Flee, fight or freeze In the natural world, there are two kinds of responses to imminent threats: either flee or fight. Most of the time, in order to maximize chances of survival, the decision has to be made by individuals or groups in less than a split second. On one hand, the option to flee […]
In any scientific field, censorship sooner or later must yield to the truth, because without it there can be no scientific progress. As it happens, a June 2020 article that detailed the challenges to be met in designing an anti-COVID-19 vaccine also turned out to be a damning exposé of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as being […]
If the English-language press had done its job, and not parroted press releases that promote vaccination as the only escape from the social isolation we’ve endured the last three months, the public would be asking many questions about the ongoing protests and their relation to the logistics of vaccine trials. To test a vaccine, typically […]
On the menu: tornado with COVID-19 on the side Since I started News Junkie Post, eleven years ago, I have, as a rule, avoided the first person narrative. In my mind, there is a simple reason for an aversion for the “me, myself, and I” type of storytelling so widespread in our culture. The first […]
As drug makers prepare to make a killing on supposed vaccines against COVID-19, it is important, particularly for those who consider vaccines to be a wise investment today, or those whose retirement savings might get invested in such vaccines without their knowledge, to reflect on the fact that corporations are themselves viruses that can only […]
Ever since the lockdown began, friends have time and again asked me the same question. How am I managing my life in the lockdown? Well, for a writer like me, mid-afternoon solitude is nothing new. Solitude has become my second nature. Moreover writing and reading are essentially solitary affairs. Even in the past, I used […]
This is a partial transcript of an interview of Gilbert Mercier with Kollibri Terre Sonnenblum, host of Radio Free Sunroot, on May 5, 2020. The following excerpt was transcribed by Kollibri. Kollibri: We’re at a point now with this pandemic where capitalism is facing a crisis, perhaps an existential crisis. Gilbert: To me, this is […]
In one of the greatest scientific understatements since Watson and Crick wrote, “it has not escaped our notice…” in their famous 1953 paper on the double-helical structure of DNA, the authors of a January 2020 paper concluded: “our findings suggest unconventional evolution of 2019-nCoV that warrants further investigation.” The authors of the more recent paper […]
Suffering in numbers The abstract science of mathematics is a language like music. But while music is in the realm of pure emotion, the language of mathematics only speaks to the mind not the heart. Numbers and equations do not lie. They are not, by essence, subjective. This being said, when the numbers are those […]
The Logic of Profit over People Let us not be naive. If President Trump recently called on his adoring followers to “liberate” states like Michigan, Virginia, Maryland and Minnesota, which all happen to have Democrat governors, this is not about freeing people from the supposed tyranny of lockdown and social distancing measures. What the gun […]
