Denis Rancourt, in familiar intellectually disciplined form, unmasks the substantial defects in the latest study mainstream media is lauding as ending the “masks-don't-work debate.” For science geeks, this analysis is riveting. For data lovers, this analysis is evidence-based and powerful not just in showing the specific flaws relative to the study's stated achievements, but as a case study itself for how so many white papers and studies are propped up rather than keeping to scientific methodology that has prevailed until now, jeopardizing trusted journals and peer-review processes essential to scientific integrity.

An important rule of medicine is that when you’ve properly treated the patient and they are still not improving, then you may have the wrong diagnosis. Furthermore, dogmatically persisting in the wrong diagnosis ultimately results in injury or death to the patient.  We are now nearly two years into the “pandemic” and all we have heard from our leaders is the monotonous drumbeat – social distance, wear masks, get vaccinated. In the beginning, they said that masks were dangerous and COVID-19 testing was key to ending the pandemic. Now, municipalities seek to muzzle us all and testing is becoming difficult to find.

After nearly 30 years of providing alternative news and views in sharp contrast to that of mainstream corporate media's highly scripted homogenous coverage (or lack thereof), it is the under-reported content that differentiates our journalistic missions. I have four (maybe five) favorite rules for life. Among them are (1) Never accept nonsense as a replacement for sense; and (2) Evidence matters. After 19 months of due diligence on all matters COVID without compromising these simple rules, I am confident Americans have been largely played.

Publisher's Note: The Reader is pleased to present our second Q&A with the Scott and Rock Island County Health Departments on controversies, contradictions, and conflicts that continue to plague the COVID-19 pandemic narrative. Questions were sent to both county health departments and simultaneously published in our June 2021 edition. And once again, to their huge credit, Scott and Rock Island health officials have fully engaged in this process, providing comprehensive responses for Quad Citians to consider.