Is There A Hydroxychloroquine Conspiracy?

Given that it has been touted by right wing populist politicians, was there a conspiracy supporting the far right's "undying trust" of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID 19?

By: Ringo Bones

Brazilian strongman President Jair Bolsonaro recently used it after recently registering positive for COVID 19 and US President Donald Trump and his far right inner circle – like former NY City Mayor Rudi Giuliani – had been promoting it as an effective cure for the coronavirus. Originally for malaria and lupus, hydroxychloroquine was originally shortlisted by the Solidarity Trial – an international clinical trial launched by the WHO and other partners to help find an effective treatment for COVID 19. It was hoped that one or more treatments under trial, including hydroxychloroquine, will result in improving clinical outcomes in COVID 19 patients and save lives. But hydroxychloroquine trials were eventually stopped as of June 17, 2020 as evidence showed it did not result in the reduction of mortality of hospitalized COVID 19 patients when compared with standard care. Given that it has been proven to do nothing against COVID 19, why is it that some people – especially those in the far right populist wing – still insist that hydroxychloroquine is the only effective cure against COVID 19?

Conspiracy theories tend to be grounded in unusual coincidences or misunderstood science and they use highly emotional language to appeal to others. In a time when public mistrust is at an all-time low, it is important to counter false information with clear, high-quality evidence. Although not a conspiracy theory, the hype around hydroychloroquine started in March 14, 2020 when a Google Word document was circulated on Twitter touting the potential use of repurposing the old anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible COVID 19 cure. The document claimed to be written in consultation with prestigious medical schools and scientific institutions and by March 16 it had gone viral on Twitter. Unfortunately, it was only realized much later that the author of the document was actually a blockchain investor, who had inaccurately claimed to write it in consultation with medical schools and scientists.

The global hype around hydroxychloroquine had already been set in motion before the first clinical study testing it on COVID 19 patients was even published on March 17, 2020 with the study only finding a 50-percent improvement in the extremely small sample size of 14 patients with COVID 19 taking hydroxychloroquine alone. These authors have now been criticized for not randomly assigning patients to treatment groups, their small sample size and lack of a control group to compare with the treatment group with, meaning that the positive results could easily have occurred by chance.

However, by March 19, 2020 – US President Donald Trump, in conjunction with former NYC Mayor Rudi Giuliani, were promoting the potential of the drug at press conferences, incorrectly stating it had already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the COVID 19 virus. The FDA then had to release a statement cautioning people against using the drug off label. Later, when President Trump stated that he was taking a two week course of hydroxychloroquine, despite any evidence showing it could prevent COVID 19, there was widespread concern from healthcare professionals about the dangerous example this could set. A recent study confirmed a huge surge in hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine prescription fills – likely due to off label prescriptions for COVID 19.

Since then, hospitals now have to deal with the additional burden of treating people poisoning themselves after taking the drug, with one man fatally poisoning himself with a fish tank cleaning additive made with the same active ingredient as chloroquine. The bias towards this drug is even derailing clinical trials of other closely related COVID 19 treatment regimens. While studies done within cell dishes in labs show that both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine can inhibit the virus, as with any medicine while studies in humans tend to be much more inconsistent. The largest study of the drug was published in The Lancet on May 22, 2020 stating that the drug increased the risk of death in hospitalized COVID 19 patients. This paper has now been famously retracted because of serious concerns about the verification of the data sources, study design and analysis used. While the verdict on hydroxychloroquine is far from clear, now is not the time for anyone to be taking this drug off label.

5G Coronavirus Conspiracy: More Dangerous Than COVID 19 Itself?

Given that the belief is straight out off Trump’s climate change denial playbook, does the belief that 5G causes COVID 19 more dangerous than the pandemic itself?

By: Ringo Bones

The dismissal of the pandemic as a hoax and questioning of scientific experts is straight out of President Trump’s, and other right-wing populist demagogue’s, playbook of climate change denial that got them elected in the first place. The 5G theory about radio waves transmitting or activating the virus, for example, is a reworking of long running conspiracy fears about mind control experiments, subliminal messaging and supposed United States military weapons projects that has since been a staple of Hollywood’s TV and movie industry way before the runaway mid 1990s success of The X-Files. Add to that an utter lack of how science works of most of Trump’s supporters and it is no longer a mystery that the belief that 5G internet networks causes and spreads the COVID 19 virus is very popular in the United States.

The 5G coronavirus conspiracy theories are particularly challenging to debunk by normal educated people with a working grasp of science – never mind tenured government scientists - because they bring together people from very different parts from the political spectrum. On the other hand, they attract the far-right Trump supporters who see them as part of a technological assault by big government and the “rich liberal elite” on the freedom of individuals. On the other, they appeal to the well established “anti-vaxxer community” who are often allied with those distrustful of Big Pharma. Getting COVID 19 from 5G internet networks is probably like someone getting smallpox from lighting a 1950s era flashlight into their face.

Is Robbie Williams a Secret Trump Supporter?

Despite being debunked for four years, does former Take That member Robbie Williams’ belief that the Pizzagate conspiracy is real make him a “secret Trump supporter”?

By: Ringo Bones

In the wake of the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter protest brought about by the application of excessive force during the arrest of George Floyd, admitting publicly that you subscribe to debunked bizarre conspiracy theories put forth by white supremacist could be tantamount to saying publicly that you are an unabashed Holocaust Denier. Sadly, former member of a popular 1990s era boy band Take That, Robbie Williams, just recently did that in a recent interview.

The 46-year-old sat down for an interview with journalist Anna Brees, and in a teaser clip from the second part of the interview, the Rock DJ singer appears to question the validity of a conspiracy theory alleging that several high-ranking members of the U.S. Democratic Party and U.S. restaurants were involved in an alleged human trafficking and child sex ring. That theory was widely debunked during the 2016 US Presidential Election following an investigation by the New York Times and the fact-checking website Snopes. Although various American far-right and white supremacists groups still believe to this very day that the Pizzagate Conspiracy is real and proof that – according to them – the US Democratic Party are composed of sex deviants, while denying President Trump’s association with convicted billionaire-paedophile - the late Jeffrey Epstein.

As well as the Pizzagate Conspiracy Theory being debunked by a number of investigative journalists, no alleged victims came forward and no physical evidence supporting the theory was ever found. Sadly, it caused the defeat of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential Election that resulted in subjecting America into over three years of social trauma that culminated in the COVID 19 response mismanagement and the systemic racism of US law enforcement that resulted in the resurgent Black Lives Matter protests.

Donald J. Trump and The Novel Coronavirus Conspiracy

Given that President Trump rallied his base in a South Carolina rally to treat the novel coronavirus as a “hoax”, is there a so-called Trump Coronavirus Conspiracy?

By: Ringo Bones

Back in February 28, 2020 – during one of his so-called reelection rallies – President Trump tried to cast the global outbreak of the coronavirus as a “liberal conspiracy” intended to undermine his first term, lumping it alongside impeachment and the Mueller investigation. Trump also downplayed the coronavirus threat, - saying against expert opinion - that it was on par with the garden variety flu. Even President Trump loyalists like Fox News host Jesse Walters claims that Chinese people eating raw bat-meat is the very reason why the coronavirus was able to spread really fast. Given the “batshit-crazy” claims stated by trump’s base, does this lead credence to the existence of a so-called “Trump Coronavirus Conspiracy”?

There are rumors abound on the internet that a certain Russian Pro-Putin Neo-Nazi online forum site has cast blame on the novel coronvirus spread on President Trump and Blackwater CEO Erik Prince that goes the two had underwritten a crack team of mercenaries to salvage a weaponized form of a coronavirus variant from an abandoned bioweapons lab in the middle of the Siberian tundra and then released it somewhere in the Russia-China border back in August 2019 which , to me, is as batshit crazy as a Trump loyalist blaming the Chinese for eating raw bat-meat for the rapid coronavirus spread. Even President Trump had recently joked about Hillary Clinton’s e-mails caused the rapid coronavirus spread.

The basic question in the investigation of any crime – or in this case, conspiracy – follows the Latin dictum,” cui bono” which roughly means: “Who benefits from the enterprise?” and given how Trump’s brain works, only sends the so-called “conspiracy investigator buff” into the rabbit-hole of confusion. I mean given that President Trump is a noted germophobe, since 2018 on average, the Trump Administration had been slashing the annual budgets of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services by almost 15-percent on an annual basis since 2018 – which is really a weird thing for a noted germophobe to do, right?

Did President Trump Ordered The Assassination of Jeffrey Epstein?

The “conspiracy” behind the story reeks of the JFK assassination, but did US President Trump actually ordered the “taking out” of alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein?

By: Ringo Bones

Any criminology and law student knows that the investigation of any crime follows the Latin dictum – cui bono – which roughly means: “Who benefits from the enterprise?” Unfortunately, despite of his “sexy conspiracy theories” being spread on Twitter since the August 10, 2019 suicide in prison by alleged sex trafficker of underage girls Jeffrey Epstein, it seems that President Trump stands the most to lose if the investigation behind Epstein’s crime gets underway. Former US President Bill Clinton’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein post 9/11 seems circumstantial and only makes Clinton a distant third on having the most to lose in the wake of an Epstein sex trafficking investigation. Prince Andrew is more likely to be the most to lose and British Intelligence may be the primary suspect for some given the “007” looks like an accident execution of Epstein while in custody. But if Oliver Stone where the Attorney General of the United States, it seems like President Trump is the most likely suspect.

From hiring thugs to harass President Trump’s former mistress – the pornstar Stormy Daniels, to the threading of the 13 year old girl allegedly raped by Donald Trump back in 1995, it seems that taking out Jeffrey Epstein is not out of the question given what Trump has done before when it comes to these matters. Is President Trump responsible for the death of Jeffrey Epstein? Maybe it is too soon to tell – yet.

Frightened to death by the dreadful prospect of being exposed as a “statutory rapist”, it seems that President Trump has the most to lose when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein spilling his guts out when it comes to the details of the alleged sex trafficker’s exploits during the past 40 years. Well, at least Trump’s base seems satisfied that the current POTUS is using former US President Bill Clinton as his conspiracy scapegoat and punching bag on Twitter.

Are Filipino Facebook Content Moderators Compromised?

Rumors are abound online, but are Filipino Facebook content moderators actually bribed to remove content critical to Vladimir Putin, the Beijing Communist Party and Pres. Rodrigo Duterte from Facebook?

By: Ringo Bones 

I first heard it back in Friday, February 2, 2018 that a whistleblower had acquired proof that Filipino Facebook content moderators had been receiving bribes from various entities to advance their respective political ends by removing Facebook posts critical of them. Even though someone from the BBC had taken the story seriously but is still awaiting verification on the authenticity of the material – which means it could be a big story two weeks from now. But is there any truth to the story that Filipino Facebook content moderators are taking bribes? 

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook started to hire additional personnel in the form of “content moderators” back in 2014 to control the tide of “propaganda posts” by the so-called Islamic State that showcased beheadings of western NGOs, charity workers and journalists caught up in their violent and bloody empire building in the wake of the Syrian civil war. It is not just “gruesome beheadings” that these so-called moderators block from being posted on Facebook. These also include inappropriate posts of pornographic nature – i.e. the so-called “dick pics” and their ilk. But since the so-called Islamic State is now in the wan, many of this so-called “Facebook Content Moderators” have branched out to do other tasks - sadly, they have the power to declare whichever of your posts is “spam” at their own discretion if they are not caught by their superiors.

Filipino Facebook Content Moderators are typically paid around 24,000 pesos a month – around 376 UK pounds (quid) or a little over 500 US dollars – which is twice that the typical salary of a public school teacher here in the Philippines. Rumors started to circulate around the middle of last year after one of the moderators who is actually working for Amnesty International infiltrated the center after it was found out that there are Filipino Facebook content moderators who are paid by the Kremlin with up to 10,000 US dollars if they block video posts on Facebook that are taken by Amnesty International operatives in Syria that show Russian troops and planes loyal to Bashar Al Assad committing war crimes. 

American and European non-government organizations and charity groups critical of the current Philippine president who recently compared himself to Adolf Hitler – i.e. Rodrigo Duterte – on his handling of the Philippines’ so-called drug problem got their Facebook pages either blocked or made “unvisitable” in the Philippines. Should there be an ethics committee serving as an oversight on Filipino Facebook Content Moderators?

Does U.S. First Lady Melania Trump Have a Body Double?

Despite fizzling out after over 100,000 retweets, does the conspiracy theory that U.S. First Lady Melania Trump has a body double really hold water?

By: Ringo Bones

Although the conspiracy theory that deranged gunman John Hinckley, Jr. managed to successfully assassinate then U.S. President Ronald Reagan back in March 30, 1981 and was replaced by a body double had lasted far longer than this, but when it first came out, the rumor that U.S. First Lady Melania Trump has a body double managed to gain an aura of truthiness that many had actually believed it. But true or not, what are the advantages of having a body double of the current U.S. First Lady that is virtually indistinguishable from the real one?

Given that the “real” Melania Trump is not a native American English speaker, a body double with a better command of the language while being able to fake a convincing Monrovian accent offers a huge advantage during important political functions. Given that women that looked like the current U.S. First Lady are not that difficult to find, I’m probably not the only one that Melania Trump really has an actual body double – only the on duty U.S. Secret Service detail know for sure. The “alternate” First Lady probably betrays herself when her interaction with President Trump is less than awkward.