Columns

Column #264

Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse or psychological manipulation whereby a person or entity manipulates an individual, or the citizens of an entire country, with the goal of making the victims question their own sanity, memory, perception, judgment, or sense of reality. It’s done by distorting the truth repeatedly with denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation which sow seeds of confusion, doubt, and eventually even changes perceptions of right and wrong.¹

Column #263

From all over the world thousands of scientists are studying how and why Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) influence human health. There is considerable agreement that Omega-3 EFAs are not only essential for life, but they also play a very important role in immunity.

I’ve provided many peer-reviewed reports that explain the benefits of Omega-3. Some are more than 20 years old and they underscore just how many years this critical information has been around. But to this day it’s mostly ignored or misunderstood by the masses and even medical doctors. Since it doesn’t seem to catch on, some people may be thinking that the Omega-3 story is just another worn out marketing gimmick and it’s time to move on. They couldn’t be more mistaken.

Column #262

Back in 1969 I purchased my first horse. His given name was Big Red and he was named appropriately. I always just called him Big. He was green broke when I got him and it took quite some time to straighten both of us out. Over the many years we were together we had some really interesting adventures.

Big had a mind of his own, but he was usually on his best behavior when in the mountains. Together we traveled wilderness trails, crossed swift mountain rivers, and plowed through snow packed mountain hillsides. In 1974, when following a game trial in the Wallowa Whiteman National Forest in NE Oregon, the ride turned into an adventure of the highest sort.

Column #261

It’s an uncomfortable feeling when one’s fundamental premises forming his worldview are revealed as inadequate or simply wrong. When it happens to bureaucrats, career politicians, educators, and even medical professionals too often they end up struggling against the truth and doubling down.¹

People who are sheltered from competing in the free market are more likely to defy new realities. If misguided businessmen or underperforming employees don’t make a profit, they are eventually forced out of business. This is why entrepreneurs and nonunion workers are considered to be natural risk takers because they do not seek positions that promise the greatest security. That’s why when bureaucrats make decisions that impact those of us in the private sector, quite often they do not understand our objections or motives.

Column #261

Herding cattle is an art. It’s not like what you see in the movies with all the yelling, lariat slapping, fancy riding, and bawling cattle. Probably the greatest stockman of them all is Bud Williams who died in 2012. He did a lot of his work on foot and got cattle to move where he wanted them with little visible effort. His approach depends on understanding how cattle respond to stimuli and how a stockman must position himself in order to take advantage of the cattle’s natural instincts. When practiced properly it works like magic as the cattle “respond” to commands they don’t hear.^{1 2}

Edward Snowden is a former Central Intelligence Agency employee and subcontractor who turned whistleblower. He famously copied and leaked highly classified information from the US National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013. In interviews with the Guardian newspaper he reported that the NSA was collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans.³

Column #260

Shutdowns are not a cure for COVID-19. Immunity is the cure. A person’s natural immunity is made stronger or weaker by their lifestyle. Many factors are involved in addition to the diet. But one of the most powerful markers for the health of the immune system is the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs). Ratios exceeding 4:1 are associated with autoimmune diseases of all kinds and chronic diseases generally. Most Americans have ratios well above that level. Since those two fatty acid families are essential, only food choices determine the ratio.^{1 2 3 4}

Column #259

Our government’s “honorable” (that’s what it calls them) bureaucrats in their unified wisdom have sentenced Americans to another five years of slow death. Collectively, these people who are in charge of our nation’s official nutritional guidance are either ignorant or evil. This may sound like hyperbole, as if I was a member of the hyperventilating MSM, but hear me out and then you tell me what they are.

Nearly everyone my age has heard about former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address. In it he warned us about the Military-Industrial Complex—a term he coined. Amongst many things he said: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”¹

Column #258

Would you lend an ear to this woman who is a science journalist, author, and the Executive Director of The Nutrition Coalition, a nonprofit group that promotes evidence-based nutrition policy? She attended Yale and Stanford where she studied biology and majored in American Studies and then earned a master’s degree from Oxford University. Later she served as associate director of the Center for Globalization and Sustainable Development at Columbia University. She was an on-air reporter for National Public Radio based in Washington, D.C. and originally she was a vegetarian of 25+ years from Berkeley, CA. Really, is there anything she can add to the discussion?

Column #257

Kevin Stock, DDS spent nine months writing a report about protein. Maybe you remember him from my “Meet the Carnivores” column 15 months ago. He is one of those “meat only” eaters. Most folks would consider him a whacked out nutcase because he’s nearly as whacked out as I am. But, he might be onto something.¹

Like many “health nut” Internet bloggers, both of us are scientifically bent. But we differ from the majority because Kevin eats meat exclusively and I market grass-fed and Omega-3 meat and eat it too. Since most Americans have been programmed to think meat is unhealthy for mankind and the planet, we’re both looked down upon as if we’re drug dealers, politicians, con artists, or whacked out nutcases.

Column #256

In his 1933 inaugural speech Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror…”

For decades I’ve been a student of history both prehistoric and recorded. I’ve always found it fascinating and quite often out of step with common knowledge. When it comes to recorded history, it’s also eerie how it repeats itself. A little more than 50 years ago I read a book that contained many examples where whole populations went “off the page.” It was “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” a book Charles Mackay wrote in 1841. If you haven’t read it, you should get it now and read it.¹