164 Comments
May 17·edited May 18Pinned

Great summary on the systemic failures of medicine. As a trained general and vascular surgeon in the 1980s, I always felt the regimented process was to create self discipline and introspection in one’s avocation. I was taught and trained that there is many ways to “skin a cat” as long as a satisfying outcome resulted for the patient. There was mostly critical thinking involved in the lengthy , rigorous education between residents and staff. However , there were a few staff professors who took the “my way or the highway” approach. Unfortunately, that approach has become the rule not the exception as Big Pharma and Big Medical Device Technology drives the financial incentives in every hospital and academic training program. Along with this outcome is the perverse federal government incentives from HHS with DEI and woke thought resulting in a Pavlovian response from medical professors, students, hospital administrators, and clinical researchers. I don’t recognize my field of vascular surgery. The specialty journals are filled with nothing but feel good, DEI garbage editorials along with full page ads from the latest medical device technology. And eight years post retirement, I chuckle that the latest clinical studies , laced with poor statistical analysis, are vascular surgical issues debated back to the beginning of the millennium. While the progress in device technology is truly mind boggling , 80% don’t improve long term outcomes mortality or the ever important quality of life. Depending on one’s specialty what is axiomatic these days 1)” if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” 2) “it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his income depended on his not understanding it” - Upton Sinclair.

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Pinning your comment.

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After I posted this article, I realized I forgot one of the most classic examples of financial incentives in medicine. Doctors who vaccinate are both paid to vaccinate, and given a significant bonus based off the percentage of people they vaccinate. Because of both, especially the latter, many are highly incentivized to ensure all the patients in their practice vaccinate.

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I really enjoy your writing. I felt during Covid that I was losing my mind as I was questioning things which I thought to me was common sense. I kept asking my wife, " what am I missing?". It definitely seemed like people were brainwashed. I gravitate toward people that are " awake". You can see it in their eyes.

Thank you for your perspectives and for keeping the sanity in a crazy world.

https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/events/the-peoples-study/we-get-paid-to-vaccinate-your-children/

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The employee physician is graded on his performance in pushing vaccinations and is distracted from focusing on the patient’s health needs. The new medical practice order!

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Unfortunately many doctors have become, akin to bureaucrats, rubber stampers of orders on high. Between insurance company, hospital admin, ambulance chaser and AMA dictates, they have no ability to do the right thing for each patient, especially in that phase of trying to pay off school debts. I'm not giving a pass to those who shrug their shoulders and go "anything for a buck", but the physician path is nothing like it was 50-70 yrs ago.

Have I lost trust in them? Yes. Would I go them for anything but an emergency situation? No.

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Medicine by the numbers!

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The new medical practice (dis)order!

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In this article & video, Dr. Paul Thomas, a pediatrician, explains exactly how pediatricians are financially incentivized to follow all of the CDC's recommendations for vaccination....https://gregreese.substack.com/p/the-financial-incentive-to-murder?initial_medium=video

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Paul Thomas was run out of the state of WA when he published the observational study of a decade or so of the results between vaxed vs unvaxed (or limited vaxs) . The medical organizations took away his license.

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On a different topic entirely, I think you will find this interview very interesting. I happened upon this substack quite by accident & have just subscribed....https://unbekoming.substack.com/p/interview-with-jerry-marzinsky

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Yes, I seem to remember reading that. No surprise there. Any medical truth teller is treated with disdain.

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Doctor, I'd like to know your thoughts about mammograms and DEXA scans... re: radiation, please.

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Look up the article on osteoporosis in the index.

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thank you!

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I looked into the accumulated risk from the radiation in mammograms and I'm sorry I ever had one. If you have dense breast tissue and they ever have to rescan, the accumulated damage from the radiation is not insignificant. Vinay Prasad also has some things to say about the uselessness of mammos.

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thank you for this info!

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can you quantify what you see for the financial incentives doctors are given to vaccinate? IE $xxx per shot or its $xx dollars if you hit x% of your patients vaccinated with x vaccine.

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Thomas Massie V @RepThomasMassie

Your primary care provider was bribed to suggest you should take the

COVID vaccine.

Anthem.*

Medicaid

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid

COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Incentive program

Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is one of the best and safest ways people can protect themselves and their families against the virus. As a participating practice in the COVID-19 Provider Vaccine Incentive program, we recognize your hard work by offering incentives for helping patients make the choice to become vaccinated.

Eligibility

The COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Incentive program is open to you if you are a participating Kentucky primary care provider with an Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid (Anthem) panel size of 25 or more members. All Anthem members identified as receiving COVID-19 vaccination services are included in the methodology. Vaccine results will be determined by a COVID-19 vaccine claim or by confirmation from the Kentucky Vaccine Registry.

The results will be calculated for two time periods:

• September 1, 2021 - Initial incentive payment

• December 31, 2021 - Final incentive payment

How you can qualify for a bonus

If your practice meets the below thresholds for vaccination with at least one dose by September 1, 2021, you will receive the initial incentive payment based on the following rates:

• 30% Anthem members vaccinated - $20 bonus per vaccinated member

• 40% Anthem members vaccinated - $45 bonus per vaccinated member

• 50% Anthem members vaccinated - $70 bonus per vaccinated member

• 60% Anthem members vaccinated - $100 bonus per vaccinated member

• 75% Anthem members vaccinated - $125 bonus per vaccinated member

The final incentive payment is calculated based on members who are newly vaccinated between September 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 (see the Appendix for calculation examples). If your practice meets the below thresholds for vaccination with at least one dose by December 1, 2021, you will receive the final incentive payment based on the following rates:

• 30%Anthem members vaccinated - $100 bonus per newly vaccinated member

• 40% Anthem members vaccinated - $150 bonus per newly vaccinated member

• 50% Anthem members vaccinated - $175 bonus per newly vaccinated member

• 60% Anthem members vaccinated - $200 bonus per newly vaccinated member

• 75% Anthem members vaccinated - $250 bonus per newly vaccinated member

...

CERTOIS

https://providers.anthem.com/ky

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid is the trade name of Anthem Kentucky Managed Care Plan, Inc., independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.Anthem is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc.

10:07 PM • Apr 13, 2023 • 2.5M Views

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founding

i would be interested in those metrics too

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Want a medical challenge for the really smart physicians to chew on?

Reconcile the zeta potential hypothesis with fluid flow (or lack thereof) through the trabecular mesh.

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Not a passing interest?

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Is this not an advantage of the countries with socialized healthcare? Doctors don't get anything if they vaccinate. On the other hand, the Ministry or who knos who could get something.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this long essay that covered many topics and issues and had many nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout. Thank you. I consider my self one of the independent, critical thinkers that has never been a follower. I spend most of my time, alone, working on my small farm and surrounded by my animals. I’m fortunate to have lots of free time to learn, contemplate and be open to the collective consciousness in quieting the mind. Thank you again for your words.

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A friend had basal cell carcinoma, she daily used a cream made from eggplant, after three months, the cancer was gone and there was no scar. Roger McFillin a psychologist, has an excellent sub stack on the perils of psyche drugs to suppress natural emotion. He is on a mission to stop the drugging of kids with harmful SSRI's that don't cure etc...

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I find organic coconut oil to be surprisingly effective at calming down actinic keratosis and scar from squamous cell cancer excision.

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Coconut oil has so many benefits.

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What I wonder is why?

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Lauric acid, MCFA's, keytones for the brain, I like all things coconut. I even use the whipped coconut cream on apple tart instead of dairy cream.

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founding

interesting, thanks

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Love Roger McFillin’s podcast!

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If possible, would you be able to share where to purchase that cream?

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Curaderm BEC5 (available online).

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It was a long time ago, so I don't know. I do know an acquaintance who used one drop of CBD oil on her skin cancer on her forearm, she covered it with a band aid and did a fresh drop daily with a new band aid after a shower, it gradually dissolved the lesion in less than a year. She ordered gel caps, stuck a pin in the cap to extract the drop of oil. I posted as a reply to Jacob99 below a study also that corroborates that CBD oil can remove skin cancer. You can google it too. I am only telling you my observations but am not advising anyone on what to do. I think it is wise to see a dermatologist regardless even if you try the CBD oil, just to make sure you are going in the right direction. Not sure if you can order the gel caps online, I think it was called Pure Gold CBD gel caps. In California it is legal to buy them.

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founding

How did he know that it was "basal cell carcinoma ? How did he know that "cancer was gone" or it still grow under top layer of skin?

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She was going to a dermatologist who had prescribed a pharmaceutical, which she never used.

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founding

"pharmaceutical," for basal cell carcinoma? Which one? I have BCC for 30 years. I've never heard about "pharmaceutical," But my basic question and fear of using creams to remove a part of skin cancer that is visible, how do I know that it's not going to grow under skin.

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May 18·edited May 27

Look up Aldara and Effudex, topical chemo agents for skin cancer. I had a very bad reaction to Effudex and a sister of mine had an equally bad one to Aldara. I'll stick to coconut oil.

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I am not going to give you medical advice, however I also know someone who put a drop of CBD oil from gel tabs on the skin cancer, covered it with a band aid, and repeated the ritual daily, for less than a year and it dissolved. Squamous cell carcinoma is more dangerous, but if they get big, either squamous or basal cell, they can grow through the flesh into the bone. Better to deal with them when they are small. Researchers affiliated with the University of California at Riverside and with UC Davis summarized their findings. They wrote: “A woman with multiple biopsy-confirmed cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas presented with a new red plaque on her dorsal left hand. Biopsy revealed lichen simplex chronicus; however, she self-initiated treatment with topical cannabinoid oil, twice daily, and the lesion completely resolved within four weeks. Several prior biopsy-confirmed squamous cell carcinomas on her dorsal hands also completely regressed after similar treatment with topical cannabinoid oil.” The dermatologist can use cryotherapy or laser therapy to remove them. If it was myself, I would try the gel cap oil, if that didn't work, I would do cryotherapy and then go back to the cbd oil to make sure it healed. But, again I am not advising you in any way on what to do.

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May 17Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

I agree with you thoughts on choice of medical specialty.

I chose sports and exercise medicine with this in mind.

I rarely commence medications, and frequently ceased them, particularly statins.

I am able to take a gestalt view of my patients, and incorporate diet, exercise, philosophy and always attempt to "demedicalise" their problems.

I am probably Big Pharmas's worst nightmare.

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Good to know! This is the area my son is interested in and I have said it seems like a good bet because there’s less pharmacology involved.

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You are spot on.

Best wishes to your son.

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May 18Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

Like yourself, I was blessed to have several innovative and wonderful mentors in integrative medicine when I first started out and before I got either jaded, or set in my ways. These days private clinical practice is where all the important innovations are continually taking place (mainly because we stay under the radar of the orthodoxy). What is also important to note is that whenever conventional medicine practitioners get sick or a loved one does, they come searching for answers (that are often right under their noses) in integrative functional medicine, orthomolecular nutrition and eastern medicine. The inevitable success that they get from it usually (but not always) causes a change of heart and direction. All we have to do is “keep on, keeping on”. Likewise, keep this substack up, it’s always inspiring.

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: )

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I would add autism to the short list of lots of $$$ producing very little in innovative return on investment.

Not vaccinating in the first 5 years of life, or at all, would go a long ways to that problem.

This is a problem that will literally be the financial ruin of our country: see Autism tsunami.

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May 22·edited May 23

Our daughter had an inutero event that caused a brain injury. She has left hemiplegia. She is mostly, almost normal, although it has been rough at times due to some behavior issues which have gotten much better and she has mild permanent disability (no real left hand use). That said I mentioned to my husband back when the kids were young that when I was a kid I don't remember hardly any kids with serious disabilities or issues (this would have been through the 70s), now, just about every family I know has at least one kid with serious disability (mental, physical, etc).

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Autism was miniscule back in the 70s. Now it's endemic. Of course, so many issues are thrown into the 'spectrum' that it's a wonderful catch-all. Are there any real solutions? Not really, but you throw a word out there and people seem to walk away satisfied.

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Vitamin Sun is one of my favorite things. I can feel it permeating my body.

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Wouldn't you think that all of our ancestors would've been a mass of tumors with constant exposure if this were true? Lack of vit D and exercise outside is killing us slowly.

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Monopolizing healthcare is driven by medical corporations that need to control the direction of sick care to maximize profitably! Big Pharma is the elephant in the room that is ignored and has emasculate the medical professionals! RNA push is their crowning glory! As we discuss the genesis of the Covid con, they are

Moving at warp speed to codify genetics as the new form of allopathic medicine. My view!

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May 18Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

A nearby medical system/business reconfigured its definition of "network" for insurance coverage. Instead of just "in network" and "out of network" they created a third tier of basically "in network with us". Any local provider who doesn't become part of the local hospital system but still is "in network" has insurance payments reduced to just above "out of network" reimbursement. I found this out when my spouse had a CT done, not at the hospital but at a local "in network" imaging facility, and it went to the deductible when it should have been covered 100%. I paid $2000 for not going to the hospital approved imaging facility.

I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if hospital privileges and referrals were stymied for those not tying their independent practices to The Company Store (see "16 Tons").

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Born during the Great depression, We had nothing in the way of the material. However, my father was very well read and talked to me as a child. He told me things that made me think. He was into fitness, but knew very little about nutrition. Who in the thirties and forties knew much about nutrition? People just wanted food on the table. My grandmother knew somethings...no white bread or margarine. When i had an earache, I was given a hot toddy... whiskey, honey and lemon. It took away my pain. I didn't get addicted! I was a reader in my teens; and read about Sister Kenny in Australia....and how she treated polio, While i was in college, living in a dormitory. I woke up at 1 AM one morning in 1952 and my left arm was totally paralyzed. I had no desire to go to the infirmaryfor 'treatment." IMy grandmother wa a Christian Scientist who believed in prayer. I believe in prayer, too.. I went into the shower and all night long i alternated the water..first very hot and then cold; and prayed!!! At 7 AM, I could move my arm...and life came back into it. My left arm is a little weak, but I have never had another problem. In 1949, when I was 15, I was thrown from a galloping horse and went head first onto a boulder. I saw stars, but thought I am going to get back up on that horse. I put myself at one with the Power of our Maker; and thought I am perfectly alright! I got back up on the horse and went back to the stable. I had a big lump on my head, but never had a problem. I got rid of cancerous tumors twice; arthritis; colds, sore throats and other problems I faced. It didn't take any money. I simply believe in the Power of the One who created the world!

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Thank you for your comment. It really is like the cartoons when you strike your head and see stars! Like Tinkerbell shook her wand at you. My partner's stepfather was a Christian Scientist and read to my partner from the bible each night. Their church forced him to renounce Christian Science (along with a lot of other silly exertions over the congregation) but you can't unknow the power of prayer. They lived for many years on deep fried fish and chips and in his 70s the stepfather had a stroke from which he never fully recovered. It didn't stop him working the farm until his death a decade later.

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Rather timely article. I am old enough to remember when specialists were rare & the standard prescription was ‘take two aspirin & see me in the morning’. That is usually dismissed as reflective of the fact that they didn’t have a whole lot of options, but In reality it was because they knew what most everyone has forgotten, the “body” has a remarkable capacity to heal itself. As others have pointed out we do not have a health system, we have a sickness system. Just yesterday the ex deputy director of the NIH testified when asked about whether the US funded ‘gain of function’, well it all depends on what you mean by GOF. We created our own Frankenstein. The insanity around C19 showed that we are not afraid of death, we are actually afraid of life. The real tragedy of “planned obsolescence” of the best & brightest among us is that what is being manifested is the negative & self defeating. I know the elites think that AI will fill the void, but I remember the old computer saying garbage in-garbage out.

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I have a number of actinic keratoses on my face, which comes from having Nordic skin and a familial tendency to develop basal cell carcinomas. And have had eyelid reconstruction at the Wilmer clinic after one of those BCCs got out of control on my eyelid. And have had a squamous cell cancer excised from my forehead. The scar from the SCC is flaking years after the surgery and I am AFRAID to go back to the plastic surgeon.

I've been applying organic coconut oil to the keratoses and to the scar of the SCC and what do you know, it's really calmed them down. I don't know how that works but it's kept me away from doctors and I'm so happy with that.

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May 18·edited May 18Liked by A Midwestern Doctor

Experience also denied of technicians in the medical field.

I wanted to talk with the sleep technician about what I learned from the online program OSCAR which uses the memory card in an AirSense 10 and provides 14 graphs every evening with data on some of the variables to the second. I started using OSCAR and an online volunteer between the yearly visits to prescribe CPAP equipment for the next year. (See Apnea Board [ board like message board[ or My Apnea for more on OSCAR and experience of others with CPAP systems.)

Well, the technician cannot discuss the graphs. Only the DOCTOR or the PA is allowed to talk about the graphs. Since I have been with a sleep medicine practice for 13 years and they have never talked about sleep (for example when I mentioned the book "Why We Sleep" they were offended) I knew it was time to change sleep services.

I go to an independent auto mechanic. I am fascinated with his experiences and walk around the shop while he works on the car and look over his wide assortment of tools. I test my experience with his. I love to watch and talk with craftsmen.

This article says that EXPERIENCE is weeded out by the system. Neither the agency of the patient or the medical system is allowed the basic freedom of, say, what would needed to do a high school science experiment. The body is so complex that only the "expert" can interpret the signals for diagnosis and treatment.

The Covid experience has given me medical agency for the first time in my life. I am no longer taking any prescription pills because I no longer need those 4 pills.

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I always enjoy your writing, but I have to say I'm disappointed about your characterization of Martin Heemeyer. There was a man who simply wanted to work, to run his business, and bureaucracy made it impossible for him. Everyone knows the frustration of bureaucratic obstacles. Mentally ill, perhaps he was, I'm not qualified to assess. But he was certainly driven by frustration, and I can relate -

I think we perhaps could use more bulldozers, not less. How else to checkmate a belligerent, obtuse, and uncaring bureaucracy?

And then you cite Wikipedia as though they are a reliable source? My dude, come on.

I mean, it's good enough for the state - they don't mind bulldozing things they find inconvenient. As I understand, the Oklahoma bombing derailed the Clinton/Whitewater investigation permanently. And *for certain* the pentagon was struck by a missile (that was not an airplane) in exactly the offices that were auditing the missing three trillion dollars that Donald Rumsfeld told America about, just one day prior, killing the people doing the investigation, and with them, the investigation itself. And it seems also that there were some important investigations underway in WTC 7 that disappeared with the building.

There are rules of civilization, and they are a good thing. But we can see clearly that *elements* within our "leadership" do not and will not play by the same rules. How then, to interact with them?

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I initially had the exact same perception on Martin Heemeyer that you did. However, after I wanted to include him in another article as an example to prove a different point, I read up on him in more detail and realized that the way he's commonly portrayed on the internet as a folk hero was not accurate and a lot of people tried to work with him but he was extremely resistant to any reasonable compromise.

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My husband knew Marvin through the snowmobiling community in Grand Lake. From what my husband told me, and through my own experience living and working in Grand County for decades, not everyone in this community wants to work with others (though they might present themselves otherwise). I suppose this is the same as anywhere else, and there are always at least 3 sides to every story. Thank you for not demonizing Marvin.

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Wikipedia is nothing but BS

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On anything slightly controversial - yes.

But at least we can count on them to find the names of the various members of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

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So far I haven't detected any ideological biases when I look up, say, the chemsitry of fatty acids, or the role Magnesium plays in human biology. But get into the topic of certain diseases, say, Monkeypox, no wait, it's been renamed Mpox because...

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"This in turn often leads me to wonder if Brave New World was a blueprint for the social controllers, especially given how widely promoted the book was (e.g., it’s often required reading within the public school system)."

If you look into the author, Aldous Huxley, you will see that this book was not just a dystopian novel, but a summary of the plans that the ruling class were/are trying to implement told as in a story. Huxley 's family belonged to this class, with Thomas and Julian Huxley being examples of this.

A similar figure is George Orwell. This guy is revered as some sort of freedom fighter, but he was a Trotskyist that went to Spain in order to kill Spanish nationalists and catholics.

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May 18·edited May 18

i don't know about that, but at least orwell gave us a clue as to what was coming. I read (or maybe re-read) his book in 2020 as the word "orwellian" was growing legs. How did he know in 1949 - nearly 73 years ago? (his book "1984" published june 8th,1949). Most of us thought it was a bad dream back in the 1950s/60s, or at least that it would not happen in our lifetimes!! So the current scenario is a bit of a shock.

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I can't speak to the other authors or their family histories. But I've read most of Orwell's popular work. You probably are correct characterizing his politics, but I think you do him a disservice. If you read his Spanish civil war narrative (Homage to Catalonia) you will find that, like his other books, it's hardly a ringing endorsement of Left/Socialist/Communist ideologies. One of his lesser-known books (The Road to Wiggan Pier) even got him in hot water with a Socialist group he was a member of, because it had some not very nice things to say about socialism.

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