New research finds the natural seasonality of coronaviruses had more influence on the COVID-19 pandemic than government interventions

Published January 9, 2024 | By campconstitution
 
 

A new international study on the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in six northern European countries has unexpectedly discovered that the pre-existing seasonal nature of coronaviruses may have played more of a role during the pandemic than any of the government public health intervention policies – including vaccinations, lockdowns, masks and travel restrictions. The scientific study was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Clinical Medicine.

 

The international team of scientists and medical experts used 10 years of human coronavirus monitoring data collected in Sweden before the pandemic to estimate the seasonal variations in coronavirus incidence in northern Europe. They then used publicly available data on the COVID-19 pandemic for six northern European countries (Ireland, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) to compare the relative contributions to the progression of the pandemic in each country of: (1) seasonality; (2) vaccination programmes; and (3) other public health measures. They studied the various waves of the pandemic from early 2020 until May 2023, when the WHO declared the public health emergency over.

 

The authors found that the increases and decreases of each wave consistently followed the natural seasonal behaviour of coronaviruses – increasing during the winter “cold and flu season” and decreasing during the summer. In contrast, the scientific team were surprised to find no clear or consistent influence from either the vaccination programmes or the many public health interventions that were implemented.

 

A summary of the key findings of the study are provided in the table below:

 

The lead author, Dr. Gerry Quinn, a research scientist specialising in microbiology and immunology, described the significance of these surprising findings as follows:

“Since the start of the pandemic, governments and societies around the world have been implementing unprecedented measures in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. Whenever cases began to fall, many people believed that this was due to the public health interventions. But, a careful examination of all the available data shows that this belief was mistaken. It now transpires that most of the changes were probably due to natural seasonal changes of coronaviruses.”

Another author of the study, Prof. Karol Sikora (Medical Director of Cancer Partners International and Consultant Oncologist; former Director of the WHO Cancer Programme), emphasized:

“The finding that most of the apparent successes of the government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were actually due to the natural seasonality of coronaviruses makes the negative health impacts of the lockdowns and other interventions even more disturbing. In the UK, we are still reeling from the harms these policies caused for cancer treatment and diagnosis and many other health concerns throughout the pandemic. Now, it seems that these dramatic health interventions did not even noticeably alter the progression of the pandemic.”

Prof. Norman Fenton, a Professor Emeritus of Risk at Queen Mary University of London and a mathematician who specializes in data analysis and statistics, was also a co-author. He warned that,

“From the beginning of the pandemic, there have been major problems in the interpretation of the publicly available COVID-19 data. During the first waves, health agencies were still developing, changing and increasing testing capacity. This meant that initial attempts to evaluate the COVID-19 public health measures were hindered by inconsistencies in the official data. Ambiguities in the definitions of COVID-19 vaccination statuses also led to considerable confusion in assessing the impacts of the vaccination programmes. Another problem was that many of the model-based studies only considered either the first or the second wave.
However, this comprehensive new study overcame many of these statistical challenges by considering five different indicators of the pandemic and separately analyzing each country over multiple waves of the pandemic. The results show that the overwhelming influence of seasonality created a false, and scientifically invalid, confidence in the many previously untested public health interventions that most governments used.”

The study was published on 6th January 2024.

 

For media inquiries, please contact Dr. Gerry A. Quinn (Centre for Molecular Biosciences, Ulster University) at g.quinn@ulster.ac.uk or Dr. Ronan Connolly (Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences) at ronan@ceres-science.com.

 

Links to the open access study and the journal citation details are below:

  • Gerry A. Quinn, Michael Connolly, Norman E. Fenton, Steven J. Hatfill, Paul Hynds, Coilín ÓhAiseadha, Karol Sikora, Willie Soon and Ronan Connolly (2024). “Influence of Seasonality and Public-Health Interventions on the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northern Europe”. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 13(2), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13020334

Visit Camp Constitution’s On-Line Shop

Published January 7, 2024 | By Hal Shurtleff

Camp Constitution has an on-line shop where we offer books, yard signs, pins, and bumper stickers.  Here is a sample of some of the items in the shop:

We just added a Ten Commandments Yard Sign:

https://campconstitution.net/product/ten-commandments-yard-sign/

Teach your children how to read using phonics or encourage members of your church, friends, neighbors and extended family members to use phonics by getting a copy of Sam Blumenfeld’s “Alpha-Phonics:

https://campconstitution.net/product/alpha-phonics-by-sam-blumenfeld/

A Camp Constitution Press reprint of a 1958 book written by a former black communist with a foreword by  Rev. Steve Craft, Camp Constitution’s chaplain.  If you want to understand what is happening today it is important to understand what happened a generation ago.  The names change but the plan is the same:

https://campconstitution.net/product/color-communism-and-common-sense-by-manning-johnson/

A first edition paperback on the classic None Dare Call It Conspiracy: https://campconstitution.net/product/none-dare-call-it-conspiracy-paperback-1st-edition/  

This came out in a time when it was “unfashionable to acknowledge that there was a Deep State.

While Communist China may own many American politicians, there were many in the Unted States that helped the communists take over China.  This book tells the story:  https://campconstitution.net/product/again-may-god-forgive-us-2/

These are just a sampling of the many items available from our on-line shop.  All proceeds from the sale of the books and other items goes to support Camp Constitution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Our Friends at the Article V Convention Alert Team: End of the Year Report

Published January 3, 2024 | By campconstitution

 

End of Year Update
Thank you for hanging in there with us and responding to the blasts. This will be our 9th year following legislation bankrolled by those who have proved they’ll do just about anything to get their hands on our Constitution.

Get ready to be bombarded, as State Legislatures have already started to roll out. On the positive side, 2024 is an election year, and legislators should be anxious to get back home to raise money and campaign.

During 2023, we followed 127 Article V Convention bills in 44 States—mostly Applications—but also Rescission, Rules changes, Repeal of sunsets, and Delegate bills. And we issued 105 alerts for 18 States where we felt citizen action was necessary.

Only two Article V Convention applications passed: in Oklahoma (Term Limits) and in California (Gun Control). Oklahoma’s wasn’t important, as it was already being counted toward the requisite 34 states, having passed the BBA and COS applications in prior years. California’s application appears to have been a ploy to get attention by California Gov. Newsom who claimed he wasn’t seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. We should know soon enough if any Democrat states follow suit.

Convention of States (COS) applications are the most important to defeat because of COS’s penchant for buying hype and hoopla to feign a groundswell of public support. Fortunately, our side was able to stop COS in all 26 states they attempted in 2023. A couple of those applications may come to life again in 2024. We must be vigilant.

In Kansas, COS got a majority floor vote on both its House and Senate applications. But they failed to get the 2/3 majority required by the Kansas Constitution. Pro-convention legislators were so accommodating as to change their rules to make it easier for Meckler to win in federal court should he follow through with his vow to sue Kansas for complying with their own Constitution. 

But Meckler never went to court, possibly because a federal court opinion in Meckler’s favor and against the Kansas Constitution, might highlight the fact that State Legislatures can’t control an Art. V convention! Months after they lost Kansas, COS Leadership simply boosted their state count from 19 to 20. Few noticed.

In that vein, CON Lobby counterparts in DC declared victory in 2022. They announced that the 34-state threshold had been crossed by Nevada’s passing an application for a BBA in…(drum roll)…1979! No matter that Nevada’s BBA had been rescinded 5 years before the announcement! Incredibly, the CON lobby found a congressman to introduce legislation to that effect with a straight face. H.CON.RES. 24 (2023) is a congressional call for a convention under article V which validates all state applications passed since 1788, regardless of subject, obsolescence, age, constitutionality, having since been rescinded, etc—as long as 2/3 of the states ever had a non-rescinded application on record at the same time. If H.CON.RES 24 passes, the Con lobby will get the unlimited convention it’s been salivating over for the past decade.

In June, we celebrated the success of our liberal friends’ rescission of all previously-passed A5C applications in Oregon. That makes 12 States to date with no active applications. Assuming we can defeat H.CON.RES. 24 and rescind in 5 more states, there won’t be 34 states left for Congress to count!

Thank you again for your activism in defending our Constitution. Without your part in helping to fight, the CON Lobby might have feigned enough momentum by now to steal our Constitution. It’s amazing that truth and logic have thus far held their own against unlimited dark money and the forces of evil. You have made a difference.
Thank you for defending our Constitution!
In Liberty,Judi, Andy, and Lynette
And the A5C Action Alert Team

Camp Constitution works with this group and shares its alerts.

           Camp Constitution Announces Its 16th Annual Family Camp

Published January 3, 2024 | By campconstitution

   Camp Constitution will hold its 16th Annual Family Camp at the Singing Hills Christian Camp https://www.singinghills.net/ Plainfield, NH. from Sunday July 14 to Friday July 19, 2024

 Returning instructors include Pastor David Whitney of the Institute on the Constitution; Professor Willie Soon, world renowned astrophysicist and climate realist; Catherine White of The Constitution Decoded; Alex Newman, author and host of the Sentinel Report, and Rev. Steve Craft, Camp Constitution’s chaplain.
   Guest instructors include Tucker Carlson, and Julie Wilkinson who played the abortion nurse in the movie “Unplanned:  The Abby Johnson Story.”   In addition to the classes, the camp will offer marksmanship courses, martial arts, hiking, basketball, volleyball, wiffleball, and optional field trip and swimming, chess, gaga and corn hole tournaments.  Campers and staff end the day with an evening campfire.

 (Camp Constitution instructor Professor Willie Soon with Tucker Carlson.)

 Camp Constitution’s annual camp is a family camp open to entire families, unaccompanied minors, and adults. The cost for the week which includes lodging, meals and class handouts is $300 for those 13 and over. $200. For campers 12 and under, and three and under with parents are free.  The camp offers an “Early Bird” discount of $50, per person by registering by May 1.   A link to the camp registration:  https://campconstitution.net/camp-registration/

 Can’t attend but would like help a worth young person or family attend?  Consider making a donation earmarked for camp fee.  Donations may be made via our PayPal account accessed from our website’s homepage  https://www.campconstitution.net or a check payable to Camp Constitution and sent to Camp Constitution Director Hal Shurtleff 146 Powder Mill Rd. Alton, NH  03809


Battle of Princeton: “Washington advanced so near the enemy’s lines that his horse refused to go further” – American Minute with Bill Federer

Published January 3, 2024 | By campconstitution

 

 • Battle of Princeton: “Washington advanced so near the enemy’s lines that his horse refused to go further”

Frederick the Great of Prussia called these ten days “the most brilliant in the world’s history.”
After winning the Battle of Trenton, Christmas Day evening, 1776, George Washington’s 1,200 man force faced General Cornwallis’ 4,500 man British army.
Washington was fighting the army of the globalist King of Great Britain — the most powerful military on the planet.

On the night of January 2, 1777, Washington left his campfires burning and marched his army around the back of a portion of Cornwallis’ army – the 1,400 British troops camped at Princeton, New Jersey.
He ordered his soldiers to march in absolute silence, even wrapping their guns with heavy cloth to lessen the noise of troop movement.
British commander Lord Cornwallis ordered Colonel Mawhood to join his regiments to the rest of the British army.
This providentially, resulted in the British ceasing to patrol the very roads Washington was marching on.
At daybreak, January 3, 1777, Washington attacked the British from behind.
This was similar to what the British did to the Americans at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights a little over four months earlier.
At the Battle of Princeton, the surprised British immediately fought back, sending forth a bayonet charge which killed dozens of American soldiers.
One of those killed was General Hugh Mercer, who had fought with Washington in the French and Indian War, and in the Battle of Trenton.
Hugh Mercer’s descendants included WWII General George S. Patton.
After Mercer was killed, the British pressed their counter-attack.
The American militia under General John Cadwalader began to panic and flee.
To stop the retreat, General George Washington immediately rode to the front of the line and ordered the soldiers to stop running away.
He commanded them to turn around and follow him back to the front lines.
Washington rode extremely close to the British, within just 30 yards.
Turning and facing his men, Washington yelled:
“Halt!”
“Aim,”
then “Fire!”
The British immediately fired a volley in return.
The field of battle was filled with a cloud of smoke.
Many thought Washington was surely shot, as he was exposed to fire from both sides.
Irishman John Fitzgerald, who was an American aide-de-camp, pulled down his hat down to cover his eyes so as to not see Washington killed.
But when the smoke cleared, to their dismay, Washington was seen on his horse, waving to his men to charge ahead.
The Americans charged and won a great victory at the Battle of Princeton.
An estimated 100 British were killed or wounded, and over 300 captured, as compared to only 23 Americans killed and 20 wounded.
Enthusiasm swept America. Though it took nearly seven more years of fighting till the Revolutionary War ended, this battle was a major turning point.
British historian Sir George Otto Trevelyan wrote of the American victories at Trenton and Princeton:
“It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world.”
President Calvin Coolidge stated October 28, 1925:
“Distinguished military critics have described Washington’s campaign of Trenton and Princeton as a military exploit of unparalleled brilliancy.”

The equestrian statue at Washington Circle in Washington, D.C., depicts General Washington at the Battle of Princeton.
At the statue’s dedication in 1860, sculptor Clark Mills stated:
“… at the Battle of Princeton where Washington, after several ineffectual attempts to rally his troops, advanced so near the enemy’s lines that his horse refused to go further, but stood and trembled while the brave rider sat undaunted with reins in hand.
But while his noble horse is represented thus terror stricken, the dauntless hero is calm and dignified, ever believing himself the instrument in the hand of Providence to work out the great problem of liberty.”
Yale President Ezra Stiles described General George Washington as the American version of the Israelite commander Joshua, in an Election Address before the Governor and General Assembly of Connecticut, May 8, 1783:
“Congress put at the head of this spirited army, the only man, on whom the eyes of all Israel were placed …
… This American Joshua was raised up by God, and divinely formed by a peculiar influence of the Sovereign of the Universe, for the great work of leading the armies of this American Joseph …
and conducting this people through the severe, the arduous conflict, to liberty and independence …”
Ezra Stiles continued:
“In our lowest and most dangerous estate in 1776 and 1777, we sustained ourselves against the British army of sixty thousand troops commanded by Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton, and other the ablest generals Britain could procure throughout Europe, with a naval force of 22,000 seamen in above eighty British men of war …
… This was sealed and confirmed by God Almighty in the victory of General Washington at Trenton,
and in the surprising movement and battle of Princeton; by which astonishing effort of generalship, General Howe and the whole British army, in elated confidence and in open-mouthed march for Philadelphia, was instantly stopped, remanded back, and cooped up for a shivering winter in the little borough of Brunswick.
Thus God turned the battle to the gate; and this gave a finishing to the foundation of the American Republic …”
Stiles ended:
“Who but a Washington, inspired by Heaven, could have struck out the great movement and maneuver of Princeton? …
The United States are under peculiar obligations to become a holy people unto the Lord our God.”
—

American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.

  Camp Constitution’s Annual Report for 2023

Published January 2, 2024 | By Hal Shurtleff

 

 Camp Constitution in the News:

We continue to be mentioned in the media as local Christian’s petition to have the Chrisitan or Pro-Life flags fly on town or city halls. 1819 News in Alabama as Christian activists interviewed us are in the process of having Montgomery declare Christian Heritage Month and have the Christian fly in front of City Hall for a month:

https://1819news.com/news/item/montgomery-city-council-delays-american-christian-heritage-month-resolution-again

Christians in Torrington, CT raised the Christian flag on their city hall with over two hundred people including the mayor on hand:

And in Billerica, MA,  Deedee Clark Dorrington and members of her group Fly the Pro-Life Flag with the help from our friends at the Massachusetts Family Institute were able to get the town selectmen vote 4-1 in favor of flying the Pro-Life flag for two weeks in October:  MFI’s Advocacy Leads Billerica to Raise Pro-Life Flag on Town Property – MFI | Massachusetts Family Institute (mafamily.org)

The Claremont, NH Eagle Tribute did a story on our annual family camp:  https://www.eagletimes.com/news/camp-takes-on-swimming-and-the-bill-of-rights/article_e3f74b08-0d14-545d-b9a0-876343786082.html  The reporter asked us how we teach the Constitution to five year olds, we sent him a link to this video of our Junior Campers led by Mrs. Edith Craft singing a song about the Constitution  https://youtu.be/_Tw6Lz2QoOk?si=wVvNeZ2EayAtzSiX

We received some national media attention from NBC and Fox News with the appearance of presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswami at our annual family camp.

Special Projects: 

We partnered with the Massachusetts based Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund in a project to raise the Pro-Life flag in towns and cities across the state.  We had a float in the annual Old Home Week Parade in Alton, NH, and we presented their salute to America event held at Alton Bay. We had info tables at numerous events including the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival, the Mid-Atlantic Reformation Society’s Future of Christendom forum, the National Heritage, and the Mass HOPE homeschool convention where we also conducted a workshop on the Sam Blumenfeld Archive. We co-sponsored a Patriot Day Camp in Maine led by Mrs. Jessica Whitworth.

In April, Camp Constitution donated 1,500 pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution to the Alton-Barnstead, NH School District, and in January, we donated 1,100 copies to the Laconia Junior and High School, Laconia, NH Junior High, and High Schools. This has opened up the doors to other donations to schools in the region.

We hosted a group of homeschoolers at the Lane House for a field trip overnight to take in the Midnight Night Ride and Battle of Lexington Reenactments.

We hosted the Hillside College’s Constitutional Study Course in Alton, NH and Lebanon, ME.

Camp Constitution Media:

We videotaped all of the classes and some of the activity at our annual family camp and at our second weekend retreat the Lexington Reenactment, Alton, NH’s Memorial Day Parade, speeches as our 3rd Annual Memorial Day Weekend Barbecue in Lexington, the classes and activities at our annual family camp, and speeches of our speakers Julie Wilkinson, Pastor William Levi, and Charl van Wyk.

 

YouTube, Rumble Channels and Bitchute Channels

Since we started our YouTube channel, we have received 1.6 million views. While we used to receive 65,000 views per month until we were demonetized, and YouTube has taken down some of our videos due to its content, we still managed to have 100,000 thousand views on our YouTube Channel this year.  We have  8,000 subscribers overall.   We have been downloading some of our videos from YouTube expecting to have our channel deleted and uploading them to Rumble.   Our Rumble channel has received 6,388 views this year with seven likes, and our Bitchute channel has 2,3126 views this year.

Camp Constitution Press: We are finally getting the Planned Parenthood book published.  It is an the printer awaiting a final edit.  Thanks to Bill and Barbara McNally, who edited a draft of Sam Blumenfeld’s from the 1960s. we will also soon be publishing Sam’s “Did the KGB Kill Kennedy?  And, thanks to the PDF efforts of our camp newspaper editor Mark Affeck, we reprinted  “Let’s Learn About Money.”

 

The Sam Blumenfeld Archive:

•        713,016 Hits

•        3,779 Alpha Phonics Workbooks

•        2,921 Alpha Phonics Manuals

•        9,000 Is Public Education Necessary Book

•        4,550 Marlow-Shakespeare Book

•        1,039 Crimes of the Educators

•        About 300 Online Alpha Phonics Lesson 1

•        About 850 Phonics Intro Video

 Our friend Godknows Matizirofa principal of Nottingham School in Harare, Zimbabwe, is building a new school and will name it in honor of Sam Blumenfeld. We have been donating copies of Sam’s Alpha Phonics to the school. We also donated a case of “Alpha-Phonics” to the National Black Home Educators.

If you haven’t already, please visit and subscribe to the archives: https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/

 

Camp Constitution Radio on Podomatic: 
8,000 Downloads
1,200 Plays

And, we remain in Top Ten for the “Conservative-Right Category. Please visit and follow:  https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal   We recently interview Liz   producer of “The Fall of Minneapolis” and uploaded close to 80 speeches and lectures from Gary Allen, Alan Stang, Charlie Smith, Ed Griffrin, Julia Brown and others.

 

 Facebook Page:

We continue to average fifty likes per month. We also admin about eight groups including Friend of the Constitution in ME, NH, MA, CT, RI. PA, VT, and Stop the Constitutional Convention.

Speaker’s Bureau:

We had over sixty speaking engagements in 2023.   We recently held six engagements for Charl van Wyk author of Shooting Back in MA, NH, and ME. In September, we spoke to the Mid Atlantic Reformation Society, and we were one of the featured speakers at the Norfolk County (MA) Second Amendment Rally and Constitutional Day Celebration. We spoke at the Michigan Republican Party’s Mackinac Island event where we shared a podium with the likes of Alan Keyes and Jim Caviezel. We had speaking engagements in Maine including being the featured speaker at the Homeschoolers of Maine Annual State House Day, and presentations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Loudon, NH. We hosted four engagements for Juli Wilkinson who played the abortion nurse in the movie Unplanned. And we hosted Mrs. Bau Chau Kelly at the Lane House. Mrs. Kelly described life in Communist Vietnam.

Camp Constitution’s Website:

•        31,000 Views

•        185 Blog Articles

•        New Downloads: “How to Win A Gunfight Even if You Are Not a Good Shot” and Coloring Book “Learn About Money

•        Two New Sponsors  https://www.campconstitution.net

 

Camp Constitution Book Sales:        

 Amazon book sales were down from 2022 but I think that it is a trend.                     

We have raised close to $4,000 from donated books from our Amazon, Facebook page, and on-line bookstore. https://campconstitution.net/shop/

  Article V Convention: 

We worked with legislatures to have an Article V rescission resolution introduced in the New Hampshire House in 2024. Despite the onslaught of Article V resolutions all over the U.S. not a single one passed. We helped defeat two Article V resolutions in New Hampshire, several in Maine, and authored articles on the subject in on-line and print media and participated in a national conference call hosted by Tamara Scott who hosts a show on Frank Speech. One article we published was an expose on the leadership of the Convention of States. https://granitegrok.com/mg_lakesregion/2023/04/poisoning-the-well-is-not-working-in-new-hampshire-but-we-cant-help-ourselves  We worked with legislatures to have an Article V rescission resolution introduced in the New Hampshire House in 2024.

 

 Radio and Cable TV: 

We were a first time guest on several radio shows including the Chris Arn Show based in Carliyle, PA, and returned to the  the Duke Pesta Show:  https://www.freedomproject.com/2023/05/30/dds53023/ and earlier  in the year, we were guests on “Chattin with Janine: a popular Cable TV Show hosted by NH State Rep and long-tine friend Janine Notter. And  appeared as a guest on Tamara Scott’s show on Frank Speech, https://frankspeech.com/video/tamara-scott-show-joined-hal-shurtleff-camp-constitution and an appearance on the Ed Martin Radio Show which is nationally syndicated:  https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/constitution/wynk-back-to-basics-with-hal-shurtleff/       And, we had an appearance on the Chris McCarthy Show in New Bedford, MA generating a speaking engagement in January.

 

 

      Camp Constitution Ladies Group:

The Third Annual Spring Fling took place May 5-7 at the Singing Hills Christian Camp. Speakers include Valerie McDonnell, the youngest elected official in the United States and former abortion nurse turned Pro-Life activist Julie Wilkinson. Julie played a role in the movie “Unplanned.”  

                                      

Julie Wilkinson                                     Valerie McDonnell

 

Our friend and Camp Constitution camp parent Steve Wanager has relocated to Indiana and donated one of his replica cannons to Camp Constitution. We are now the proud owners of a replica Revolutionary War howitzer. Contrary to the view of Mr. Biden, the 2nd Amendment does not prevent us from owning a cannon.

Camp Constitution’s 15th Annual Family Camp

We had another successful family camp with  a full house, and two new guest instructors: author and documentary producer Vince Ellison, and, for the first time in our history, a presidential candidate: Vivek Ramaswamy.  Mr. Ramaswamy’s appearance at our camp brought  reporters from Fox News, ABC and NBC.

 

(Vivek Ramaswamy speaking at our 2023 camp

Second Annual Family Retreat:

We help  our 2nd Annual Weekend Family Retreat which ran from Friday September 29 to Sunday October 1. At Camp Sentinel in Tuftonboro, NH. Guest instructors were Jim Perloff and former Gubernatorial candidate Karen Testerman. Returning instructors included Catherine White, and Rev. Steve Craft. Jessica Whitworth conducted the program for the junior campers.

Looking into 2024:

The Racist Roots of Planned Parenthood Book Promotion Tour

A number of groups have booked us for speaking engagements.

Already signed up for two homeschool shows.

Full Page Ad in Boston Broadside to promote our events and the Blumenfeld Archive

Speaking Engagements for Vince Ellison in May of 2024 in MA and NH

Ladies Retreat April 12-14 Alton Bay:

Our 16th Annual Family Camp.  Guest instructors include Julie Wilkinson and Tucker Carlson.

 

(Camp instructor Willie Soon and Tucker Carlson)

And our 2024 Weekend Retreat:

 

How you can help Camp Constitution grow:

* Keep Camp Constitution and our nation in your prayers.

* Become a donor. Monthly and/or one-time donations can be made via our PayPal account accessed from our website https://www.campconstitution.net

* Host one of our speakers

Host a Constitutional Study Course

*  Introduce Camp Constitution to family and friends.

*Author an article for our camp blog.

Thank you for all you did in the freedom movement, and for helping to make Camp Constitution possible.

May the Lord grant all of  you a very Happy New Year.

Hal Shurtleff, Director
Camp Constitution

 

A link to an audio presentation:  https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2024-01-01T10_03_25-08_00

 

 

Our Most Popular YouTube Video in 2023-A Republic, Not A Democracy by Dan Smoot

Published December 30, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff

 

Camp Constitution’s most popular video for 2023 is Dan Smoot’s “A Republic Not A Democracy” a film clip just under eleven minutes long   We received close to 33,000 views and gained over 500 new subscribers.   Dan Smoot, authored several books including The Invisible Government-one of the first books exposing the globalist Council on Foreign Relations, and The Business End of Government and his autobiography People Along The Way- copies of the later are available from our on-line shop: https://campconstitution.net/shop/?product-page=1  He also hosted “The Dan Smoot Report” which aired on a number of T. V. stations.   This video is from one of his “Dan Smoot Report” programs.

Please view, share this video and others from our channel, and become a subscriber.

Ezola Foster Rediscovered

Published December 29, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff

 

I have a YouTube channel- Hal Shurtleff- which I seldom use.  It only has45 subscribers.  Yesterday, I got word that my video of  Ezola Foster on that channel received 500 views in less than a day.  And, today,  December 29, 2024, our friend and instructor Professor Willie Soon sent me a link to another video of Ezola Foster.   So, I reposted her October 1997 speech which we hosted at the Endicott Estate in Dedham, MA on Camp Constitution’s YouTube channel.  Dr. Mildred Jefferson introduced her, but her comments weren’t recorded.  Ezola was Pat Buchanan’s running mate in the2000 Presidental election.  She authored What’s Right for All Americans.  The book She passed way in 2018.

 

Ezola was the featured instructor at a camp I managed in Rindge, NH Summer of 1997.

The Goodness of America: Anonymous Donor Give a New Hampshire Nonagenarian $1,000 Fuel Credit

Published December 28, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff

 

I recently had lunch with a friend-a nonagenarian- who didn’t want his name mentioned but wanted to share this incredible story of generosity and neighborly love which he hopes will inspire others.

My friend-like most of us-lives on a tight budget.  He picked up his mail the other day and this was the first letter he opened:

 

While this letter was not unexpected, it came a few days before Christmas.  However, a few minutes into his pile of mail, he found this one:

While he may have a few suspects in mind, Mr. Pierson was sworn to secrecy but promised my friend that he would deliver this thank you letter to the anonymous donor:

With all of the negative things happening in our country, it is still good to know that it still has plenty of wonderful generous, loving and caring people like this anonymous person in New Hampshire.

 

The Weekly Sam: THE “SIGHT READING” METHOD OF TEACHING READING, AS A SOURCE OF READING DISABILITY SAMUEL T. ORTON, A.M. M.D.

Published December 27, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff
Reprint from February, 1929, The Journal of Educational Psychology.

 (This article comes from the Samuel Blumenfeld Archives: //http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/Other/Dr%20Orton-Sight%20Reading%20Method.pdf
 
 I feel some trepidation in offering criticism in a field somewhat outside of that
of my own endeavor but a very considerable part of my attention for the past four
years has been given to the study of reading disability from the standpoint of
cerebral physiology. This work has now extended over a comparatively large
series of cases from many different schools and both the theory which has directed
this work and the observations gained therefrom seem to bear with sufficient
directness on certain teaching methods in reading to warrant critical suggestions
which otherwise might be considered overbold.
 
 I wish to emphasize at the beginning that the strictures which I have to offer
here do not apply to the use of the sight method of teaching reading as a whole but
only to its effect on a restricted group of children for whom, as I think we can
show, this technique is not only not adapted but often proves an actual obstacle to
reading progress, and moreover I believe that this group is one of considerable
educational importance both because of its size and because here faulty teaching
methods may not only prevent the acquisition of academic education by children of
average capacity but may also give rise to far reaching damage to their emotional
life.
 The sight reading method (or “look and say” of the English) has been credited
with giving much faster progress in the acquisition of reading facility than its
precursors and this statement I will not challenge if the measure of
accomplishment be the average progress of a group or class. Average progress of
large numerical units, however, makes no allowance for the study of effect in
individual, particularly if certain of them deviate to some degree from the others in
their methods of acquisition and therefore in their teaching requirements. To the
mental hygienist whose interest is focused on the individual and his problems
rather than on group progress the results as determined by average accomplishment
are of little value whereas the effect of a given method on the individual child is all
important.
 
 Outstanding cases of so–called “congenital word blindness”—a complete
inability to learn to read—have been recognized and studied for a number of years
at first chiefly by physicians. It has also been recognized by teachers and
psychologists that there is a large group of children who have a much greater
difficulty in getting started in reading than would be expected from their ability in
arithmetic, from then ease in auditory acquisition and from their general alertness.
In the past there has been a tendency, at least among medical men, and to a
considerable degree among psychologists as well to exclude the minor cases of
slow learning in reading from the category of congenital word blindness. This
largely derives from the work of Hinshelwood 1 who made the first extensive study
of these cases following the pioneer work of Kerr 2 and Morgan. 3 Hinshelwood’s
statement in this is “. . . the rapidity and ease with which children learn to read by
sight vary a great deal.
 No doubt it is a comparatively common thing to find some
who lag considerably behind their fellows, because of their slowness and difficulty
in acquiring their visual word memories, but I regard these slight defects as only
physiological variations and not to be regarded as pathological conditions. It
becomes a source of confusion to apply to such cases as has been done of late the
term of ‘congenital word blindness’ which should be reserved for the really grave
degrees of this defect which manifestly are the result of a pathological condition of
the visual memory center and which have proved refractory to all ordinary
methods of school instruction.”
 Unfortunately, Hinchelwood’s criterion is a
double one, neither part of which can be looked upon as of sufficient diagnostic
accuracy to establish a clear–cut entity. Not only has no pathological condition of
the visual memory center yet been substantiated in such cases but there are certain
neurological and clinical data which suggest that no such condition exists. Again,
the “ordinary methods of school instruction” does not prove to be an accurate
measure. Such methods vary widely and our own figures indicate that the number
of children who show a significant handicap in reading is to some degrees related
to the teaching method in use. Bachmann 4 has called attention to the looseness of
the concept of congenital word blindness and related to this the striking variation in
the frequency of such cases as recorded by various authors. Without some fairly
clear objective symptoms on which to establish the entity, the choice of cases to be
included naturally rests on the judgment of the examiner as to the severity of the
disability. My own initial work 5 in this field led to a firm conviction that we were
dealing here, not with two separate groups—a physiological and a pathological—
but that those children who were specifically retarded in reading (thus excluding
cases of general mental defect) formed a graded series extending from the normal
to the extreme and that they showed consistent characteristic performance which

not only would serve for diagnosis but which also was highly suggestive of the
reason for their lack of progress and which gave excellent cues to methods for
retraining. I was convinced not only that the specific reading disability formed an
entity of much greater numerical importance than had been recognized before but
that it was (even in the extreme cases) an obstacle of a physiological nature rather
than a pathological condition and that therefore adequate special methods of
teaching should correct it.
 
I can not here go fully into the details of the anatomical background for our
present theory of this disability but some presentation is necessary in order to
illustrate the basis for the criticism of teaching method which is here offered.
Only a small portion of the retina of the eye is used in acquisition of reading.
This is the focus of central vision or the macula lutea, so called because it is seen
as a yellow spot in ophthalmoscopic examinations. The rest of the retina receives
only general and less detailed impressions coming from outside the rather small
area to which we are directing our attention. This point is noteworthy because the
nervous connections of these two divisions of the retina are quite unlike. The
peripheral retina or outer zone has connections with only one–half of the brain
(there are some complexities here but these need not concern us). The macula
lutea, however, which receives impressions with greatest detail and which is hence
used exclusively in learning to read, has a double connection with the brain. The
nerve fibers arising here divide and one–half of those starting from each macula
lueta to the visual area of the hemisphere of the brain of the same side and the
other half to the corresponding area of the opposite hemisphere.
 Thus impressions received by either eye, or by both eyes, are relayed simultaneously to both
hemispheres of the brain. This double implantation does not give us a double
sensation in consciousness, however, as a touch on both thumbs would do. The
simultaneous activity of both areas results in our seeing but a single image. The
visual sensation, however, is not a unitary function. There is apparently need for
the simultaneous or additive activity of several parts of the visual cerebral
mechanisms to complete the linkage of a printed symbol with its meaning and the
steps in this process arc shown in relief by differential losses such as are seen when
certain parts of the back of the brain are destroyed by disease. When all of that
part of the brain which has to do with vision is destroyed the individual becomes
totally blind. The eyes, however, are not damaged and they can still be moved and
they will turn toward a sudden sound and the pupils will respond by closing and
opening to increase and decrease of the amount of light which strikes them. This
condition is known as cortical blindness, to differentiate it from blindness due to
disease of the eyes or optic nerves.
 We may, however, see things surrounding us
with sufficient clarity to avoid colliding with them, that is to guide our general
body movements but without being able to appreciate the meaning of things which
we see. This was first demonstrated by Munk in dogs in which much of this part
of the brain had been removed. They were able to avoid collisions but did not
recognize their master or even food by sight alone, and did not cringe from a whip.
To this condition Munk gave the name of mindblindness and its parallel has since
frequently been recorded in cases of disease of the human brain. Apparently at the
first level the visual area of the brain serves as a very accurate guide to motion and
it probably also furnishes the element of awareness of the external origin of a
sensation (as contrasted to & memory).
 In psychological terms it furnishes the
pure perceptual element to sensation but simultaneous or additive activity in other
higher level visual areas are requisite to attach meaning and again we know that
this is not accomplished in one step. If destruction of brain tissue happens in a
certain area there results a condition in which the patient not only can see correctly
but can also understand the meaning of objects seen, but in which the ability to
read the printed or written word is entirely lost. That vision in the ordinary sense
is normal, is shown by the fact that such a patient can copy printed material but
cannot read either the original or his copy. Thus we see from these differential
losses that the process of linking a printed word to its meaning passes through at
least three stages of elaboration in the brain before it is completed.
 
 There are differences, however, in the brain destruction necessary to produce
losses at these different elaborative levels. Destruction in one hemisphere only is
not sufficient to produce either cortical blindness or mindblindness. At these first
two levels of elaboration, that is in perception and recognition of the meaning of
objects, apparently destruction must involve the areas subserving these functions in
both hemispheres before their loss results. The two hemispheres are apparently of
equal importance here as it apparently makes no difference which side is affected;
i.e., either hemisphere is alone adequate for these functions. Exception must be
taken to these statements in the case of peripheral vision but, as noted before, this
is not of interest to us here since central vision is used exclusively in learning to
read.
 When we come to the third plane of elaboration, the situation is strikingly
different, this is the level at which the written or printed symbol is linked with its
meaning and hence it is variously described as the associative, concept, or
symbolic level. Here not only is damage to one hemisphere sufficient to destroy
function but it makes a difference which hemisphere is affected. If the hemisphere
which is known as the dominant happens to suffer, a complete loss of this function
results and the patient becomes word blind. If, on the other hand, the damage
occurs in the other hemisphere—the non–dominant—nothing apparently happens.
 
 So entirely without result is a destruction here that this area of the brain takes its
place with certain others among those which the surgeons called the “silent areas”
of the brain. Obviously, the visual records implanted in both halves of the brain
are not requisite for reading. This situation also exists in the field of understanding
of the spoken word, and of speech and of writing. In all four of these functions
destruction in the dominant hemisphere in the so–called language zone is
meaningful while destruction in exactly similar parts of the opposite hemisphere is
meaningless.
 
 Thus we learn to understand, to read, to speak, and to write words from sensory
records or engrams of one hemisphere only. This fact is so striking that we have
been prone to overlook what must happen in the inactive side. We believe today
that the completed growth and development of nerve coils is largely a result of
stimulation. If cells do not receive stimuli they do not reach their full
development. The two sides of the brain do not show much, if any, difference in
size or complexity and certainly no such difference as we see in function as
outlined above. To account for equality of growth we must accept equality of
stimulation—equal nervous irradiated of the two sides—and if they are equally
irradiated, records must be left behind in each; i.e., engrams must be formed in the
non–dominant as well as in the dominant hemisphere. To account then for the
difference in effect of damage in the two sides we must assume that the engrams of
one side become the controlling pattern through establishment of a physiological
habit of use of that set and that the other set of recorded engrams is latent or elided.
Variations in the completeness of this physiological selection, i.e., failure of elision
of the non–dominant engrams, forms the kernel of my conception of the reading
disability. Such a theory conforms nicely to our observations that these cases are
not to be divided into two categories, that is, cases of word blindness and cases
of slow acquisition of reading, but that they form a series graded in severity
according to the degree of confusion which exists in choice of engrains and it also
offers an explanation of certain errors and peculiarities which characterize their
performance.
 The two halves of the body are strictly antitropic, that is, reversed or mirrored
copies of each other. The muscles and joints of the right and left hand, for
example, are alike but reversed in arrangement. This is also true of the groups of
nerve cells in the spinal cord which control the simpler motor responses (spinal
reflexes) and also of the cells in the brain which combine or integrate these simpler
spinal units into more complex acts. The movements of the left hand, therefore,
which are the exact counterpart of the right will give a mirrored result. Thus, the
movements of sinistrad (mirror) writing with the left hand are exactly comparable
to those of dextrad writing with the right hand and it seems therefore highly
probable that the engrams which are stored in the silent areas of the non–dominant
hemisphere are opposite in sigh, i.e., mirrored copies, of those in the dominant. If
then these opposite engrams are not elided through establishment of consistent
selection from one hemisphere we would expect them to evince themselves by
errors or confusion in direction and orientation and this is exactly what we find in
cases of delayed reading.
 
 This description is really “putting the cart before the horse” as our observations
of tendency to reversals came first and the theory developed therefrom but this
method of presentation has been adopted for the sake of clarity. Many workers
with word blind children have noted their tendency to reversals but none, so far as
I am aware, have offered an adequate explanation of it.
 My original studies in a small group of cases convinced me that there were
certain “symptoms” in reading disability which seemed to characterize the whole
group and these were confusions between lower case b and d and between p and q,
uncertainty in reading short pallindromic words like was and saw, not and ton, and
on and no; a tendency to reverse parts of words or whole syllables as when gray is
read as gary, tarnish as tarshin and tomorrow as tworrom; a greater facility than
usual in reading from the mirror, and frequently a facility in producing mirror
writing. These observations have been adequately supported in an extended study
of a much larger group of cases. Many other types of errors are to be found in the
performance of retarded readers but they appear to me to be secondary effects due
to the failure of association which has resulted from the obstacle presented by
confusion in direction.
 The relation of the cardinal symptoms to the theory as
above outlined is obvious and I think has direct bearing on the teaching method.
Visual presentation will, hypothetically at least, result in the implantation of paired
engrams and certain other factors must determine which of these is selected for
associative linkage. What these factors are as a whole, we can not consider here
although it may be well to suggest that heredity probably plays a part in the
establishment of dominance here comparable to that which it plays in stuttering
and in left–handedness. Undoubtedly training influences may be brought to bear
on this process of choice, however, and from the theoretical standpoint the most
promising of these should be that of kinesthetic training by tracing or writing while
reading and sounding and by following the letters with the finger (a method under
taboo today) to insure consistent direction of reading during phonetic synthesis of
the word or syllable.

 Under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, an extended field study was
carried out in 1926–27 in Iowa by the organization, as a part of the research work
of the State Psychopathic Hospital, of a Mobile Mental Hygiene Unit to visit
schools in various communities and a Laboratory Unit to study selected cases more
intensively. Fuller reports of these studies are to appear elsewhere but certain
observations may be quoted here. In my original group of reading disability cases,
I was surprised at the large proportion of these children encountered. Fifteen out
of one hundred twenty–five children sent by their teachers to our experimental field
clinic for a variety of problems 6 seemed to me to show evidence of this trouble. In
our extended work we have found in every community visited no less than two per
cent of the total school population to be retarded readers showing this
characteristic picture.
  Our studies were not carried out as a survey and hence these
figures probably fall far below the actual numbers. There was however a difference
in the numbers of cases encountered in certain communities which seemed to bear
directly on the subjects here considered. Of two communities of about the same
constituent population, in one we found about two per cent of the school
population to be retarded in reading to a significant degree and to show
symptomatic evidence of the specific disability, while in the second we found more
then double this percentage. In the community with the lesser number of cases,
sight reading methods were employed but when children did not progress by this
method, they were also given help by the phonetic method. In the town with the
larger number, no child was given any other type of reading training until he or she
had learned ninety words by sight.

 Aside then from theoretical considerations, this strongly suggests that the sight
method not only will not eradicate a reading disability of this type but may actually
produce a number of cases. Moreover, our retraining experiments 7 seem to
indicate clearly that such children can be trained to read properly with adequate
special methods devised to eradicate the confusion in direction and in orientation
and this has also been borne out by the remedial efforts of other workers.
Our studies of children with reading disabilities has also brought to light certain
other aspects of the problem which are of educational importance but which can
not be elaborated here. Among these were notably the effect of this unrecognized
disability, upon the personality and behavior of the child. Many children were
referred to our clinics by their teachers in the belief that they were feeble–minded,
others exhibited conduct disorders and undesirable personality reactions which
upon analysis appeared to be entirely secondary to the reading defect and which
improved markedly when special training was instituted to overcome the reading
disability.
 In brief, while “sight reading” may give greater progress when measured by the
average of a group, it may also prove a serious obstacle to educable children who
happen to deviate from the average in the case of establishment of a clear–cut
unilateral brain habit. These physiological deviates form a graded group extending
in severity from the normal to extreme cases (congenital word blindness). They
can be detected by appropriate examinations and trained to overcome their
handicap by specific methods of teaching. While the number of children who
suffer from such a severe grade of the disability as to be practically uneducable by
ordinary methods is quite small, the number in whom the disability exists to a
sufficient degree to be a serious handicap to school performance and to wholesome
personality development probably is of real numerical importance and moreover
there seems to be reason to believe that even those who make a spontaneous
adjustment without special training, and thus learn to read, may never gain a
facility in this accomplishment commensurate with their ability in other lines.
REFERENCES
1. Hinshelwood, James: “Congenital Word Blindness.” Lewis, London 1917.
2. Kerr, James: The Howard Price Essay of the Royal Statistical Society, 1896.
3. Pringle, Morgan W.: “A Case of Congenital Wordblindness.” British Medical Journal,
July 11, 1896.
4. Bachmann, Fritz: “Uber Kongenitale Wortblindheist.” Karger, Berlin, 1927.
5. Orton, S. T.: “Wordblindness” in School Children. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry,
Vol. XIV, Nov., 1925.
6. Lyday, June F.: The Greene County Medical Clinic. Mental Hygiene. Vol. X, No. 4,
October, 1926.
7. Monroe, Marion: Genetic Psychology Monograms. Oct.–Nov. Nov., 1928.
Edited by Donald L. Potter on 5/31/03 from an OCR scan of a Reprint.
www.donpotter.net
113

Designed by Eric Conover.