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Donna in MO's avatar

I used to listen to Ben's show on the radio, but bailed on that due to his frequent mention of his virtue signaling jab. I still love his Right Side of History book, he is a really smart guy who clearly saw the Narrative, slow march to totalitarianism/communism and the book is very well researched. And yet he plainly says he based the decision on what the GOVERNMENT and PHARMA companies were saying?! Pretty amazing.

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John Cougar Misanthrope's avatar

Great comment, Donna.

As someone of average intellect, I am stunned by all of the 'great minds' - i.e. Musk, Shapiro, Malone, Kirsch - who ran out to participate in a minimal information experiment and are now voicing regret. Musk had a reaction to his second(!) booster? Admittedly, I am grateful for all of these people who have awakened and are speaking out, yet the level of submission is still mind-blowing.

Perhaps the whole concept of "intelligence" should be gauged by a single "yes" or "no" question involving a scenario where a pandemic is contrived to push a product that makes billions for companies and affiliated bureaucrats and you are being pushed by mass media and politicians to participate no questions asked? Do you participate?

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barbara ford's avatar

Well, i am dumb and slow, and the combination saved me from the jab. When the poison first came out i trusted the govm’t—-dumb. But i did not want to wait in the ridiculous lines so i put it off…next, i thought i’d get the j n j, but then the clot news about it came out so, no…finally pinned my hopes on novavax, that it would be a safe option, but….nah, they were all toxic and fronted by a bunch of liars who got real rich real quick. Dumb and slow—-and God’s perfect timing—-not enough words to express my gratitude to how He worked it out.

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Karen Bandy's avatar

Not dumb and slow, perhaps some hidden intuition turned you into a procrastinator 😉 thank goodness.

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Bugs's avatar

Same! Those lines for waiting were ridiculously long! Drat. ;-)

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Emily 🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼's avatar

You made me smile at this - thank you Barbara ❤️

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Donna in MO's avatar

I suppose the word 'intellect' is another one of those words that faces redefinition in these crazy times. The human brain is really the 'final frontier' as experts are truly baffled as to what goes on between our ears. Well, not sure about the experts, but it baffles me. My genius level IQ nephew got the jabs, despite my sister and her hubby (who are also very smart, both have masters in engineering and MBA's) begging him not to, but he is an adult, nothing they could do. His reason? His job required it and it was just easier to be able to go places. Didn't want to bother with religious exemption, despite being a practicing Catholic and voted for Trump twice. (so not a snowflake) Thankful he has had no ill effects to date, but baffles me that he laughed at the covid precautions as a joke but rolled up his sleeve for the shot. His is just one example of my re-evaluation of what it means to be 'smart'.

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deb's avatar

Growing up, my family would always differentiate between “book smart” and “street smart” (or common sense). Obviously, I wish I had both, but I have no complaints about common sense--especially after these last couple years.

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Nikki (Gayle) Nicholson's avatar

Donna, that was priceless "final frontier", & intelligence, lol, so sorry about your extended family. My closest friends got the jab, so that they wouldn't feel guilty around their older jabbed friends. Thought it would stop transmission. I explained it was a virus of sometype, and they always mutate.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Oh yes, I was called 'selfish' by many, including my own mom. I suspect social pressure and shaming played a big role in many people's decision. But I am stubborn, the more I got yelled at, the more I dug my heels in. It was also around this time that the video about 'mass formation psychosis' was making the rounds, and it was all I needed to convince myself I had done the right thing and that despite zero medical background, that my understanding of the risks was sound.

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Johnny-O's avatar

Was just reading a survey. Booster uptake is only about 18% for adults in the US. 3/4 of this people said they did it to protect others, meaning they still believe the lie that it stops or helps to stop transmission

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Donna in MO's avatar

I subscribe to a lot of industry newsletters as I do business planning research for a living. Don't have time to read them all, but peruse the headlines unless I have an active project in that sector. This one piqued my interest and clicked on it, curious as to what the 'the narrative' is up to. What struck me was the article photo: it clearly says "vaccine for the prevention of covid 19" - no idea if this is what the actual bottle says, but laughed at the total 'truth in advertising' fail. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/cdc-recommends-no-change-vaccination-practice-after-possible-safety-concern-flagged-pfizer

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Freebird's avatar

Donna, ditto for my genius level granddaughter getting the jab. She’s a chemical engineering grad from A&M…so the girl knows some science…and yet. 😢

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LS Woodruff's avatar

Our son was still trying to finish his Photonics Engineering degree (think lasers, more of a science) and he was beyond frustrated at the idiocy within his department at UCF. Labs being done remotely? Seriously! He did find a few brave souls in his graduating class, but most just went along with the propaganda being pushed all around but the masked fools in faculty and administration. He kept saying that his discipline requires ‘real, physical data and metrics’ yet so many were mindlessly going along with the narrative. It was amazingly awful to watch, and he got very, very jaded about higher education by the whole debacle!

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Janice P - Words Beyond Me's avatar

Donna, are you the Donna following my Blessed is the Nation page on fb? Just curious. 😀

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Donna in MO's avatar

Yes, although I don't remember how I found it, and of course FB never shows me any posts., they constantly annoy me with what they don't show me. But I looked, and yes, I did like that page.....

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Janice P - Words Beyond Me's avatar

It annoys me too! I never see Jeff’s posts in my feed. I have to go look for them.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Yes every once in a while I will go look for his post and then like and comment in the hopes of making the algorithm change, but no doubt he is shadow banned. Same on my personal page. Personal posts get plenty of likes and comments, while political ones never see the light of day. It's why I spend a lot more time on substack.

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Janice P - Words Beyond Me's avatar

I was off of Facebook for almost two years, and now I’m remembering one of the reasons it’s dumb. 😬

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Freebird's avatar

Facebook has basically become mindless drivel. It’s a little like Pinterest with a few personal pictures thrown in. Substack is the place to be for information. Like you, I never see Jeff’s posts. They have him shadow banned to the point of invisibility.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Oh but it is front and center in the culture wars. For our local elections, most candidates just have a FB page and don't even have websites, or if they do the websites are minimal. But lots and lots of commentary. Several local political groups have groups on there and that is where most info is shared as well. It's a necessary evil where I am if you want to stay in the loop. The latest is lefty school board candidates posting pictures of themselves in pro-abortion t-shirts and shaming conservatives for wanting to ban porn in the school libraries. Have to get on the conservative candidate pages and defend them from the trolls that descend like locusts on their pages.

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Janice P - Words Beyond Me's avatar

Yep, I mainly just share my writing there and pray that whoever needs to see it does.

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Freebird's avatar

I certainly don’t include your writings in the mindless drivel!! You’re my absolute favorite among the devotional writers that I follow. I just meant that Facebook hardly allows anything with political content or truth. I follow several pages that are simply about decorating (like Pinterest) and I get suggestions for more of them. Those, and ads seem to be what Facebook aims for in the way of content- nothing controversial or informative certainly. I would’ve given it up long ago except for the occasional post from friends that I rarely see, but love to keep up with - and the meaningful posts from friends like you! ❤️

The main thing that irritates me on FB are the silly games people play…like if your name was a song, what would it be? I think there’s probably some type of scam going on with those with data collection of some sort. And I usually think, what’s the point of that? Many of them are an appeal to vanity.

I actually have a better appreciation of Pinterest because I have a great recipe board saved!

But I’m so sorry if my dislike of Facebook seemed to overflow onto your beautiful work Janice!

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Janice P - Words Beyond Me's avatar

No, of course not! Thank you for your encouragement…and for Jeff’s chat group here. 😬

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SadieJay's avatar

I seriously do not think for a minute Malone or Musk got the same juice the rest of the peasants were forced to take to get "papers" to travel. I call hard BS on both. But, what better way to conjure up "I am with you, buddy." than to have your possibly forged papers in perfect order. I don't pretend to know what is going on, but with Malone I think people have Stockholm Syndrome. He invented the thing, portends no profits off it, knows the danger and gets jabbed anyway? Yes, the dead chickens are starting to smell.

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Gaye's avatar

Malone actually did have a very serious blood pressure spike which I believe occurred after his second shot. Honestly, when I heard him on a video say over a year ago that he and his wife had taken it to travel, I was appalled. No special knowledge was required to avoid this; ALL anyone needed to know was HOW TO IDENTIFY LIARS. That. Was. All.

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IR's avatar

Malone didn’t invent the vaccine. He invented the mRNA platform for genetic therapy ( co-inventor I believe). He said he wanted to be a genetic therapist and to help kids with genetic disorders. I think the dangers were not known at first( never was used in humans) but they did test anti- SARS vaccine on animals in the past ( non mRNA I believe) Animals had high antibodies but developed pulmonary immunopathology on challenge with the SARS virus. You’d think one could make an inference that it may not be good for humans. Sometimes I do think things don’t end up, you really don’t need to be a rocket scientist to not take novel drugs because of the precautionary principle, especially that it became known early on that most healthy people are not at risk of a severe disease but I think Malone said he was at risk due to his health. Many people were hesitant but still took it.

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SadieJay's avatar

I do know he didn't invent the vaccine, just the method. And, by THE THING, I meant the mRNA, which is soon going to be shooting out of streetlights, by the way they tell it. Haha...funny, not funny.

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Raphael's avatar

Well didn't this therapy fall under the Is biological weapons treaty, That the US may or may not have ratified. I have heard both.

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Nikki (Gayle) Nicholson's avatar

lol, dead chickens starting to smell. lol

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Based Florida Man's avatar

Very plausible. The batches were highly controlled.

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Freebird's avatar

Ejsmith, as someone of average intellect, I’ve observed that very intelligent people often make bad choices. I maintain that this choice was often predicated, not upon an intellectual basis, but an experiential basis. Ie..do you trust the medical establishment, and/or the government to know what’s best for YOU? Absolutely not. I didn’t have to be especially intelligent to say no to the vaccine. I learned long ago that our medical system is far from perfect, in fact it’s not even very good. And now we know that it’s corrupt as well.

However some very bright, highly educated people blindly trust those whom they perceive to be “scientists”, or experts in their field.

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Anthony's avatar

Indeed. They think since they are so good at their field and are an expert that other "experts" must be as thorough as them. In fact, I've worked with very intelligent people who also seem to think everyone else is just like them and don't understand it when they make choices different from them.

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HUMDEEDEE's avatar

Of course they do. They consider themselves, and in fact are, part of the "Expert" tribe.

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Politico Phil's avatar

Right. Also, I've observed that some like Malone are so into their science that they are literally naive about anything outside of their work. IE, not street smart.

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RunningLogic's avatar

I have observed this as well.

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Paula's avatar

I’m a member of two IRBs, one of which reviews many clinical trials, and the members have lengthy discussions about informed consent and the need to be honest with trial participants. Many of these people are highly credentialed specialist doctors or scientists as well. Yes every single person on both boards - apart from myself - is at least double-jabbed! And recently, a colleague told me that she always wears a mask whenever she goes out (especially on any form of mass transit ‘because I studied micro-biology’! Words fail me…

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SB's avatar

Wow.

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RJ Rambler's avatar

Now you're smarter than a genius! And I'm smart too! 🤓🧠👩‍🎓🎓🏅

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Based Florida Man's avatar

And the reward for being in this club? No vaxidents or suddenlies!

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Bugs's avatar

And we missed last year's "winter of death" that Brandon was selling... Everyone in Florida should be dead by now, right?

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SB's avatar

Smart and common sense are 2 different things.

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Irunthis1's avatar

I think Elon is pretending to be one of the rubes. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to get a second booster let alone the first original.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Interesting....he is one of those I am not sure I trust, but I am getting a kick out of his tweets (and the liberal heads exploding response).

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Harold Saive's avatar

Jab or no Jab, Elon's "propaganda" is enormously helpful at saving lives.

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Harold Saive's avatar

A predictive comment by Elon Musk, the genius of NEURALINK brain enhancement, responding to his recent vaccine injury - "I dunno" - https://tinyurl.com/3waa2wzu

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Raphael's avatar

Their answer to the human mind problem is neuralink instead of addressing the Psychological issues, The link is gonna be epic failure.

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RunningLogic's avatar

Yes!!! I have the same thoughts and questions. Well said.

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🌱Nard🙏's avatar

Proud to be part of the average intellect crowd...however, your comment seems to point to one of above-average intellect ;). You may need to find another crowd.

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HUMDEEDEE's avatar

And the spin on these celebs admissions will be..."but look, they aren't suffering from or being done in by these so-claimed adverse reactions. Nobody I know, including myself, has had any side effects. Stop being histrionic, covid-denier!"

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Nikki (Gayle) Nicholson's avatar

I agree with you 100% yes or no for intelligence. Way to simple. They like to complicate everything, with intelligence and science. lol

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Politico Phil's avatar

You know, I wouldn't put it past Musk to say that even if he wasn't jabbed. He would do that just to bait them. Sometimes he is too smart.

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Tory's avatar

I think he is smart and appreciates the principles of free market enterprise in our country. Like many foreigners, they see opportunity. He is clever… but it appears mostly independent. Don’t you appreciate the humor? Libs/Marxist have none.

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Dee's avatar

stated on Twitter that he originally got the J&J shot, then had to get 2 mRNA shots because it was required for him to go to his Tesla plant overseas, I think in Germany.

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Sunnydaze's avatar

In my opinion he is not worth listening to. He sold out, I think. Anyone supposedly as smart as he is and supposedly clearly saw the narrative, but still took it and pushed it isn’t worthy to be listened to. Let’s see his bank account. I bet there’s traces of govt money rubbing up against his “journalist” money and multiplying.

The DW (even Candace Owens - and I like her) are now spending their time doing stories on hollywood 🙄 and whether or not a 24 year old musician should be dating a 51 year old woman. Really? That’s their focus now? Pppfffttt. Throw them into the garbage can with all the others. Sellouts. Controlled opposition? They sure are bending to the will of big tech and govt. If they weren’t wouldnt they be banned off fakebook and all the others rather than being promoted by them? Critical thinking skills tell me if fakebook is promoting you, you just might be in their back pocket. 😒

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Granny Annie's avatar

Yes, I have been very disappointed in Candace Owens lately. All she talks about anymore is celebrity fluff. Who the hell cares? Not me. She is wasting her talent. JMHO

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Iron Horsey's avatar

She rose from obscurity and was making millions on FB I heard and now is doing her "job" at DW whatever that means. Blasted Crowder who released a private phone call over a proposed slavery contract that would have paid him $12 million annually.

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Lon Guyland's avatar

It’s the lure of easy money. They’re putting on a show for profit.

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Swedecelt's avatar

Sunnydaze have you listened to "A Shot in the Dark" on Parler by Candace? She is totally honest and has excellent information on all the "safe and effective" childhood vaccines. She never got the Covid vaccine and does not vaccinate her children. Yes, she responds to the newest media "thing", like Prince Harry and his book, etc, and she also covers much more in her show on the Daily Wire. I do not know what the company parameters are, but she seems to pick things that are important to her to cover and some of them are entertainment type things...and that should be allowed correct? Because, free speech and everything. I know she hit Balenciaga HARD about the child porn stuff and she never backs down from what she believes in. I have a membership at Daily Wire and that is the only way you can truly see everything they present. Some stuff I just don't care, and some things are well done, and some, like Ben Shapiro pushing the vax, make me cringe. Perhaps we all need to pick and choose based on what is relevant to us at that moment in time.

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Sunnydaze's avatar

Ya I like Candace Owens and she does a lot to expose stuff. I will not pay for DW but I see enough to know without paying for their content. And the big public feud regarding Crowder and the millions of dollars going on is shameful. At least Crowder exposed them and what would’ve led to them censoring his content. Which makes me put two and two together that big tech is pulling the DW strings. So no, Shapiro for many reasons is not worth listening to as I personally think he is paid off to appear one way but leans the other way and pushes their agenda. Follow the money as always.

I don’t waste my time on the hollyweird stuff. I was simply making a comment that it is beneath CO to waste her time on such dribble. But, that is her choice just like it’s my choice not to waste my time on it.

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Swedecelt's avatar

Agreed... i’m so sad that Ben Shapiro went the way of the rinos!

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LuAnne's avatar

The DW (Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles, etc) and Steven Crowder are currently in a a very public war. Public and very unattractive mudslinging from both sides. The simple gist is that Crowder is furious with DW because their contract proposal to him was $12M per year versus the $15M per year he wants. So yes...it's all about the money.

I've grown tired of all of them.

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Freebird's avatar

LuAnne, are you familiar with Jason Whitlock? He has a hilarious piece today comparing the DW and other media personalities to Game of Thrones characters. You’d have to know GOT to appreciate it, but its pretty insightful, and funny!

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Tory's avatar

Jason is always funny and spot on! Very sharp

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Myriam's avatar

What is DW? I don’t watch television.

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LuAnne's avatar

DW is the Daily Wire. They're a news/entertainment company that claims to be geared to conservatives. They're only on social media such as fb, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

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Myriam's avatar

Thank you. Junk news for the most part. I have read some of their content. Need to get up to speed on all alphabet things! 😂🤣😂🤣

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Swedecelt's avatar

LuAnne I am a Daily Wire member and I had not heard anything about Steven Crowder and this situation. I went on to look and see if I could find any information. The CEO, Jeremy Boring has a response to Steven Crowder about his accusations, and it is an hour long and he addresses the contract, as well as showing all corroborating evidence. Daily Wire offered Steven 50 million dollars over 4 years, and he counter offered asking for 120 million. The Daily Wire said regretfully we cannot afford that much money. Evidently that made him angry and he made his video accusation. It sounds like he really took it personally. He has lots of support out there and I am sure he will do great as an independent; it does not seem that the Daily Wire treated him badly though.

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Iron Horsey's avatar

Pfister and the government had a lot of people on the payroll, a lot. Never trusted that guy because he reeked of GOPe establishment controlled opposition. Think you're correct you'll see government deposits in the bank accounts of some of those DW folks.

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Carole's avatar

All we know is what we have been told.

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Copernicus's avatar

Yeah, the numbers of people who are generally skeptical of government, yet went right along WITH government on this has been astounding and perplexing.

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Jeff C's avatar

Unfortunately Shapiro is one of those people who repeats what he's told without critical thought. If he judges the person trustworthy, then he repeats the thought as his own without having thought it through himself. It's a lazy habit of the young, who haven't been burned enough in life, and think they are smarter than they really are.

Shapiro's wife is a doctor. I'm willing to bet she came home parroting AMA talking points and he lapped them up. What's even worse is that he's now claiming victim status (they lied to us!!) when his unthinking promotion of the jab likely led to many taking it. Has there been an apology? Perhaps but I've not heard it.

Maybe he'll grow up and gain some wisdom (along with some gray hair) but until that happens he is not to be trusted at face value.

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OnTheJump's avatar

Mind boggling to see, as well as the extent to which people will cling to their beliefs that the govt. is their for us, and only cares about the "greater good".

I'm.......... baffled.

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Lon Guyland's avatar

Almost makes you think his books and radio show are cynical pandering -- he talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Well I am not sure about his intentions, although I do think he makes a boatload of $$ off of his company, and from when I listened, a lot of young callers that he has helped to red-pill, so I give him credit for that, but also makes his jab promotion all the more insidious and wrong. But I am coming around to thinking that way too many of the so called conservative voices out there are indeed about pushing a product and profiting off of promoting anger vs promoting action and solutions. How many of these talking heads are actually DOING something about the things they are talking about? Not many, but this is why I love Jeff and C&C. Yes, talking about it, but also DOING SOMETHING!!!

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Anthony's avatar

From what I can tell the only one is Matt Walsh.

But you're right in general. This was the issue I had with Rush. Sure, he spread the message, but he did nothing with that influence.

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Tory's avatar

Matt Walsh is “ doing something “, “Charlie Kirk”. Moms for Liberty are taking off about parents and school curriculums. Can’t keep up. But tomorrow is March for Life. We have “doers” .

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RunningLogic's avatar

I 100% agree about the “doing something”, I find those pundits who just like to talk and analyze and pontificate, but never have any proposals about what to actually DO about it all, of very limited interest. They’re generally preaching to the choir and although I guess they help disseminate information to some extent, I’ve found that I generally know things long before most of them start talking about them.

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nt's avatar

Smarts and wisdom, clearly two totally different things .

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RunningLogic's avatar

Exactly. Discernment is not the same as book smarts and the ability to understand complex abstract concepts.

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nt's avatar

Yes! And I would add to that , "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." 🙌

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Freebird's avatar

Amen. Wisdom is what many intelligent people are lacking - the spiritual element which only comes from God. They may be ever so smart, but make poor choices and arrive at wrong conclusions because their decisions are based on human understanding without discerning the Truth. They don’t know God.

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nt's avatar

If I could triple heart this I would !!! 👆 perfectly said !!!

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Jeff C's avatar

Amen. Wisdom comes from learning from one's mistakes which takes life experience and humility.

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Uncle Juan's avatar

I think Shapiro is controlled opposition.

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Sheryl's avatar

I did the same.

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Michelle.'s avatar

Same for me. He was strongly promoting the jabs on his podcast long after it was painfully obvious they had failed at best and were causing mass death at worst. I unsubscribed and never listened again.

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