgio Agamben in his: The invention of an epidemic:

The first thing that the wave of panic that has paralyzed the country obviously shows is that our society no longer believes in anything but bare life [ … ] Bare life — and the danger of losing it — is not something that unites people, but blinds and separates them. [ … ] And what is a society that has no value other than survival?

Giorgio Agamben: Clarifications translated by Adam Kotsko online here

If so, then ‘fear’ has Grootes (et al) by the short and curlies.

Fear aside, I find it hard to believe that Stephen Grootes and the DM don’t know exactly what they’re doing as does John Stupart – another zealous elevated protégé of the DM et al pro-vaxx revolution – saying it loud and clear: the unvaccinated are putting ‘the rest of society’ at a ‘20 times’ risk of the virus:

your resistance to the jab puts the rest of society at a greater risk – 20 times, to be precise – of infection from you

Weekend Thing newsletter, Daily Maverick, Saturday, 27 November 2021.

Rabble-rousing stuff. Evidence proffered by Stupart was a dubious post by Christopher Baker and Andrew Robinson of CEBRA (Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis) in The Conversation, entitled Your unvaccinated friend is roughly 20 times more likely to give you Covid.

Clearly Stupart hadn’t bothered to read the article in question before amplifying its divisive and destructive message to goodness knows how many DM readers in the midst of a pandemic (November 2021 during the very scary Delta wave)?

Nor, it seems, did Mia Malan, editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa, who did the same to her >40k Twitter followers:

Because had Stupart and Malan done so, they would have discerned just how morally questionable the Baker and Robinson article in fact was, as, buried in the content for anyone who bothers to read beyond the headline, was Baker and Robinson’s confession that theirs was a ‘thought experiment’, i.e. conjecture, based on a mathematical-modelling exercise posing, if the title is anything to go by, as hard science.

For instance in the body of their post we learn what the ‘roughly 20 times’ in the heading is not an absolute but relative risk, which is exactly the same stunt Pfizer pulled by claiming 95% relative vaccine efficiency whereas the absolute equivalent of the Pfizer vaccines is <1% (0,84%)*** (see end note)

Further we learn that ‘20’ doesn’t factor in age – despite age being a crucial consideration when it comes to Covid risk of infection.

Neither Stupart nor Malan mentions any of the authors’ hand-washing disclaimers or their statistical sleight of hand above, but, instead, disseminate as fact the authors’ main incendiary message: your un-vaxxed friends will most likely kill you, so banish them from society.

Nowhere do any of the protagonists in this unfolding tragedy (Grootes, Stupart, Malan, Baker & Robinson) acknowledge their atavistic, reductionist assumptions that assign human beings to one of two binary categories (good or evil/selfish or selfless). They ignore the fact of there being two immune responses to the virus: natural and vaccinal which work in totally different ways, thus transcending a snapshot view of the pandemic. Lastly there is the egregious omission of actual research findings that the vaccines are an experiment that is largely failing, a fact that DM’s much vaunted investigative arm, Scorpio, could easily have uncovered had they wanted to, seeing I was able to do as much (see in particular my: Evidence that the official Covid narrative is rigged which, incidentally, references Daily Maverick, Bhekisisa and the Conversation (under: ‘They fund the narrative’) but also Stop believing Covid vaccines and boosters are not harming you and They say vaccinate against Covid; I say don’t).

Instead we have Stupart self-congratulatory hectoring of the ‘the great unvaxxed’:

If you’re reading this, you have at least one news outlet that isn’t derived from social media hysterics or deliberate fake news memery. Get. Vaccinated. Now. Before it’s too late for us all.

Isaiah 5:20

The fact that DM has from the very beginning stifled discussion on all the Covid-related ‘wedge’ issues listed in my reply to Bruce MacDonald:

  • source of the virus
  • lockdowns
  • masks
  • efficacy
  • side effects short & long
  • mandates
  • vaccine tracking
  • scapegoating, and the
  • shaping of human consciousness to accept authoritarianism unquestioningly

demonstrates, I believe, a totalitarian bent which betrays their values and their name. Consequently I shall not be renewing my Insiders subscription initiated way back in the days when I trusted DM to be on the side of the good and not in the business of subverting truth in the service of dark forces out to trick or coerce every single one of us on planet Earth to forfeit dominion over our own being and our bodies, for power and profit.


Feature image by the author


End note

*** To understand Baker and Robinson’s sleight of hand – presenting relative as opposed to absolute risk – watch a 40-minute video put together by the Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA): Pfizer Covid shots cause ‘More Harm Than Good’


Hendrik Mentz lives off grid with his goats, chickens, cats, aging bullmastiff, and his thoughts. If what is presented here and elsewhere resonates please subscribe below (if viewing on your phone) or top left via your laptop.

Evidence that the official Covid narrative is rigged

Second of three parts extracted from a full rebuttal (see here) responding to friends and family believing everyone should get vaccinated against Covid

Big pharma, regulatory authorities, government, big tech, legacy and mainstream media (MMM) lied, twisted and kept us from the truth about Covid vaccines

Here’s the evidence

They doctored the definition of vaccines: pre-2015 vaccines prevented diseases. Not anymore. Now all their experimental technology needs do to qualify as a vaccine is to offer protection from the disease. Prevent/protect; big difference.

They told you the vaccine cannot give you Covid (see here): that’s right, even if (as happened to a close family member) you contract full-blown Covid after your first shot, the vaccination didn’t do it. How come? Well you’ll need to know that the definition of ‘vaccinated’ means two shots (soon three, and counting), so the fact that the first shot suppresses your immune system up to 14 days, during which time you’re vulnerable to whatever’s in the air, including the virus, you mustn’t blame the vaccine. Also you’re classified as ‘unvaccinated’ for statistical purposes, which looks good when the graphs proving the unvaccinated are most at risk of Covid infection are paraded by the experts and MSM.

They hid clinical trial results: it took a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from a group of 30 scientists and academics (reference) to extract the first 100 or so redacted pages from the Food and Drug Administration Agency (FDA) which relayed ‘the data and information relied upon by the FDA to approve Pfizer’s experimental vaccine for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA)’. The FDA wants the remaining pages kept under lock and key for 55 years. To discover gross malfeasance hidden from you such as claiming 95% vaccine efficiency whereas the absolute equivalent is <1% (0,84%), and serious flaws in Pfizer’s research itself, watch this 40-minute video put together by the Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA): Pfizer Covid shots cause ‘More Harm Than Good’ (click here), and never again say you didn’t know.

They downplayed deaths and serious side-effects at the start of the rollout: once the rollout had begun the FDA requested a report from Pfizer on any adverse events, which came in a research paper published as Cumulative Analysis of Post-Authorization Adverse Event Reports of Pf-07302048 (Bnt162b2) received through 28-Feb-2021 (click here), which revealed 1223 deaths and thousands of serious side effects out of 42,086 cases reported in the first three months that should surely have elicited concern.

But Pfizer reassured all in the report that there was no need to panic as they would continue monitoring. That was almost a year ago. In the meantime, Sonia Elijah in Trial Site News is worried, plenty. See here (pay-walled). Elijah speaks to the aforementioned Trial Site News report in a follow-up interview conducted by Australian James Preston which at the time hit over 1.25M views in its first three days on YouTube that – surprise, surprise – YouTube then promptly took down. You can however view the interviews here (part one) and here (part two) in which Elijah reports over 150K symptoms from 40K cases in the first three months of Pfizer’s vaccination programme following emergency use authorisation. These included nine recorded deaths from anaphylaxis – four on the same day of receiving the shot, and, in the ‘pregnancy and lactation’ category of a follow up ancillary report from Pfizer to the FDA: 25 reports of ‘spontaneous abortions’ (miscarriages) among 270 ‘unusual pregnancies’ including neonatal deaths, all of which fell within the three-month time period of the report.

They are now decoupling reports of deaths from the vaccine: first Scotland and now the CDC will be withholding vaccine-related hospitalisation and death numbers for fear they’ll be ‘misrepresented’ by anti-vaxxers. That’s royal considering how data has been presented over the last two years to convince the world that you’ll never fall seriously ill or die if you’re vaccinated (see also, ‘They hid behind dodgy stats’ below). Further grist to the vaccine-industry mill is that not one of the reasons mentioned in a recent WSJ report on the unusually high number of non-Covid death pay-outs in 2021 was attributed to the vaccine, which to me illustrates the level of vested interest cover-up. The net result is that very few who suddenly fall ill or learn that a friend or family member has died considers that the vaccine might be the cause. Apropos see a personal note further down (‘they are not worthy’) in which I share four instances (three sudden illnesses and one death) that seem suspiciously like they could be vaccine-related.

They spiked research: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) convened a meeting to decide whether also to vaccinate children aged five to 11. Days before the meeting was scheduled Elsevier withdrew a highly relevant peer reviewed paper by Drs Jessica Rose and Peter A. McCullough (see screen capture below), which presented findings of Myocarditis adverse events in children, as reported in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (Vaers). See here (Peter McCullough in conversation with Brett Weinstein) and here (Jessica Rose interviewed by Gal Shalev).

They doctored research: Dr Hill of the WHO skewed results that would otherwise have proved Ivermectin was helpful in early treatment. See ‘Dr Tess Lawrie on the suppression of her work’.

They hid behind dodgy stats: by analysing the UK Office for National Statistics (Ons) data, Professors Norman Fenton and Martin Neil of Queen Mary University of London point to ‘a range of serious inconsistencies and anomalies’ that bring into question reports of vaccine effectiveness. See also this exchange between Spectator’s Fraser Nelson and Professor Graham Medley who chairs the Sage modelling committee where the latter conceded ‘we generally model what we are asked to model’.

They suppressed every alternative to the official narrative: they have made it their business to promote one narrative by targeting, censoring, censuring, de-platforming or demonetized vaccinologists, virologists, scientists, doctors and/or academics who question their one narrative. Examples I’m aware of among many more follow:

  • YouTube has taken down content or demonetised accounts: Professor John Ioannidis had an early post in the epidemic taken down, pointing to the psychological, sociological and economic consequences of lockdowns that were being implemented without any research having been conducted. Drs Bret and Heather Weinstein’s DarkHorse Podcast was demonetised (also here). Senator Rand Paul was suspended for ‘allegedly delivering misinformation regarding the Covid virus and masks’. Dr Aditi Bhargava’s testimony as part of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s panel discussion into COVID-19 vaccine injuries, pulled. Dr Peter Doshi senior editor at BMJ (British Medical Journal) and associate professor of pharmaceutical health services research at the University, of Maryland School of Pharmacy had his video removed for searching questions regarding Covid vaccines (also here). Nick Hudson of Panda’s (Pandemics Data & Analytics) had his ‘the ugly truth’ video taken down. They took down the abovementioned James Preston interview of Sonia Elijah
  • Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter have permanently deleted accounts most often without explaining why: Robert Kennedy Jnr’s Instagram account was cancelled without notice for ‘false Covid vaccine claims’ or ‘vaccine misinformation’. Vaccinologist Dr Geert Vanden Bossche LinkedIn account was suspended for unknown reasons as was that of Prof. Marty Makary. Researcher and lecturer Dr David Thunder had his Twitter account permanently cancelled, inter alia, for warning against ‘exposing children, who are at negligible risk from Covid-19, to the risk of a vaccine whose impact on children is not yet well understood, would be irresponsible’. Abir Ballan’s Twitter account was permanently cancelled for reporting on the aforementioned conversation between Drs Laurie and Hill in which the latter admitted to doctoring the results of their study to downplay the effectiveness of Ivermectin (later rescinded). Dr Robert Malone’s Twitter account was permanently suspended he suspects for sharing the abovementioned CCCA report: ‘Pfizer Covid shots cause ‘More Harm Than Good’’. Malone’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were also cancelled for unspecified crimes.
  • medical authorities have vilified, hunted and/or taken out key academics and practitioners who question, stray from or disagree with the official narrative: Professors Martin Kulldorff (Harvard), Sunetra Gupta (Oxford) and Jay Bhattacharya (Stanford) were conspired against by Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Francis Collins, former director of the NIH, for arguing, in their Great Barrington Declaration, targeted vaccines for the vulnerable and the lifting of lockdowns. The Australian medical authority hit Dr Mark Hobart so hard for ‘falsifying vaccine records’ that Melbourne doctors were subsequently terrified to issue exemptions from vaccines even for individuals, like Betty Pezzimenti, who are at mortal risk of anaphylaxis (see this Bret Weinstein interview). US Medical Authorities are not far behind with the following prominent doctors that advocate early treatment for Covid being targeted one after the other: Dr Peter McCullough, one of the most published medical practitioners in the world sued for a third-party error for which he’s being held responsible (Joe Rogan Interview | transcription, page 37). Dr Paul Merrick ‘an exceptional physician by any standards – run out of his hospital and demeaned’. (ibid., page 37. See also here & here.) Paediatric cardiologist Dr Kirk Milhoan ‘among the most qualified individuals in the world for managing Covid and commenting on cardio myocarditis in children … a pastor at a local country congregation, has run a food bank his whole life (and) travelled to emerging economies to provide free treatment’ kicked out of his hospital because he was providing early treatment’ (Joe Rogan Interview | transcription, pages 40-41). Dr Robert Malone inventor of the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology underpinning the vaccine, Chief Medical & Regulatory Officer for the Unity Project of more than 17000 physicians and scientists worldwide and outspoken critic of mass vaccination particularly for children received a long list of complaints filed with the Medical Licensing Board for Maryland three days before Christmas to which he had to answer under threat of having his licence revoked (Joe Rogan Interview | transcription, page 19). But wait for it; that’s not all: the US Federation of State Medical Boards has just warned they will soon be identifying, investigating and potentially punishing physicians or pharmacies involved in marketing claims associated with Ivermectin with respect to Covid-19 (see here) leading to more doctors being fired, such as, inter alia, more recently, Dr Edith Behr in Pennsylvania

They fund the narrative: MSM and non-government organisations (NGOs) are richly rewarded for promoting the narrative. Here’s a list of Bill and Melinda Gates beneficiaries, which includes >R12M USD to the Guardian and >6M to the Conversation. South Africa’s very own Bhekisisa scoring just shy of R4M USD (that’s a lot of money converted to ZAR). Other generous donors are George Soros’s Freedom Foundation, which, inter alia, funds the Daily Maverick, which churns out pro-vaxx content, and with their comment section battened down since the start of the pandemic. What price freedom of the press? Meanwhile, Meet the 40 New Billionaires Who Got Rich Fighting Covid-19.

They now deploy a phalanx of fact checkers: a new front in their battle to undermine truth in the name of truth is the fact-checkers. I say this because I’ve recently noticed that certain of my primary sources for this post are now being ‘fact checked’ and labelled ‘false’. I point for instance to this Agence France-Presse (AFP) dismissal of the 40-minute video I referenced above by the Canadian Covid Care Alliance, which identifies four elements in the video they claim to be false so as to disqualify the whole (see image below). For instance a ‘non-fact’ they identify is that one of the long list of young sportsmen reported in the video dropped dead hadn’t been vaccinated. I could argue the other three ‘errors’ as well, but you can reach your own conclusions after watching the video. This then apparently serves as evidence to slap a ‘cancelled-nothing-to-see-here’ label over the video that Google – who owns search – ensures is the first item anyone gets directed to when searching for the video.

Search Canadian Covid Care Alliance or CCCA and Google is sure to dish up ‘the dirt’, carefully curated to discredit. One such instance is illustrated above

Further resources:

Early treatment of Covid:

Feeds of some of those mentioned in the text:


You can find the other two parts of this selected disaggregation:

  • here (They say vaccinate; I say don’t)
  • and here (Stop believing Covid vaccines and boosters are not harming you)

The following three sections that are also relevant to the discussion:

  • they claim sole authority over ‘the science’
  • they now assume for themselves the right to ownership of our bodies
  • their power is with our consent

can be accessed by reading the full post (I fear deeply their diktat: vaccinate; so should you) here.

References:

Featured image: Albert Pinkham Ryder. ‘Flying Dutchman’. WikiArt. Public domain, available online here.


Hendrik Mentz lives off grid with his goats, chickens, cats, aging bullmastiff, and his thoughts. If what is presented here and elsewhere resonates please subscribe below (if viewing on your phone) or top left via your laptop.