Off The Beaten Track

WMBRIGGS.COM -- Until April 2020, WHO COVID-19 guidelines stated that "[c]loth (e.g. cotton or gauze) masks are not recommended under any circumstance." This was updated in June 2020 to state "the widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not yet supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence." But why do surgeons wear them? A paper in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England studied that question and here's the entire abstract: "No masks were worn in one operating theatre for 6 months. There was no increase in the incidence of wound infection." No difference after thousands of operations compared. Viruses which are lighter and much smaller than bacteria, so go through and around masks much easier, but even bacteria from maskless surgeons aren't causing infections ...

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BROWNSTONE.ORG -- Here are 10 papers (of more than 150) that describe the ineffectiveness of masks and mask mandates, and 14 papers on the harms and potential harms of masks. ~~ New England Journal Of Medicine: "We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection.... It is also clear that masks serve symbolic roles. Masks are talismans that may help increase health care workers' perceived sense of safety." ~~ Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health paper on NIH website: "No evidence was identified that examined a potential role for surgical face masks in protecting staff from infectious material encountered in the operating room" ~~ Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews ...

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AEI.ORG -- Today is the 52nd Earth Day. Here are 18 spectacularly wrong scientific predictions made around the first Earth Day in 1970. Harvard's George Wald predicted that, if immediate action is not taken, "civilization will end" by 1985 to 2000. In January 1970, Life reported "scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence that in a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution ... and, by 1985, air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half." Scientific American published predictions that lead, zinc, tin, gold, and silver would run out before 1990. Kenneth Watt predicted that, by 2000, the world will be about "11 degrees colder," about double needed for an Ice Age. Barry Commoner predicted ...

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CEI.ORG -- None of the apocalyptic predictions made with due dates, since the 1960s, have come true ~~ Stanford population biologist in 1967: 'Dire famine by 1975' and in 1970: 'America subject to water rationing by 1974 and food rationing by 1980.' ~~ NCAR scientist in 1970: 'Ice age by 2000' ~~ International team of scientists in 1978: 'No End in Sight to 30-Year Cooling Trend' ~~ UN in 1989: 'Rising seas to obliterate nations by 2000' ~~ Director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in 1989: 'New York City's West Side Highway underwater by 2019' ~~ US Defence Chiefs in 2004: 'Britain to have Siberian climate by 2020' ~~ Al Gore in 2008: 'Ice-free Arctic by 2013' ~~ Nature in 2013: 'Arctic ice-free by 2015' ...

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AREOMAGAZINE.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2014: "Too often, as the world grows more complex, the temptation for some is to shield themselves from complexity, we seek the comfort of our own simplicities, our own specialities.... Progress is possible when complex issues are subjected to competent, intelligent, nuanced and sophisticated analysis, free from dogmatism."] ARTICLE: Critical Social Justice (CSJ) does not see reality the way the rest of us do. Many of its tenets are bizarre, blatantly false and cartoonish oversimplifications of reality. CSJ scholars and activists believe they have a much more sophisticated understanding of social justice issues than the average person. They do not. CSJ is based on two big falsehoods that perpetuate the idea that CSJ is fundamentally about goodness. CSJ is rooted in postmodern ideas that science, evidence and reason are tools of oppression and these are merely white, male, Western cultural traditions. By rejecting science, evidence and reason, CSJ cannot be falsified. This is a very neat theory and ...

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CLIMATEREALISM.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2007: "A wise observer once said, it's not so much what we don't know that hurts us, but also all those things that we are sure we know -- but which are just not so."] ARTICLE: The Economist recently claimed climate change is harming coffee and tea production in East Africa; Kenya in particular. This is false. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) tracks crop production and, according to their data, coffee production in East Africa has increased by 57% and tea production by 97% between 2000 and 2020, reportedly the warmest on record. What is true of East Africa, is true for most countries, regions, and the Earth as a whole. Worldwide, FAO data shows coffee production has regularly set records over the past 20 years. Rather than report these facts, The Economist chose to take anecdotal evidence from a single person or group's experience, and extrapolate it into a ...

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[H/T MOHIB EBRAHIM] -- FAITHWIRE.COM -- For devout Catholic Mark Wahlberg, "Father Stu" seems to mark the start of a new chapter in his life, one less focused on worldly success and more on leaving a legacy of faith. Wahlberg was struck by Stuart Long's story and credits God as the reason it translated so well into a movie. The film touches on a host of issues, from finding purpose in suffering and trusting God with the unknown to practicing humility and leaving space for redemption -- a neglected practice in today's culture which Wahlberg believes could benefit from more grace and forgiveness. Wahlberg said part of why cancel culture is so toxic is it causes people to "lose hope and have no faith. People are so quick to turn their backs ...

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ACADEMYOFIDEAS.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2014: "As I look around me, my deep sense is that today the strongest human force, sadly, is fear. [This] might be seen as just my personal view, but more and more people are sharing it.... The actual process of replacing fear with hope rests with every individual in his or her society." ~~ Hazar Imam, 2007: "We must infuse our students with [a] spirit of adventure."] ARTICLE: In his book, "A Philosophy of Fear," Svendsen notes "We seem to be obsessed with every conceivable danger. Fear has become a basic characteristic of our entire culture." In the past, fear was counterbalanced by hope and courage, which was celebrated so individuals were daring in the face of risks and the unknown. That courage, hope, and optimism that kept fear in check before is all but lost and, today, many of us live lives consumed by fear. Until the last half of the 20th century, it was common sense that many risks, motivations by noble enterprises or a spirit of adventure, were worth taking and required for developing character or achieving greatness. Now the risk-taker is often castigated as foolish and ...

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OFF-GUARDIAN.ORG -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: While we normally do not post on political matters, we are posting on the situation in Ukraine because it is an invaluable case study about Big Tech and Western media.] ARTICLE: In the mainstream media coverage Russia's intervention in Ukraine, much attention has been paid to the "Ukrainian Resistance." This romanticised, Hollywood-style PR makeover of the Ukrainian military by the corporate media lies in stark contrast to their coverage of Ansar Allah, more commonly known as the Houthis, currently waging an armed resistance against Western-allied Saudi Arabia's seven-year long war and blockade on neighbouring Yemen -- leading to mass-starvation in what is already the most impoverished country on the Arabian Peninsula. For example, after airstrikes against a key Saudi oil refinery in Jeddah, contrast the noticeable absence of articles by the Western media celebrating the Yemeni resistance success against the might of Riyadh, with their coverage of "Ukraine's Resistance" and Russia. To understand this contrasting approach ...

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NATIONALPOST.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2006: "Our goal, then, is not to provide special education for a privileged elite -- but to provide an exceptional education for the truly exceptional."] ARTICLE: Most educators strive to further student excellence. Absurdly, the Vancouver School Board is doing the opposite. Under what has now become the idolatrous trinity of diversity, inclusion and equity, the school board has chopped classes for those who are gifted in mathematics and science. They chopped the honours English program five years ago. The children of other nations, particularly poorer nations, are not shunting their brightest and best off to some sidecar of mediocrity. They appreciate talent; they applaud excellence. The school board is also cutting all sports programs and competitions. They will also end all coaching for students who show special skills at hockey, track and field, wrestling and ping pong. "Sports competitions are ... deeply at variance with equity and inclusion goals." said one staff member. I wonder ...

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INDEPENDENT.ORG -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2005: "The reality is that not all students are created equal intellectually."] ARTICLE: The proposed California Math Framework states "We reject ideas of natural gifts and talents." It repeatedly recommends teachers use the troubling document, "A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction" which states that (a) forthrightly addressing students' mistakes, (b) a focus on "getting the right answer," (c) requiring students "show their work" and (d) grading them on demonstrated knowledge are all indicators of "white supremacy in the mathematics classroom." The manual also says that "the concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false" and that "upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuates 'objectivity.' " The framework rejects preparing students for Algebra I in 8th grade. Students in Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan master Algebra I in 8th grade or even ...

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THEEPOCHTIMES.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2016: "Often, we find it easier to define our identity by what we are against, than by what we are for."] ARTICLE: Cancel culture penalises anyone with views not approved by the left. Now, it's targeting the whole of Russia and all things Russian. Besides America, Western countries are all getting into the game. One of the world's great chess players was banned because he supports the Russian president, people, and army. If India invaded Pakistan -- rightly or wrongly -- 99% of Indians will support the Indian prime minister, people and army. An international cat federation has banned Russian cats and a global tree festival has banned a tree planted almost two centuries ago by a great Russian writer. There is something comic in all this. Will all this virtue signalling really make Putin change his mind? Why should the Russian people ...

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THESTAR.COM -- Following the 2019 [pre-pandemic] release of Ontario provincial test scores, the Toronto District School Board can't explain why most math results are dropping. Across Ontario only 58% (down from 63% and 71%, 4 and 9 years earlier) of 3rd graders are performing at or above provincial standards. And just 48% (down from 50% and 61%, 4 and 9 years earlier) of 6th graders are performing at or above provincial standards. In Toronto, the largest school board in Canada with 246,000 students, 3rd and 6th graders are doing worse than the provincial average. Only 61% of 3rd graders and 53% of 6th graders are meeting standards. At the Toronto Catholic District School Board, just 58% of 3rd graders and 44% of 6th graders met standards. In Peel District ...

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ZEROHEDGE.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2007: "The path to meritocracy in leadership is meritocracy in education."] ARTICLE: In 2021 there's an outright holy war against scholastic achievement. Oregon passed a bill that says high school students don't need be able to read, write, and do math to graduate, even though the latest Rasmussen survey finds that 81% of American adults oppose such laws and only 12% favor them. Mathematics, we are told, should be replaced by "social justice" mathematics, in which there are no correct answers and, in English, students should not be judged on the quality of their writing. Recruitment of future scientists and science teachers and researchers should no longer be based on achievement, merit, and potential, but on "diversity, equity, and inclusion." Opinion polling shows that a supermajority of Americans, including every racial minority group, oppose ...

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THEEPOCHTIMES.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 1978: "Some might say that our academic systems [in Aga Khan schools] are a little old-fashioned. Yes, we believe in examinations."] ARTICLE: California State University, the largest public university system in the United States, said it will no longer use entrance exams in undergraduate admissions. ACT criticized the move, arguing that it is more likely to harm than help students, especially those of underrepresented demographics who depend on standardized test scores to showcase their academic achievements. "Abandoning objective assessments, like the ACT test, introduces greater subjectivity and uncertainty into the admissions process," ACT said in a statement. "Solving the prevailing education inequities requires focus on root causes, rather than dismissing the tools that substantially improve our understanding of them," the company added. Both Cal State and UC administrators suspended ...

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DAILYWIRE.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: While we normally do not post on political matters, we are posting on the situation in Ukraine because it is an invaluable case study about Big Tech and Western media.] ARTICLE: "Hi there, I'm writing from The New York Times," an email from the reporter to Candace Owens started. "We note that you advanced the idea that Ukraine was a corrupt country, which matched comments we've seen from Russian state media," it continued. "I'm very confused by this email," Owens responded. "I educated myself about both the neo-Nazi problem in Ukraine and the unyielding corruption by reading your newspaper, not Russian state media. You guys have covered the corruption in Ukraine extensively. Here is a piece from the NYT Editorial Board titled, 'Ukraine's Unyielding Corruption.' Here are some more past articles written from reputable sources over the past few years about the corruption and neo-Nazi problem in Ukraine," Owens wrote. She also provided screengrabs ...

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BMJ.COM -- BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: The British Medical Journal (BMJ) is, arguably, one of the world's top three medical journals.] ARTICLE: Evidence based medicine depends on reliable data from clinical trials, most of which are conducted by the pharmaceutical industry and reported in the names of senior academics. Previously confidential industry documents have provided insight to the degree that industry sponsored clinical trials are misrepresented. Until this problem is corrected, evidence based medicine will remain an illusion. Medicine is dominated by a few very large pharmaceutical companies which suppress negative trial results, fail to report adverse events, and do not share raw data with the academic research community. Regulators receive funding from industry and use industry funded and performed trials to approve drugs, without in most cases seeing the raw data. In essence, drug companies "mark their own homework" rather than ...

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RT.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam's 1996 remark, against stereotyping individuals by group identities, is even more relevant today given societal trends over the past decade: "Is there not something intellectually uncouth about those who choose to perceive one billion people of any faith as a standardised mass?"] ARTICLE: Ordinary people in Russia and Ukraine shouldn't be blamed for the conflict, Paulo Coelho has said. The world-famous author of "The Alchemist" said the "Ukraine crisis" has become a "convenient excuse for Russophobia." Russian nationals living abroad have faced widespread abuse since Moscow decided to send troops into its neighboring country. Among other things, victims spoke about Russian kids brawling with their Norwegian classmates, a Russian woman being denied service at a restaurant in New Zealand and world famous musicians Valery Gergiev and Anna Netrebko losing their jobs in Germany. The trend took some ridiculous forms like Russian cats and dogs being barred from taking part in exhibitions abroad. Coelho also ...

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RT.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: While we normally do not post on political matters, we are posting on the situation in Ukraine because it is an invaluable case study about Big Tech and Western media.] ARTICLE: When is "hate speech" not hate speech? When it's directed against the approved targets, of course -- at least according to Facebook, which altered its guidelines to allow calls for violence against Russians in certain countries. "We have temporarily made allowances for political expression for violent speech such as 'death to the Russian invaders'," a spokesman confirmed after Reuters cited internal emails. Would Meta create this exception for, say, Syria, Iran, Iraq, or Libya to allow calls for violence against Americans? Of course not. How about in Yemen, against the Saudis or Emiratis mercilessly bombing and occupying parts of the country since 2015? Not a chance. But hating Russians? That's not just allowed, it's encouraged -- one might even say expected. It's a remarkable coincidence ...

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LEARNINGS.SUBSTACK.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 1989: "Knowledge is constantly changing, must ever be challenged and extended." ~~ Hazar Imam, 2003: "The true test [of education] is the ability of students and graduates to engage with what they do not know and to work out a solution."] ARTICLE: In 2019, the WSJ asked senior economists for their 12 month interest rate predictions. And boy, did they turn out to be wrong. All predicted rising rates but rates fell. Although experts are often wrong, we treat their knowledge, when it's outside our fields, as sacrosanct. This is called Gell-Mann Amnesia effect: we can spot flaws in an "expert's" report related to our fields but, when it comes to another field, we treat those "experts" as gurus. Institutions do the same, large ones more so than small ones. Large institutions always an "expert" to which individuals will outsource their thinking. However, it is just as important to try and figure things out for yourself. And if an expert's prediction doesn't make sense to you, ...

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RT.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: While we normally do not post on political matters, we are posting on the situation in Ukraine because it is an invaluable case study about Western media.] ARTICLE: Putin was right, Stoltenberg was wrong: NATO "brazenly deceived" Russia about expansion. A newly discovered British document confirms NATO pledged not to expand eastward towards Russia, proving Moscow right, a top German weekly discovers. The document are the minutes of a March 6, 1991 meeting between political directors of the foreign ministries of the US, UK, France, and Germany. "We had made it clear during the 2+4 negotiations that we would not extend NATO beyond the Elbe [sic]," said West German diplomat Juergen Hrobog. "We could not therefore offer Poland and others membership in NATO." NATO admitted Poland, Hungary, and Czechia in March 1999, just before launching an air war against Yugoslavia without the permission of the UN Security Council. This put NATO directly on the Russian border for the first time ever. The next round of expansion, in 2004, included Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, placing NATO's eastern frontier just ...

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MAAJIDNAWAZ.SUBSTACK.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: While we normally do not post on political matters, we are posting on the situation in Ukraine because it is an invaluable case study about Western media.] ARTICLE: NATO promised Russia it would not expand Eastwards, however this BBC map depicts NATO's eastward expansion since 1997. It explains why Russian felt threatened by the 2014, Western backed, bloody Maidan uprising that led to a Ukraine regime change and Ukraine's touted and potential NATO membership. This was a red line for Russia. In the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, America feared Soviet nuclear missiles placed 103 miles from the US border. We have now returned to similar tensions, but in reverse. Then there's the eight year war in Donbas, which you would be forgiven for not knowing about due to a media blackout. Perhaps they were ashamed that we directly funded and armed the Azov who were, after all, documented by the UN as having committing war-crimes and atrocities. With this background, and context, it is now possible to understand Russia's interests in Ukraine, and how to ...

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MIDDLEEASTEYE.NET -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 1996: "For centuries, the press has cast itself as the champion of understanding and enlightenment. And yet, even as the press has become more international, it has often left a trail of misunderstanding in its wake." ~~ Hazar Imam: 2015: "Is that message clear? You listen to people you don't like!"] ARTICLE: The double standards are glaring and everywhere. Suddenly it's sexy to make improvised explosives. Western journalists' support for Ukraine's civilian "resistance" must be maddening to Palestinians in tiny Gaza, confined to a cage by a military occupier for decades. Russia's intervention in Ukraine has gotten much more coverage, in just 24 hours, than the US-Saudi war on Yemen in 7 years despite 377,000 dead. In the midst of this rampant, often unhinged western war propaganda, especially from the BBC, the British state broadcaster, Europe has banned Russia's state broadcaster, RT. Obviously RT's editorial line is generally sympathetic to Moscow's positions, just as the BBC's is generally sympathetic to Britain's positions. But the problem for western audiences is not exposure to Russian state propaganda, it is constant exposure to relentless western state propaganda. We need voices from Russia to understand what Putin thinks and wants, not what the BBC's "chief international correspondents" think he wants. And most of all we need ...

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ARCHIVE.VN -- William Clark, a high school senior of mixed race, is suing a taxpayer-funded charter school in Nevada over the "coercive, ideological indoctrination" arising from a new, so-called, civics curriculum which "inserted consciousness raising and conditioning exercises under the banner of 'Intersectionality' and 'Critical Race Theory.' ... They require pupils to 'unlearn' and 'fight back' against 'oppressive' structures allegedly implicit in their family arrangements, religious beliefs and practices [all of which are] subject to non-private interrogation." Clark was directed "in class to 'unlearn' the basic Judeo-Christian principles [his mother] imparted to him." The school repeatedly threatened him "with material harm including a failing grade and non-graduation if he failed to comply with their requirements." The school principal told Mrs. Clark "that the theoretical basis of the revamped course is known as 'intersectionality,' ...

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REASON.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2006: "Governments alone cannot meet the educational challenges of the 21st century. Nor can private institutions ... The answer lies in the expanding role of voluntary institutions ... dedicated to community values and the public good."] ARTICLE: 18.DEC.2020 -- Insisting that "the push to reopen schools is rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny," the Chicago Teachers Union is fighting plans to return children to the city's public school classrooms. With similar battles playing out around the country, many families are heading for the exits. Public school enrollment is down in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Mississippi, and elsewhere. Homeschooling, however, is booming. In 2016 3.3% of children were homeschooled. That share roughly tripled this year to 9%. Gallup agrees. Families are leaving politicized lessons behind and the world they're creating is more diverse in terms of its ideas and better suited to the needs of parents and children. That shift is likely to permanently transform American education ...

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WASHINGTONPOST.COM -- 2.DEC.2020 -- Whenever someone expressed concerns about the quality of remote education back in the early days of COVID-19, they were all but shamed into silence. Well here's how remote education has worked out since then: In Houston, the number of students with failing grades is exploding. In St. Paul, almost 50% of high school students will fail a class. In Fairfax County -- one of the wealthiest counties in the United States -- 10% failed at least two classes, and almost 20% of children with disabilities. All children need to get back to school but here the news is not good. In New York some elementary-school children are back, but the doors remain firmly shut to sixth graders and higher. Other major urban districts such as ...

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BREITBART.COM -- Queen Elizabeth II has hailed the "quiet, indomitable spirit" of her people through the coronavirus pandemic and described the importance of her Christian faith in her annual Christmas message to the British Commonwealth. "For Christians, Jesus is the light of the world, but we can't celebrate his birth today in quite the usual way," said the 94-year-old monarch, a devout Protestant. She lamented that people have been unable to come together as normal for many religious festivals, including "Passover, Easter, and Eid and Vaisakhi." "We continue to be inspired by the kindness of strangers and draw comfort that - even on the darkest nights - there is hope in the new dawn," she continued. "Jesus touched on this with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The man ...

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