THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
April 5, 2020
www.theparacast.com
UFO Researcher and Religious Scholar David Halperin Discusses Intimate Aliens on The Paracast
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes. Flash! For a limited time you can save up to 40% on your subscription. So act now! Check out Introducing The Paracast+ — Five Years and Growing! « The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio for more details about The Paracast+.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Randall present UFO researcher and religious scholar David Halperin, with a major focus on one of his books, “Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO (Spiritual Phenomena).” According to David, UFOs are a myth, but myths are real. The power and fascination of the UFO has nothing to do with space travel or life on other planets. It’s about us, our longings and terrors, and especially the greatest terror of all: the end of our existence. This is a book about UFOs that goes beyond believing in them or debunking them and to a fresh understanding of what they tell us about ourselves as individuals, as a culture, and as a species. Oh and by the way, Gene makes a cameo appearance in David’s book.
J. Randall Murphy's Ufology Society International: Ufology Society International (USI) - Explore the UFO Phenomenon
David Halperin's Site: David Halperin
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on April 5: Gene and Randall present shop talk on current events, the novel coronavirus and the possibility that some or all UFOs may be traced to our collective unconscious. In other words, mass dreams of some sort? But how does that explain reports of possible physical effects? In addition to common sense advice on dealing with a worldwide pandemic, your humble hosts wonder why ET, if it cares about our well being, doesn't do anything significant to deal with such catastrophes. Or perhaps they are waiting for humans to learn how to work together first before getting involved in our affairs.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Check out our new YouTube channel at: The Official Paracast Channel
The Pandemic In Perspective
By J Randall Murphy
It's like the flu. It's not like the flu. Wear a mask. Don't wear a mask. It's a global conspiracy of the Elite. It's a bio-weapon. It's natural. It's punishment from God. It's Satan's doing. It's a prelude to alien invasion. None of these claims are entirely correct, except for the last one (of course), and even then I'm only kidding.
I make a point of saying I'm only kidding because in a recent interview on The Paracast with Sarah Scoles, author of “They Are Already Here, UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers,” we touched on the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic and I made the tongue-in-cheek remark that they want everyone indoors because they don't want anyone outside when the spaceships come down. The reaction was silence.
Yes, I'm a believer in alien visitation, but until then I never considered the possibility that I would be seen as so far out on the fringe that people couldn't tell whether or not I was being serious. It was a sobering moment. That few seconds of dead air felt like an eternity. Since then, the pandemic has continued to dominate every genre of world news. In this newsletter I offer some objective analysis that I hope will help to bring some issues into focus.
To clear-up the issue of whether or not COVID-19 is like the flu: The answer depends on the context of the question. To do that we first need to understand what COVID-19 actually is. The term "COVID-19" is simply a label. The acronym stands for Coronavirus Disease 2019. The term "flu" is a contraction of the word "influenza", which is also a label. Both labels refer to viruses that cause disease, and these diseases have several things in common.
The common factors are that COVID-19 and flu viruses both multiply in largely the same way, which is by hijacking our body's cells and turning them into virus factories, and they both have symptoms that can be virtually identical. Therefore it's reasonable to conclude that COVID-19 is indeed like the flu. However in the context of what we tend to think of as the "seasonal flu,” it is very different.
The COVID-19 virus is called SARS-CoV-2, which stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus. The “dash 2” suffix refers to this virus being what is called a sister to the prototype human and bat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-CoVs). It is the third documented spillover of an animal coronavirus to humans in two decades that has resulted in a major epidemic, or in this case, a pandemic.
In contrast, the seasonal flu is not only caused by a completely different virus, it is a disease that has been common in humans for many years, for which vaccines have been developed, and which epidemiologists have a relatively large amount of experience with. Although flu viruses mutate, making old vaccines ineffective, and are responsible for many deaths each year, they are not a wild card like SARS-CoV-2.
COVID-19 therefore adds to the existing load on healthcare systems, and its symptoms, although in many cases, no worse than the common flu, are also at least as deadly, and frighteningly awful. One patient posted a tearful video of her experience reporting that every breath made her feel like she was going to die because it was like breathing broken glass. Indeed, many people have already died, and the pandemic is far from over.
Given the above, we don't need any conspiracy theories to make the COVID-19 situation any worse. There is presently no cure or vaccine available to the public. Some trials have been done, but there is not enough time to be sure whether or not they are safe and effective, and even if they were, there is too little time to manufacture and distribute it.
The full force of the first wave of the pandemic is nearly upon us, and our only defense against it is a healthy immune system and the reduction of transmission. That is why we see the emphasis on physical distancing, quarantines, and sanitization. On this level, we all must do our part to reduce the spread of the disease in order to save lives.
That being said, the focus of action has been on the epidemiology of COVID-19. This strategy may be leaving the world vulnerable to other problems that could lead to as many or more deaths over the long-term. It could also result in an increase in exploitation by various factions, including governments and opportunists ( both legal & illegal ) to steal not only property and wealth, but also our individual rights and freedoms. To my knowledge, there are no models that plot the possible outcomes of all these factors.
Recently, here in Canada, the Province of Ontario rolled out some rather vague models that extrapolate the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths that might be expected based on the strictness of whatever measures are put in place to battle the disease. These numbers look like they're assuming a 2% mortality rate, but we're not told exactly where that number is coming from. It certainly doesn't represent deaths by age or other risk factors, and curiously, the mortality rate they used drops with "Stricter Measures.” What stricter measures could lead to a reduction in the mortality rate?
In other words, of 1,000 people who are already infected with COVID 19, the assumption is that a random 20 of them will die of the disease. What possible "stricter measures" could be put in place to prevent that? There are no cures, and after infection, a vaccine wouldn't help anyway. Quarantining them wouldn't make any difference. Masks wouldn't make any difference. Shipping them off to an iceberg in the Arctic Ocean wouldn't make any difference. The only difference is to convey the message that "stricter measures" save lives. But in relation to this statistic, that is nothing but a fear tactic. What will save lives are rational measures, not stricter measures.
To this end, a more holistic approach is required. The models should include the number of people whose health is affected by the consequences of the economic shutdown, such as poverty-related illness and deaths. For example, Columbia University estimated that 4.5% of U.S. deaths are attributable to poverty. 245,000 deaths in the United States in the year 2000 were attributable to low levels of education.
Throwing mass numbers of the global population into a state of abject poverty could make the cure worse than the disease. Fortunately, massive economic relief programs are in the works; three of them have already been approved by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the President, so somebody someplace has had the foresight to look beyond the COVID-19 alone. Similar programs are being put in place in Canada.
Maybe it's only because brighter things look even brighter against the backdrop of darker skies, but there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Every day I find myself increasingly grateful for the positives. If the aliens watching the Earth have been waiting for us to show some signs of unity before inducting us into the galactic federation, there is no better time in Earth's history that I can think of where it must look like our global civilization has come together to battle a common cause instead of each other. The skies are bluer. The water is clearer. The air is fresher. Some species in nature are already showing signs of a rebound.
On the news program 60 Minutes, environmentalist and human rights investigator Steven Galster called COVID-19 "Mother Nature’s revenge". He's been campaigning for years against Asia's wet markets, which is where COVID-19 is believed to have made the jump from animals to humans. Wet markets are awful places where wild animals, some endangered, are confined in cages awaiting slaughter and sale as food or supplements that are believed to have special but entirely unproven health benefits. This animal trade and slaughter needs to be shut down permanently. If not, Mother Nature's revenge will not end with this pandemic.
For more information about COVID-19, visit The Paracast Community Forums where we've started a COVID-19 News thread dedicated to posting the most objective information available. Among other things, learn how China's government knew there was an impending pandemic, and could have prevented 95% of the spread, but chose not to disclose the truth.
Copyright 1999-2020 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
April 5, 2020
www.theparacast.com
UFO Researcher and Religious Scholar David Halperin Discusses Intimate Aliens on The Paracast
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes. Flash! For a limited time you can save up to 40% on your subscription. So act now! Check out Introducing The Paracast+ — Five Years and Growing! « The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio for more details about The Paracast+.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Randall present UFO researcher and religious scholar David Halperin, with a major focus on one of his books, “Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO (Spiritual Phenomena).” According to David, UFOs are a myth, but myths are real. The power and fascination of the UFO has nothing to do with space travel or life on other planets. It’s about us, our longings and terrors, and especially the greatest terror of all: the end of our existence. This is a book about UFOs that goes beyond believing in them or debunking them and to a fresh understanding of what they tell us about ourselves as individuals, as a culture, and as a species. Oh and by the way, Gene makes a cameo appearance in David’s book.
J. Randall Murphy's Ufology Society International: Ufology Society International (USI) - Explore the UFO Phenomenon
David Halperin's Site: David Halperin
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on April 5: Gene and Randall present shop talk on current events, the novel coronavirus and the possibility that some or all UFOs may be traced to our collective unconscious. In other words, mass dreams of some sort? But how does that explain reports of possible physical effects? In addition to common sense advice on dealing with a worldwide pandemic, your humble hosts wonder why ET, if it cares about our well being, doesn't do anything significant to deal with such catastrophes. Or perhaps they are waiting for humans to learn how to work together first before getting involved in our affairs.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Check out our new YouTube channel at: The Official Paracast Channel
The Pandemic In Perspective
By J Randall Murphy
It's like the flu. It's not like the flu. Wear a mask. Don't wear a mask. It's a global conspiracy of the Elite. It's a bio-weapon. It's natural. It's punishment from God. It's Satan's doing. It's a prelude to alien invasion. None of these claims are entirely correct, except for the last one (of course), and even then I'm only kidding.
I make a point of saying I'm only kidding because in a recent interview on The Paracast with Sarah Scoles, author of “They Are Already Here, UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers,” we touched on the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic and I made the tongue-in-cheek remark that they want everyone indoors because they don't want anyone outside when the spaceships come down. The reaction was silence.
Yes, I'm a believer in alien visitation, but until then I never considered the possibility that I would be seen as so far out on the fringe that people couldn't tell whether or not I was being serious. It was a sobering moment. That few seconds of dead air felt like an eternity. Since then, the pandemic has continued to dominate every genre of world news. In this newsletter I offer some objective analysis that I hope will help to bring some issues into focus.
To clear-up the issue of whether or not COVID-19 is like the flu: The answer depends on the context of the question. To do that we first need to understand what COVID-19 actually is. The term "COVID-19" is simply a label. The acronym stands for Coronavirus Disease 2019. The term "flu" is a contraction of the word "influenza", which is also a label. Both labels refer to viruses that cause disease, and these diseases have several things in common.
The common factors are that COVID-19 and flu viruses both multiply in largely the same way, which is by hijacking our body's cells and turning them into virus factories, and they both have symptoms that can be virtually identical. Therefore it's reasonable to conclude that COVID-19 is indeed like the flu. However in the context of what we tend to think of as the "seasonal flu,” it is very different.
The COVID-19 virus is called SARS-CoV-2, which stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus. The “dash 2” suffix refers to this virus being what is called a sister to the prototype human and bat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-CoVs). It is the third documented spillover of an animal coronavirus to humans in two decades that has resulted in a major epidemic, or in this case, a pandemic.
In contrast, the seasonal flu is not only caused by a completely different virus, it is a disease that has been common in humans for many years, for which vaccines have been developed, and which epidemiologists have a relatively large amount of experience with. Although flu viruses mutate, making old vaccines ineffective, and are responsible for many deaths each year, they are not a wild card like SARS-CoV-2.
COVID-19 therefore adds to the existing load on healthcare systems, and its symptoms, although in many cases, no worse than the common flu, are also at least as deadly, and frighteningly awful. One patient posted a tearful video of her experience reporting that every breath made her feel like she was going to die because it was like breathing broken glass. Indeed, many people have already died, and the pandemic is far from over.
Given the above, we don't need any conspiracy theories to make the COVID-19 situation any worse. There is presently no cure or vaccine available to the public. Some trials have been done, but there is not enough time to be sure whether or not they are safe and effective, and even if they were, there is too little time to manufacture and distribute it.
The full force of the first wave of the pandemic is nearly upon us, and our only defense against it is a healthy immune system and the reduction of transmission. That is why we see the emphasis on physical distancing, quarantines, and sanitization. On this level, we all must do our part to reduce the spread of the disease in order to save lives.
That being said, the focus of action has been on the epidemiology of COVID-19. This strategy may be leaving the world vulnerable to other problems that could lead to as many or more deaths over the long-term. It could also result in an increase in exploitation by various factions, including governments and opportunists ( both legal & illegal ) to steal not only property and wealth, but also our individual rights and freedoms. To my knowledge, there are no models that plot the possible outcomes of all these factors.
Recently, here in Canada, the Province of Ontario rolled out some rather vague models that extrapolate the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths that might be expected based on the strictness of whatever measures are put in place to battle the disease. These numbers look like they're assuming a 2% mortality rate, but we're not told exactly where that number is coming from. It certainly doesn't represent deaths by age or other risk factors, and curiously, the mortality rate they used drops with "Stricter Measures.” What stricter measures could lead to a reduction in the mortality rate?
In other words, of 1,000 people who are already infected with COVID 19, the assumption is that a random 20 of them will die of the disease. What possible "stricter measures" could be put in place to prevent that? There are no cures, and after infection, a vaccine wouldn't help anyway. Quarantining them wouldn't make any difference. Masks wouldn't make any difference. Shipping them off to an iceberg in the Arctic Ocean wouldn't make any difference. The only difference is to convey the message that "stricter measures" save lives. But in relation to this statistic, that is nothing but a fear tactic. What will save lives are rational measures, not stricter measures.
To this end, a more holistic approach is required. The models should include the number of people whose health is affected by the consequences of the economic shutdown, such as poverty-related illness and deaths. For example, Columbia University estimated that 4.5% of U.S. deaths are attributable to poverty. 245,000 deaths in the United States in the year 2000 were attributable to low levels of education.
Throwing mass numbers of the global population into a state of abject poverty could make the cure worse than the disease. Fortunately, massive economic relief programs are in the works; three of them have already been approved by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the President, so somebody someplace has had the foresight to look beyond the COVID-19 alone. Similar programs are being put in place in Canada.
Maybe it's only because brighter things look even brighter against the backdrop of darker skies, but there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Every day I find myself increasingly grateful for the positives. If the aliens watching the Earth have been waiting for us to show some signs of unity before inducting us into the galactic federation, there is no better time in Earth's history that I can think of where it must look like our global civilization has come together to battle a common cause instead of each other. The skies are bluer. The water is clearer. The air is fresher. Some species in nature are already showing signs of a rebound.
On the news program 60 Minutes, environmentalist and human rights investigator Steven Galster called COVID-19 "Mother Nature’s revenge". He's been campaigning for years against Asia's wet markets, which is where COVID-19 is believed to have made the jump from animals to humans. Wet markets are awful places where wild animals, some endangered, are confined in cages awaiting slaughter and sale as food or supplements that are believed to have special but entirely unproven health benefits. This animal trade and slaughter needs to be shut down permanently. If not, Mother Nature's revenge will not end with this pandemic.
For more information about COVID-19, visit The Paracast Community Forums where we've started a COVID-19 News thread dedicated to posting the most objective information available. Among other things, learn how China's government knew there was an impending pandemic, and could have prevented 95% of the spread, but chose not to disclose the truth.
Copyright 1999-2020 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
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