Hold The Line

Shaun Kirk

I’ve been anticipating having to write this post for a while now and dreading it, but here goes…

For a few months now I’ve been taking some time to lay low, recharge, and re-energise from all the heaviness of the past 20 months.
In that time I’ve been quietly keeping close eye on everything that’s been going on across the world, Australia, my home state of Victoria, and my beloved home city of Melbourne.
To say it’s been heartbreaking would be an understatement.
Over the past weeks, as some restrictions have eased, I’ve begun to receive emails and offers from venues and festivals to return back to the stage.
Offers that I would usually enthusiastically accept in a heartbeat.
But unfortunately, now I am not.
And here’s why…
Because, to say yes to these gigs right now would be to contradict much of what I’ve sat on stage singing about over the years.
To say yes right now would be to go against everything I stand for.
To say yes would be to participate in a system that is endorsing division in our society.
To say yes would be to succumb to the fear.
And I refuse.
I know that I will lose much needed work and opportunities in this decision, and that’s ok.
I know there will be people who are not going to agree me on this, and that’s ok.
I know that I may lose friendships and fans in this decision, and that’s ok.
That is the decision of the each individual and I will always meet that with love and respect.
But it’s a price I’m willing to pay in order to stay true to what feels right in my heart and soul.
Anything less would not only be a lie to myself, but to all of you also.
So here it is…
As hard as it is, I have personally decided that I will not be performing at any venues, events or festivals where medical passports are required, as I simply can not, and will not support such an alienating system (whether I’m jabbed or not).
I believe in a society of equal opportunity for everyone, no matter their medical choices.
Please understand that this is by no means a stand against the businesses who have been thrown in the deep end by our governments and coerced into enforcing these regulations.
I feel for you guys and understand the pressure people are feeling right now to keep food on the table.
This is a stand against our so called ‘leaders’.
Whether you want to admit it or not, history is being made right now.
And I know what side of history I want to stand on.
And whether you’re aware of it or not, there is, without a shadow of doubt, an underground movement building like never before.
I have seen it with my own two eyes.
I have stood amongst it with my own two feet.
I have felt its energy.
For weeks now I have been taking to the streets with thousands upon thousands of others.
Saturdays have become weekly festivals of peaceful protest.
People of every colour and creed are coming together to take back what is, and what has always been so rightfully theirs.
To put pressure on, and to overthrow a system that is no longer serving them or its purpose.
And it’s working.
So now it’s time to increase that pressure.
To get louder.
I call on all the artists and bands out there who have preached equality in their music and songs to put their money where their mouth is and raise your voices.
I call on anyone out there who has been feeling like an outcast of society during these times to reach out. You are not alone. I promise.
If you have your own stories of how the past 20 months have affected you and your family and want to share them, I would love to hear from you.
And if you are one of the many courageous businesses who are operating on ethics of inclusion and respect for all, and pushing back against the disgusting behaviour of our governments, my hat goes off to you, and I would love to work with you.
Enough is enough.
The goal posts have been moved too many times.
This shit has to stop.
In the name of one people.
Big love to you all.

Rediscovered Native American remedy kills poxvirus

Sarracenia purpurea

An old herbal remedy for treating smallpox that is thought to have been used by native Americans in the late 1800s has been rediscovered and found to kill the poxvirus. Smallpox has been eradicated, but the finding offers a possible treatment for poxvirus in the unlikely event of a bioterror attack or increased incidence of similar poxviruses such as monkey pox.

Smallpox ravaged human populations for thousands of years, but in 1796 Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox lesions could provide immunity to smallpox. This led to the creation of the first vaccine for a disease. It took some time, but in 1979 the World Health Organization officially declared that smallpox had been eradicated.

An extract of the pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea halted viral replication

Historical sources suggest that in the 1800s, when smallpox still posed a serious threat, the Micmac native Americans of Nova Scotia treated the disease using a botanical infusion derived from the insectivorous plant Sarracenia purpurea, a species of pitcher plant.

Now, Jeffrey Langland at Arizona State University in Tempe, US, and colleagues have conducted in vitro experiments with the herbal extract and found it inhibits replication of the variola virus, the causative agent behind smallpox.

Although, natural smallpox no longer poses a health threat, there is a remote possibility that unstable states or terrorist groups could have acquired stocks of the virus following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had developed smallpox as a biological warfare agent.

Vaccinations are still administered to at risk groups including researchers working with poxviruses and members of the US military who could potentially be exposed to the virus through biological warfare. But since the risk is so low for populations at large, it is hard to justify vaccinating everyone, particularly because the vaccine can have serious side effects. Developing therapies is therefore important in order to treat people if a bioterror event does occur.

’There is much scepticism on herbal medicine but what our results illustrate conclusively is that this herb is able to kill the virus and we can actually demonstrate how it kills the virus,’ says Langland. ’It takes this herb out of the realm of folklore, and into the area of true scientific evidence.’

The team made extracts of S. purpurea and found that it was highly effective at inhibiting the replication of the virus in rabbit kidney cells. They then looked at the replication cycle of the virus and found that the herb inhibits mRNA synthesis, halting production of proteins vital for replication. ’Other drugs are being developed against smallpox, but S. purpurea is the only known therapy that will target the virus at this point in the replication cycle,’ says Langland.

’The extract blocks early transcription appearing to have a distinct mechanism of action from that of two other antivirals currently in clinical trials,’ says Mark Buller, a virologist at Saint Louis University, Missouri, US. ’The results are very compelling, and support the need to further evaluate the purified active ingredient in small animal studies.’

’With smallpox, it is obviously impossible to see if this herb is effective in the human body unless a bioterror release of the virus occurs,’ says Langland. ’We are in the process of doing animal studies to confirm our results in at least this type of whole animal system.’

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/rediscovered-native-american-remedy-kills-poxvirus/3003420.article

Individuals Have Rights

Ayn Rand The Smallest Minority

It is the insane who say the group is everything and the individual is nothing. If we look after individuals, educate, train and upskill them, empower them, free them, then the individual is far better able to live a sane, healthy, happy and productive life. As a result we have a sane society because a society is only as strong as the individual members of it.

If we fail to educate them, or worse, fill them full of false data, disempower them, imprison them politically, economically or physically, all “for the common good”, we create a slave society that benefits only those at the top but only temporarily, as slave societies do not last.

So if you want a lasting, sane, healthy, happy and free society, look after your fellow man as best you can. Teach him he has rights, inalienable rights, and help preserve those rights from the encroachment of evil.

Gibraltar, the most vaccinated region on Earth, cancels Christmas amid COVID19 spike

Most Vaccintaed

In the latest case of “safe and effective”, the most vaccinated region in the world, where virtually the entire population has not only received both of the so-called COVID vaccinations, but the third booster shot as well, Gibraltar has cancelled Christmas.

The government of the essentially 100% vaccinated region (plus 100% booster shots) has called upon the public to “exercise their own judgement”, they have “strongly” advised against any social events for at least the next four weeks, discouraging people from holding private Christmas events.

https://offgridsurvival.com/gibraltar-the-most-vaccinated-region-on-earth-cancels-christmas-amid-covid19-spike/

We Live To Help

In Crown Heights, there was a Jew, Yankel, who owned a bakery. He survived the camps. He once said, “You know why it is that I’m alive today? I was a kid, just a teenager at the time. We were on the train, in a boxcar, being taken to Auschwitz. Night came and it was freezing, deathly cold, in that boxcar. The Germans would leave the cars on the side of the tracks overnight, sometimes for days on end without any food, and of course, no blankets to keep us warm,” he said. “Sitting next to me was an older Jew – this beloved elderly Jew – from my hometown I recognized, but I had never seen him like this. He was shivering from head to toe, and looked terrible. So I wrapped my arms around him and began rubbing him, to warm him up. I rubbed his arms, his legs, his face, his neck. I begged him to hang on. All night long; I kept the man warm this way. I was tired, I was freezing cold myself, my fingers were numb, but I didn’t stop rubbing the heat on to this man’s body. Hours and hours went by this way. Finally, night passed, morning came, and the sun began to shine. There was some warmth in the cabin, and then I looked around the car to see some of the other Jews in the car. To my horror, all I could see were frozen bodies, and all I could hear was a deathly silence.

Nobody else in that cabin made it through the night – they died from the frost. Only two people survived: the old man and me… The old man survived because somebody kept him warm; I survived because I was warming somebody else.”

Let me tell you the secret of Judaism. When you warm other people’s hearts, you remain warm yourself. When you seek to support, encourage and inspire others; then you discover support, encouragement and inspiration in your own life as well. That, my friends, is “Judaism 101”.

(Tom: I would expand that beyond Judaism to say on a level more basic than any religious conviction, that we all exist to help. For each person whose basic purpose I have helped them identify was a sub-division or specialisation of the desire to help, aligned with their personality and talents.)