losing trust in science: censorship

 

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So should I as a physician distrust medical journals? Knowing the bias by drug companies maybe. More serious is that doctors in the US are pressured to follow recommendations based on summaries of medical journal articles, which like AI summaries could be biased because the database was biased,

A lot of this is distrust of vaccines due to minor adverse effects that are less serious than the disease itself. However, since Covid was mainly fatal for high risk types, when you read about side effects, it makes you wonder why they are insisting that young low risk folks were forced to take repeated doses

The AstroZeneca was known to cause blood clots at the time I took it, but the government limited it to those of us who were elderly or high risk.

Ironically the gov't refused to use the mRNA vaccine when first offered it by the USA because they wouldn't sign the agreement not to sue.

and once the Omicron varient hit, one priest/physician with a background in public health said no one needed the vaccine and that was all over social media here. But you know students wanting to attend school still were given a vaccine.

the distrust of vaccines here in the Philippines is due to the Dengue vaccine debacle, but most folks got the shot anyway, 

Now a lot of deaths are being blamed on the vaccine years later: Mainly elderly so probably not true. But I can think of a few younger deaths that might have been blood clots from the shot, and one girl who developed transverse myelitis that might have been from the shot, but without public health investigation I don't know.

I no longer practice medicine, and have essentially been disabled since I had a complicated Dengue infection two years ago, so I can't blame the vaccine. I took the AZ, an adenovirus vaccine known to cause blood clots and strokes, and had three episodes of asthmatic bronchitis when COVID was around, but no major problem since then. But I do have evidence of immune dysfunction including maybe that atypical Dengue episode and shingles.

Or maybe I am just old.

Family news

It is still hot season but the monsoon rains have started so the extreme heat should go down a bit: From 100F to 90. 

 The city water is still off, and last night after a big thunderstorm, water leaked into a electric wire to our water pump, so no bath again today, not even with a bucket (thank God for hanidwipes).

the problem? The same wire kept the pump to aerate our fish pond, so this morning all the fish were at the surface trying to breathe. In the hot weather, we often lose fish from stress, so we were facing a fish die off.

We got our handiman to come and connect the wire to the fishpond pump, so now we are hoping that the fish recover.

The female dog was in heat, so the male dogs were fighting all night, so I have not had a good night's sleep for a few days. Sigh. She is now out of heat, and the neighbor's dog, who she usually mates with when we take her for a walk, came over to look for her when we opened the garage door. Luckily our male dogs were in the garden or it could have been a major fight.

We try to let her mate outside since previous puppies from her brother were beautiful but two had hip dysplasia.

The Baptist church that meets in our meeting room had an anniversary party yesterday: Yum. Filipino food. Actually we eat Filipino food all the time, but our cook is getting old so the recipes are limited, and not always well cooked. Sigh. 

Lots of people sick (blood pressure and diabetes) and a few have died. 

Our next door neighbor's daughter in law was buried after five days wake. The wake included music until midnight. A sad case: In her mid 40s and diabetic and died of sepsis. She was a tomboy, and lived in Manila, but no kids or family there so was buried here.

Brush up your Shakespeare

in the USA, a lot of people are upsest at Trumpiebooy's insults. So I have a suggestion for him:

 

AI discussion duscussing the Pope's latest output.

the culture wars

 

Dante lecture

the online lectures about Dante are usually boring but this one explains stuff much better and hey it's narrator is so quiet you can just put it on to put you to sleep.

excuse the typing errors. I blog at night and touch type.

the Pope tells us to give up AI

 

,,,

...

posted to listen to later on my tablet.

one suspects this will be pushed by the SJW in the Catholic church to stop the wet from dveloping AI Guess who wins? China, who just happened to bribe millions of dollars to the Vatican so they could take ovef the Catholc church in China.

But a lot more in this discussion

Then we have this:

𝐎’𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐀 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒 — 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐃𝐒 𝟗𝟎 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒

Kevin O'Leary isn't taking the organized blitz against American energy and data-center projects lying down.… pic.twitter.com/6YcRXiPnVA

— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) May 26, 2026

two million people will be making the Hajj

A lot of trolls on youtube and other sites are ridiculing Trumpieboy for not attacking Iran and trying to make peace. 

and not one of them mentioned one reason local Muslim countries wanted no attacks right now:

from Turkiye today

this week is the Hajj pilgrimage.

According to the two senior Gulf officials cited by Middle East Eye, Trump was told that attacking Iran during Hajj would leave hundreds of thousands of pilgrims stranded. The sources also said Trump was warned that striking during the holy period leading up to Eid al-Adha would further damage Washington's standing in the Muslim world. The U.S. had previously attacked Iran during Ramadan, but an attack during Hajj was described as carrying far greater logistical consequences for Saudi Arabia, which hosts around a million foreign pilgrims each year, as well as Gulf air travel hubs in Qatar and the UAE, and countries in South and East Asia from which many pilgrims depart.

Yup. We had a British lady staying here for a week when the attacks started because her flight via Qatar was cancelled. Now imagine what that would do if the Mullahs pulled a similar stunt now

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May 23, 2026 Muslim pilgrims perform the tawaf ritual by circling seven times around the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. More than a million Muslims are gathering for the hajj pilgrimage, which is taking place in the shadow of the Middle East war, as animosity smoulders across the region despite a fragile ceasefire.

Saudi Arabia: 1.5 million join Hajj pilgrimage despite war https://t.co/2HnFAWqf4i

— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) May 24, 2026

alas the Iranian Mullahs are busy posting on X that Muslims should   recognize your urgent duty and direct all your motivation toward the real enemy of the Islamic Ummah — the Arrogant Powers.

'

Sigh. So why should people worry?

well, some people remember the 1987 attack on Mecca and the Mullahs have politicized the pilgrimage for years by having some of their "pilgrim" do demonstrations.

from the HouseOfSaud website:

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Hajj 2026 faces unprecedented threats as Iranian missiles target Saudi Arabia. 1.8 million pilgrims, 130+ cancelled flights, and $9 billion in new air defenses..... 

hygiene and vaccinations are quite sophisticated as their site emphasizes who needs which vaccines etc. 

there is a headsup about MERS and contact with camels for foreigners to follow.

and they stress usual precautions to prevent heat stroke, dehydration etc.

So far, Ebola is not a concern.

so pray for the safety of the Pilgrims that they find peace in their pilgrimage.