Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

dann · Jul 10, 2023

Currently, James Giordano appears to be the TIs' favorite researcher:

In 2022, James Giordano reviewed my case of #HavanaSyndrome diagnosed by the same experts who diagnosed US diplomats (although all my #DirectedEnergy attacks are domestic), validated it, and forwarded it to the DOD. Twice. No investigation. Hmmm. I guess “We’ll get to the bottom of this” doesn’t mean what we think it means. My debilitating attacks continue to this day. I am on disability with the diagnosis of Havana Syndrome. I am one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit #TJvGarland destined to go all the way to the Supreme Court. The gov’t is trying to dismiss it claiming non-applicable or non-existing judicial privileges. Follow this extraordinary lawsuit. It will change the course of our country’s history!
Len Ber MD (Twitter, July 9, 2023)

However, Len Ber's description doesn't seem to be consistent with Giordano's "consternation" when he complained about the ODNI report "compiling disparate patient data that have been accumulated over this five-year period.":

To wit, the intelligence report fails to acknowledge these previously established observations, but rather attributes all of the incidents reported to date — inclusive of those occurring in the original cohort of patients from Havana — on the factors that had previously been negated.
In this regard, the report inaptly aggregates all reported cases of such incidents, and does not distinguish between the specific findings relevant to those individuals originally affected in Havana, those in a current evaluative/verification pipeline, and the overwhelming majority of subsequent cases.
(...)
[The NAS report] stated, “the committee found a constellation of acute clinical signs and symptoms with directional and location-specific features that was distinctive; to its knowledge, this constellation of clinical features is unlike any disorder in the neurological or general medical literature.”
Intel Community’s Havana Syndrome Report and its Flawed Assumptions (National Defense, Mar 10, 2023)

Giordano doesn't mention that the distinctive directionality and the location-specific features of the Havana cases were based on the misinterpretation of the sound of crickets. And it doesn't seem to have prevented him from validating later cases outside of Havana (or even Cuba). At least not if Len Ber is telling the truth about this.

It is no wonder that Giordano doesn't want to acknowledge cases like Len Ber's or those of other TIs.

As for the lawsuit #TJvGarland" (TJ = Targeted Justice), which got the TI hopes up, it is a very confusing affair. It seems to be only tangentially related to the concerns of people who think they are victims of 'Havana syndrome': Targeted Justice Files Lawsuit Alleging Crimes Against US Citizens — Is it a Bombshell or a Fizzle? (Activist Post, March 15, 2023)

It appears to be mainly about people who have been placed on a "terrorist watchlist" without being even remotely connected to actual terrorism. I get the impression that they may instead be people who, for whatever reason but probably due to mental issues in some cases, have made government workers concerned about their own safety, which has then caused this subset of the TIs to be placed on the watchlist for lack of a more suitable list, but it is hard to tell exactly what is going on.

And the Trials and Errors subforum is probably be more suited for a discussion of the TI lawsuit since it doesn't seem to be primarily about the 'syndrome'.

dann · Jul 11, 2023

The 'mysterious' New Brunswick cases were mentioned in the media a couple of times last year (see posts 1,358, 1,359, 1,381 and 1,384).
This one was from The Guardian:

New Brunswick officials last year flagged a possible cluster of residents suffering from an unknown neurological syndrome, similar to those of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Symptoms were varied and dramatic: some patients started drooling, and others felt as though bugs were crawling on their skin.
On Thursday, the province released the findings of its oversight committee, concluding that none of the 48 cases met the definition of an unknown brain syndrome and that the victims were instead probably suffering from known diseases.

Now it has reappeared, and Dr. Marrero, the inventor of the 'syndrome' (see post 1,359) is once again portrayed as the brave maverick doctor who has discovered something that the health authorities failed to see, but it's in the Daily Mail and New York Post, 'Mysterious' brain disorder strikes hundreds - and cases are increasing, so there is probably no reason to take it seriously:

The neurological condition ailing New Brunswick residents is just one of many mysterious health issues that have plagued people with no obvious cause.
Perhaps the most notable is Havana syndrome, a condition of unknown origin that first appeared in US diplomats stationed in Havana in 2018.
Most recently, CDC researchers have honed in on a rash of rare and serious brain abscesses in children in and around Las Vegas, Nevada.
The number of brain abscesses in minors tripled in Nevada last year, shooting up from an average of four or five a year to 18.
Physicians are not sure what has caused the rise, but said it could be due to weakened immunity to infections due to Covid measures such as lockdown.
Mystery cluster of brain disease is paralyzing healthy adults and robbing them of the ability to talk - and doctors fear it's due to toxic ALGAE (Daily Mail, July 2, 2023)

Unlike the very similar cases in the USA, the Canadians don't seem to think that they are Targeted Individuals or that they have been exposed to DEWs, but they do feel that the health authorities have let them down. And much like the American TIs, they look to their doctor, who came up with the Canadian version of the 'syndrome', as the one standing up for them against the authorities: We Stand by Doctor Marrero (photo of woman in a wheelchair holding up a sign in CBC News article, March 23, 2023).

However, the Nevada cases of pediatric brain abscesses also mentioned in the article are very real and not at all psychogenic. In the CNN article, one doctor also mentions the lockdown idea, but other doctors are skeptical.

“After March of 2022, there was just a huge increase,” in brain abscesses, Bragg said. “I was seeing large numbers of cases and that’s unusual.”
“And the similarities in terms of the presentation of cases was striking,” Bragg said.
In almost every case, kids would get a common childhood complaint, such as an earache or a sinus infection, with a headache and fever, but within about a week, Bragg says, it would become clear that something more serious was going on.
(...)
“These are healthy children. With no prior significant medical history that would make them more prone…there wasn’t any known immunosuppression or anything like that,” Bragg says.
Doctors watching for more cases after mysterious cluster of brain infections strikes kids in southern Nevada (CNN, April 28, 2023)

In the Nevada cluster, health officials in October received reports of a higher-than-expected number of kids who had intracranial abscesses. The investigation by EIS officials found that, from 2015 to 2021, Clark County averaged about four such cases a year. However, 18 cases were reported in 2022, none of them fatal. Fifteen patients required surgery. The median age was 12, and 14 of the patients were boys. Streptococcus intermedius was the most common bacterial pathogen.
CDC investigators tracking reports of brain abscesses in kids (CIDRAP, University of Minnesota, May 1, 2023)

In October 2022, the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) was notified of a higher-than-expected number of pediatric patients hospitalized with intracranial abscesses; similar concerns were previously reported nationally. This rare infection is associated with significant morbidity.
Notes from the Field: Pediatric Intracranial Infections — Clark County, Nevada, January–December 2022 (CDC, June 2, 2023)

dann · Jul 11, 2023

PS I couldn't find it at the time, but I wanted to include this in post 1962 mentioning "weakened immunity to infections due to Covid measures such as lockdown", i.e. the so-called immunity debt theory, which is very popular among antivaxxers and COVIC-19 minimizers. Here it is:

Professor Peter Openshaw, a respiratory doctor and immunologist who studies RSV and flu at Imperial College London, says the current “high and unseasonal” RSV wave is assumed to be a result of lockdowns causing levels of immunity to wane in children, parents and carers, paving the way for a greater number of infections.
But to frame this as an immunity debt, Openshaw warns, mistakenly suggests “that immunity is something we need to invest in, and that by protecting ourselves from infection we are building up a deficit that has ultimately to be repaid. This would not be a good message for public health: we would still have open sewers and be drinking from water contaminated with cholera if this idea were followed to its logical conclusion.” Delaying RSV infection may actually be beneficial, he adds, as the virus is deadliest to infants younger than six months. Globally among under-fives, one in 50 deaths is attributable to RSV.
(...)
But there is no evidence that an individual is worse off for having avoided earlier infection. “Immunity debt as an individual concept is not recognised in immunology,” Dunn-Walters says.*“The immune system is not viewed as a muscle that has to be used all the time to be kept in shape and, if anything, the opposite is the case.”
'Immunity debt' is a misguided and dangerous concept (Financial Times, Nov 23, 2023)

It is no coincidence that this idea currently pops up again and again, and now also in the attempt to explain the Nevada cases of pediatric brain abscesses. At least, they haven't been blamed on rayguns ... yet!

dann · Jul 12, 2023

More Sung Tieu

This time interviewed by Rebecca Rose Cuomo.
I got the wrong impression from Amelia Saul's interview with her. One of Sung Tieu's projects is still focussed on the 'syndrome, not on fracking.

dann said:
Sung Tieu has left the 'syndrome' behind and is now focussed on fracking:

I assume that the ODNI report's revelation of the obfuscation that created the 'syndrome' has made it too unambiguous to interest Sung Tieu as an artist. Zugzwang (Artsy.net), a recent show of hers in Munich, "exemplified what the artist calls “future fiction,” her dominant mode," and the ODNI report has turned the 'syndrome' into past fiction with no ambivalence left open for interpretation.

And even after the ODNI report, she still manages to squeeze some ambivalence out of the 'Havana Syndrome' - with help from Jon Lee Anderson:

RRC Another project you’re showing at Amant is a new iteration of In Cold Print, first presented at Nottingham Contemporary in 2020. It’s a series of newspaper clippings you wrote on Havana Syndrome, which was first reported in 2016 by US diplomats in Cuba who suffered brain injuries, among other ailments, believed to have been caused by a sonic weapon. It was originally thought to be a politically targeted attack, which the Cuban government denied. For the first half of your show, the articles were sympathetic to the American perspective; then halfway through you changed the articles to be critical of those claims.

ST I’m showing In Cold Print in two rooms of Amant, and we’ll also be switching the information. This time, I start with the more critical set of articles, then move to the more affirmative perspective. I spoke with Jon Lee Anderson to get different sides of the argument. It was about how audiences experiencing the exhibition at different times would leave with totally different understandings of Havana Syndrome, which was an experiment to see how people react to different sets of information within the context of an art installation. I’m really curious to show In Cold Print alongside Liability Infrastructure because I think they both share this idea of secrecy and veiling through language.
Sung Tieu Interviewed by Rebecca Rose Cuomo (BombMagazine, July 12, 2023)

I assume that Jon Lee Anderson told her his story from his and Adam Entous' podcast series, i.e. that 'syndrome' was caused by an actual attack, instigated by Fidel Castro and using Russian rayguns.

Sung Tieu: Civic Floor is on view at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until July 16; Sung Tieu: Infra-Specter is on view at Amant in New York City until September 10.

dann · Jul 12, 2023

New name, same old, same old

That this story originated in the Moonie newspaper Washington Times (Wikipedia) is not surprising:

According to Washington Times, multiple intelligence analysts have indicated that China is developing weapons that can directly attack or control people’s brains by utilizing microwave or other energy weapons in the form of electromagnetic beams fired from both handheld guns and larger weapon systems.
(...)
“[China‘s] new landscape of neurostrike development includes using massively distributed human-computer interfaces to control entire populations as well as a range of weapons designed to cause cognitive damage,” the report states. “Any breakthrough in this research would provide unprecedented tools for the CCP to forcibly establish a new world order, which has been [Chinese President] Xi Jinping’s lifelong goal.”
China is making brain weapons to use on world leaders, entire populations: Report (AmericanMilitaryNews, July 10, 2023)

The community of Targeted Individuals embrace the new name:

I like the term neurostrike. It is specific to the non-kinetic attack inflicted upon you. But it doesn’t describe the medical implications on the human. So we still need another term, I propose neurostrike syndrome.
Len Ber MD (Twitter, July 11, 2023)

NeuroStrike is a much better name than Havana Syndrome. But they are in different categories. One is an attack, the other is a medical condition. A useful analogy would be: if concussion were a Neurostrike, mTBI would be Havana Syndrome.
Len Ber MD (Twitter, July 12, 2023)

#NeuroStrike #HavanaSyndrome Isn't NeuroStrike and Havana Syndrome one in the same?
Verax Lux (Twitter, July 11, 2023)

Sherkeu · Jul 12, 2023

My sister is one of the TI persons, afflicted by some very bad methamphetamine in the music circles here circa 2008-10-

The internet just fueled her delusions and now she is so tortured in her mind that she wants me to bring her a gun and will call me screaming for me to help her end it.

So please dont make light of these persons. They are human and they suffer.

dann · Jul 12, 2023

I don't think I'm making light of them.

On the contrary, I am pointing out that the 'syndrome' has other victims than U.S. diplomats and spies. That is the one point where I agree with Len Ber and other TIs: The 'Havana syndrome' is the same thing whether people were ever anywhere near Havana or not. The U.S. embassy staff and CIA agents were taken care of and given access to health care. Their symptoms were recognized as real. The symptoms of TIs aren't recognized in the same way, and the damaged government workers and the people who speak out on their behalf, allegedly, don't recognize that those symptoms are something that the two groups have in common.

However, I disagree with both officially recognized 'Havana syndrome' victims and the community of Targeted Individuals about the story they tell themselves and are being told by both medical professionals like Hoffer, Relman and Giordano and lawyers like Mark Zaid: They were never attacked by any DEWs, they aren't victims of any neurostrike other than the false explanation of their symptoms, which some of them came up with on their owns and others were persuaded to believe in by the medical doctors mentioned above.

Your sister's paranoia may have started before the 'syndrome', but it is no less tragic, and I think it is very likely that it has been and is being exacerbated by the many stories about sonic attacks, DEWs and now neurostrikes.

I have mentioned a couple of times that the ODNI report obviously wasn't enough to put an end to this. It was an attempt to stop the epidemic of new cases that were created by the government's attack warnings to its officials all around the world while at the same time trying not to upset the ones that had already been caused by the suggestion that people were actually being attacked: 'Your symptoms are real,' was the message to the original batch of U.S. diplomats in Havana - as if that didn't sound like they were the victims of an actual attack, i.e. the belief that made them sick in the first place.

It was never made clear to them or to the public that their symptoms were real only to the extent that psychogenic symptoms are real. It was kind of a 'have-your-cake-and-it-too' way of tackling the problem that the government had - if not created then at least - exacerbated in the first place.

And first The Washington Times and then American Military News are now repeating the same story and making it even worse: 'They are out to get us all, the bloody Chinese!'
Paranoia sells. (And people selling hardware to the U.S. military know that paranoia sells better than anything.)

So there is no reason to assume that governmental authorities will take the problem of TIs seriously any time soon. Biden won't go on TV and tell people that this particular boogeyman is something they really don't have to fear, and no Fauci will explain to them what mass psychogenic illness is and that their real symptoms, their real pain and their real fears may be real but that the things that they believe caused those symptoms, pain and fears aren't.

An occasional newspaper article or podcast may quote serious experts like the two Roberts, Baloh and Bartholomew, or one of the many other people who know what this is and who would also be able to explain it in a way that ordinary people can understand, but it doesn't sell as well as sensationalist paranoia, which is probably the reason why CBS hasn't yet made an edition of 60 Minutes to restore a bit of sanity to their viewers to make up for the damage they did with their despicable show last year.

ETA: As for "So please dont make light of these persons. They are human and they suffer."
David Relman is one of the guys I have poked fun at in this thread: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=13885812#post13885812
I wouldn't treat guys like Len Ber or your sister like that. However, when you mention people who are human and suffer, I know a lot of people who fell victim to the story about the 'syndrome' and what the story was used to justify. They all live in Cuba, and the suffering that the story about the 'syndrome' has caused them is hardly ever mentioned in this context. In the sphere of politics, mentioning that very real consequence of the 'syndrome' might ruin your chances of getting reelected.

dann · Jul 13, 2023

In case you don't remember how fond MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace used to be of the 'mysterious Havana syndrome':
Havana Syndrome | FAKE NEWS (Matt Orfalea on YouTube, Dec 3, 2022 - 3:46 min.)

dann · Jul 13, 2023

dann said:
As for the lawsuit #TJvGarland" (TJ = Targeted Justice), which got the TI hopes up, it is a very confusing affair. It seems to be only tangentially related to the concerns of people who think they are victims of 'Havana syndrome': Targeted Justice Files Lawsuit Alleging Crimes Against US Citizens — Is it a Bombshell or a Fizzle? (Activist Post, March 15, 2023)

The TI lawsuit was struck down again:

Judge Rosenthal dismissed our case with prejudice.
She thinks it is fantastical, because she is smarter than the National Academies of Science. She is also smarter than Dr Michael Hoffer, who diagnosed our Plaintiff Dr Len Ber, with Havana Syndrome - just like the CIA Agents and State Dept personnel. She never mentioned anything about the pictures of microwave burns, because she is smarter than any pictures…
https://www.targetedjustice.com/microwave-burns.html
TJ filing Notice of Appeal to 5th Circuit (Targeted Justice Newsletter on Substack, July 11, 2023)

I am neither a dermatologist nor any other kind of medical professional, but I wonder why the TIs think that those photos show cases of microwave burns. First of all, they show very different kinds of damage to the skin. To me, the photos in the link for the most par look like cases of bad sunburns, psoriasis, other rashes and venous ulcers.

I don't find it hard to believe that the judge thinks she's smarter than David Relman, his NAS team and Michael Hoffer. I tend to think that she probably is smarter than them.
Claiming that the judge [thinks that] "she is smarter than any pictures" makes no sense, but she probably thinks that she is better at estimating the value of those photos as evidence in a court of law. I assume that her dismissal of the case is based on some kind of expert evaluation of the evidence presented to the court by the plaintiff.

Houston Judge in #TJvGarland sided with the gov’t defendants, called our pleadings fantastical, and dismissed our case. As to me, anyone who uses directed energy with “..” is far behind the technological curve. Acquisition of this technology is in the budget, so the use of “…” is unwarranted. That alone told me plenty about the judge and her thinking.
Len Ber MD (Twitter, July 12, 2023)

I doubt that the “…” is about directed energy weapons as such. I assume that it is about the TI idea that they are the victims of DEW attacks.

dann · Jul 14, 2023

Olivia Troye and Mark Zaid

For those of you who don't remember 'syndrome' victim Olivia Troye, see posts 1,296, 1,300, 1,468, 1,522, 1,595, 1,652, 1,686 and 1,754.

She worked for Mike Pence during the Trump administration, and she is one of two (?) people who believed that they were the victims of 'Havana syndrome attacks' in Washington, D.C., on separate occasions. In her case, the alleged attack took place as she was descending a stairway on the White House grounds. Her story about this figured prominently in the infamous CBS 60 Minutes episode in February 2022.

Mark Zaid, the lawyer of many of the alleged 'syndrome' victims, has now started a fundraiser to support her in a case that appears to have nothing to do with the 'Havana syndrome' or any other kind of DEW attack, real or imagined:

Former Ambassador Richard Grenell has filed a defamation lawsuit against our client Olivia Troye, a former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, as part of MAGA's efforts to silence those who challenge their actions to undermine Democracy.
(...)
Olivia Troye and our team are separately creating a non-partisan, non-profit organization that will go public shortly. This entity will help MAGA victims around the country to combat disinformation and provide pro bono legal representation, electronic and physical security to combat threats, media responses and mental health counseling, among other services.
Olivia Troye Legal Defense Fund Re: MAGA Litigant (GoFundMe)

To combat disinformation!!!
As Ghandi allegedly said when asked about Western civilization: I think it would be a good idea.
I wonder if Cuba could sue the people who spread disinformation about the alleged Havana syndrome. Maybe the Olivia Troye Legal Defense Fund should consider paying for some of the repercussions those lies have had in the form of media responses and threats, for instance ...

dann · Jul 17, 2023

More Chinese Neurostrike

As mentioned in post 1,965, China has now become the preferred boogeyman:

Fears China is developing disturbing weapons are spreading amid rumours a mysterious syndrome was caused by a deliberate attack.
(...)
The Enumerating, Targeting and Collapsing the Chinese Communist Party’s Neurostrike Program document claims Beijing is developing methods to impair the thinking of military personnel and government officials.
The National University of Singapore East Asian Institute senior fellow, a former US Army microbiologist and a former US air force intelligence officer claim microwave and similar directed energy weapons can “attack, or even control, mammalian brains (including humans)”.
(...)
But while it speculates at length on the strategic and tactical power of such an assault, the 12-page report contains next to no detail about these weapons, or how they actually work.
And that’s the same reason why a two-year investigation into some 1500 “anomalous health incidents” reported by US diplomats since 2016 rejected the notion they were the victims of an attack.
An unexplained set of symptoms, including hearing loss, vertigo, nausea and “brain fog”, has been dubbed “Havana syndrome” as its epicentre was the US diplomatic mission in Cuba.
New report claims China producing disturbing ‘brain-disrupting’ weapons (News.com.au, July 15, 2023)

The author of the article has looked at the arguments from experts who insist that the syndrome was caused by a microwave attack, i.e. "University of New Mexico professor of electrical engineering Edl Schamiloglu," but fortunately also also at the arguments in neurologist Robert Baloh's article Havana Syndrome fits the pattern of psychogenic illness - but that doesn't mean symptoms aren't real (Conversation).

dann · Jul 17, 2023

dann said:
The TI lawsuit was struck down again:

I am neither a dermatologist nor any other kind of medical professional, but I wonder why the TIs think that those photos show cases of microwave burns. First of all, they show very different kinds of damage to the skin. To me, the photos in the link for the most part look like cases of bad sunburn, psoriasis, other rashes and venous ulcers.

I am not the only one. One of the TIs has the same objection to (some of) the photos:

... Like I said they look like sun burns to me I've had 2nd degree sun burn before it looked a lot like those pic. Not being decisive or don't mean to be. You know I support this all the way, but what I read from that report pic alone don't do it. ...
Targeted Justice v. Garland - Week 29 (Len Ber MD on NeuroStrike and Havana Syndrome on Substack, July 16, 2023)

The quotation is from a comment to the article.

dann · Jul 17, 2023

Lawsuit Claiming the US is Using Citizens as Lab Rats is Dismissed (David Icke, July 17, 2023)

The David Icke site's article is based on this article: Lawsuit Claiming the US is Using Citizens as Lab Rats is Dismissed (ActivistPost, July 15, 2023)

dann · Jul 19, 2023

I have mentioned the so-called Moscow Signal several times, e.g. in posts 1,082, 1,087, 1,165, 1,257, 1,396, 1,601, 1,613, 1,716, 1,785 and 1,082.

From Robert Skvarla today:

Memo from a 1976 White House meeting admitting that the US was responsible for generating some of the radiation that allegedly caused the Moscow Signal. Implication here with "equipment" is likely passive listening devices.
From NARA's archives: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1553367
...
The CIA and ARPA launched a multi-year investigation into an alleged Soviet microwave weapon used during the 1950s and 1960s, dubbed the Moscow Signal, as part of Projects PANDORA and BIZARRE. Guess what they found? twitter.com/NSArchive/stat…
Robert Skvarla (Twitter, July 19, 2023)

As reported at the time, the primary theories were Soviet listening devices and/or electronic jamming. The above memo suggests the US was using similar equipment to prevent Soviet attempts at eavesdropping and/or gathering electronic signals intelligence.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hRkrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WZ0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1620,3662801
Robert Skvarla (Twitter, July 19, 2023)

See enclosed copies of documents and excerpts from newspaper articles in the tweets.

dann · Jul 21, 2023

The 1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning (Wikipedia) was discussed in this thread beginning on page 12, continuing on pages 13 and 14 and then mentioned again on pages 17 and 28.

A new novel by Sophie Mackintosh, Cursed Bread, is based on the Port-Saint-Esprit case:

From patient memoirs to investigative podcasts, the hunt for a diagnosis involves unusual suspects, diligent detective work, and a singular crime scene—the body.
True crime fans often have a pet case that haunts them above all others—one that keeps them returning to the clues, again and again, in search of an answer. I have a few such cases myself, but it only recently occurred to me that I also have a shortlist of obsessed-over medical mysteries. Fatal familial insomnia. Munchausen's. The 1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning, which inspired the 2023 novel, Cursed Bread.
Medical mysteries for true crime fans (Audible, July 18, 2023)

Another medical mystery book (but not-fiction) mentioned on the Audible page and in this thread fairly recently:

In The Sleeping Beauties, award-winning neurologist Dr. Suzanne O’Sullivan investigates mysterious psychosomatic disorders in communi*ties all over the world, from the so-called "Havana Syndrome" afflicting US diplomats in Cuba to a baffling episode of tics and seizures among teen girls in upstate New York to the eponymous case of the collection, which refers to the coma-like Resignation Syndrome, exclusively affecting refugee children living in Sweden.

I hadn't heard about the (also non-fiction) book Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan. It doesn't seem to be about 'Havana syndrome', but I feel more inclined to read it than the one based on the Port-Saint-Esprit case:

Audacious and mesmerising, Cursed Bread is a fevered confession, an entry into memory’s hall of mirrors, and an erotic fable of transformation. Sophie Mackintosh spins a darkly gleaming tale of a town gripped by hysteria, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.

Cursed Bread seems to be very loosely based on reality.

dann · Jul 25, 2023

In Pop Culture

New spy thriller:

One of Australia’s fastest rising thriller authors, Tim Ayliffe, returns with the fourth book in his outstanding John Bailey series, Killer Traitor Spy, which sees Cold War espionage re-emerge right in the heart of modern day Australia.
Over the last few years I have been having an amazing time reading a particularly cool Australian thriller series, the Jon Bailey books by journalist Tim Ayliffe. Following a damaged investigative reporter who relentlessly follows his stories no matter how dangerous they are, the John Bailey books are an outstanding series that combined intriguing storylines with compelling and highly insightful depictions of modern-day Australia.
(...)
I particularly liked the focus on Australia’s strategic importance, the intelligence relationship it has with other Western nations, the examination of potential espionage elements currently running around the country, and there was even a fun inclusion of the infamous “Havana Syndrome” and the potential weapons behind it.
Killer Traitor Spy by Tim Ayliffe (UnseenLibrary, July 23, 2023)

If it had been available on Kindle, I might have taken a look at it and its allegedly fun inclusion of the 'syndrome', but since there aren't any actual "potential weapons behind it", I fear the worst.

dann · Jul 29, 2023

The 'syndrome' has gone almost entirely fringe, but with the UFO hearing in Congress (and David Grusch, in particular) fringe has gone mainstream:
Whistleblower tells Congress the US is concealing ‘multi-decade’ program that captures UFOs (AP, July 26, 2023)

In response to a question from Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Grusch said he had personal knowledge about injuries that were sustained by people trying to reverse-engineer UAP technologies.
“How were they injured?” Burchett asked. “Was it something like a radioactive-type situation, or something we didn’t understand? I’ve heard people talk about Havana syndrome type incidents. What was your recollection of that?”
“I can’t get into specifics,” Grusch replied, “but you could imagine assessing an unknown unknown. There’s a lot of potentialities you can’t fully prepare for.”
Witnesses Play Up the Alien Angle at Congressional UFO Hearing (UniverseToday, July 26, 2023)

At one point, Grusch claimed that he was aware of injuries while working on the reverse engineering of UAPs, describing, "I've heard people talk about the Havana syndrome-type incidences." However, he said, "I can't get into specifics."
UFO witnesses testify about technology that 'defies current material' on Earth (Gazette, July 26, 2023)

‘Nonhuman biologics’ were found at a crash site…“Grusch… told the panel that he knows of “multiple colleagues” who were injured by UAPs. He also said he has interviewed individuals who have recovered “nonhuman biologics” from crashed UAPs… “I have to be very careful here … [but] what I personally witnessed, myself and my wife, was very disturbing.”” – That MIT Researcher who studied Havana Syndrome, and said it was similar to UAP exposures which the military had him studying, said something like 38 members of the military have died from UAP encounters that somehow exposed them to some kind of energy, and he was a legit University researcher and well respected. Yet outside of him, nobody has talked about that.
News Briefs – 07/27/2023 (AnonymousConservative)

Anonymous Conservative is very fond of this idea and also reported about Shawn Ryan, another Congressional 'whistleblower':

He also says this voice to skull technology has been described as a symptom people have experienced with Havana Syndrome in memos from the Department of Defense, whose employees hit with Havana Syndrome have reported also hearing voices in their heads. That I could see, with operators close by deploying the tech. He says the South Pole crews are suffering from Havana Syndrome too, and he says we are going to find a lot of people in regular society will be found to be suffering from it as well, as the technology is a weapon which is being rolled out on a much broader scale than society is being told.
News Briefs – 07/22/2023 (AnonymousConservative)

dann · Jul 29, 2023

Re. Mitch McConnell - nobody suspects #DirectedEnergy attack? I am not surprised regular folks don’t suspect it, but the doctors should. If it it is not on the menu, it will never be diagnosed.
Len Ber MD (Twitter, July 29, 2023)

No, I guess that, except for a few TIs, nobody does, but he did look like he might have been listening to crickets.

When i recorded the video with camera of another phone you can see it picks up light changes on mitches head only
Rock (Twitter, July 27, 2023)

With short video. (I don't see anything peculiar other than McConnelll.)

Not TI tweets:

It's so cool that, increasingly, we're building communities around apps that are designed to convince us that we're being gangstalked by our neighbors

Nextdoor is the most paranoid , gossiping and snitching app I've ever seen. I live in an extremely low crime area and by looking at that app you think everyone in my neighborhood is being gangstalked by out of town strangers.
Billy (Twitter, July 26, 2023)

Click to expand...

Robert Skvarla (Twitter, July 26, 2023)

dann · Jul 29, 2023

'Havana Syndrome' victim Olivia Troye is on MSNBC again, but much like Marc Polymeropoulos, another 'syndrome' victim and semi-frequent guest on CNN and MSNBC, she doesn't make references to the alleged DEW attacks anymore.

In the MSNBC video, she is describe as a "cofounder of Mission Democracy and former Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Mike Pence," which is where experienced Peter Navarro. I love her description of Navarro's behavior! (Mission Democracy looks like a fairly rational anti-MAGA organization. Not exactly Antifa, but still ...)

‘Complete lunatic’: Fmr. Trump WH aide blasts Navarro after ‘civil war’ threat
(MSNBC on YouTube, July 26, 2023 - 10:33 min.) Troye is on from 4:47:

(By the way, Peter Navarro seems to be taking fashion tips from Ben Shapiro. Or maybe they both consider Barbie's Ken to be a fashion role model.)

dann · Jul 30, 2023

I hadn't noticed this guy or his show until now even though I had heard about his antivax 'documentary' Died Suddenly:

Stewart Peters (born April 1, 1980) is an American far-right online personality and former bounty hunter. He is known for promoting COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories.
His online show is titled the Stew Peters Show, and airs on weekdays. His show routinely features conspiracy theories about governmental organizations, such as the CDC. His guests have included established proponents of conspiracy theories such as Paul Gosar, Mark Meadows, and L. Lin Wood. In 2022, Peters released the anti-vaccine film Died Suddenly, then a 2023 video titled Final Days.
(...)
Peters uses his show to initiate or amplify a large number of rumors and fabrications that have been identified as disinformation. He has used violent rhetoric against several marginalized groups, notably Jews and the LGBT community.He promotes concepts linked to QAnon and white nationalism. Because of his ability to incite his numerous followers to harass those he targets, extremism researcher Katie McCarthy has compared him to Alex Jones.
(...)
Peters misrepresented scientific communications and presented baseless theories as fact to promote the narrative that COVID vaccination is part of an attempted genocide,[27] that military personnel got HIV from the vaccine,[28] and that vaccinated people are frequently victims of strokes[29] and penile rot.
Stew Peters (Wikipedia)

It is not surprising that Mike Lindell is a sponsor of the show and that a far-right conspiracy nut would also be drawn to the world of TIs and their fears of gang-stalking and surveillance:

#TargetedIndividuals
Progress is being made. Don’t give up.

Stew Peters Show video:
Pretty much everybody has a microwave in their home. You might know how they work or you might not. They shoot out a form of low-radiation microwaves, which cause molecules to beam energy and then rapidly heat up.

Here's the thing: There is no reason that those microwaves have to only be used for reheating food. They can be used in all kinds of ways, including to hurt people.
For years police and would-be tyrants have been developing their own heat-waves, microwave cannons that can force protesters to disperse by cooking them from the inside.

They used them in Australia against anti-lockdown protesters and you better believe it they used them here, too. In fact, they considered using them in DC during the George Floyd riots.

A supposed medical illness called Havana syndrome where US spies and diplomats are coming down with mysterious illnesses is thought by some to be caused by a similar microwave weapon. According to the CIA, always truthful, there is little to no evidence that any such attacks are being made by a foreign power, but what if they were being made by our own government?

Amy Holem is the owner of Aimee's Audio - Subliminal Acoustic Fingerprinting. She specializes in digital forensics investigations and is on the board of directors of the Directed Energy Weapons Agency.

Click to expand...

MKultra Guinea Pig (Twitter, Nov 23, 2022)

I wonder if there are more people on the board of directors than Amy Holem and the founder & president of the agency, Mechael Wright-Hodges.

And it doesn't seem to require much knowledge about microwave weapons used for crowd control when it is claimed that they disperse protesters "by cooking them from the inside."
I am sure that cooking somebody from the inside would put a stop to protests, but I doubt that protesters would then be able to disperse. Beside, it is well known that these weapons work by heating up the skin and thus making people move away from the target zone - or 'get off the X', as the US spies in Havana would say, but in their case it only took the sound of crickets to make them do so.

This video is not the first time I've wondered if these people actually believe what they are saying. I am not even sure that Stewart Peters believes in Amy Holem's stories and credentials or if he is just using her to help him spread anxiety.

dann · Aug 5, 2023

More

Jim Semivan on Anomalous Health Effects (Anomalous Health Incidents) at Skinwalker Ranch, the Phenomenon…
And if there’s a correlation to ‘Havana Syndrome’.
Jacques Keel (Twitter, July 31, 2023)

With short video, 1:19 min.

I find it interesting that Havana syndrome is present in every abductee I talk to
Elva (Twitter, Aug 1, 2023)

Of course, it is.

dann · Aug 5, 2023

A good day in our #AHI #FOIA case against #CIA. In a #NationalSecurity case, I'll take this outcome any day. Whenever we delay the govt winning, that's a win!

With expert FOIA attorney @MarkSZaidEsq in DC district court. The CIA wanted a summary judgment on records we requested regarding Havana Syndrome. The judge did not rule. Strongly implied the CIA needs to explain itself and gave it until 10/2 to do so.
Brian J. Karem (Twitter, July 31, 2023)

Click to expand...

Mark S. Zaid (Twitter, Aug 1, 2023)

The story of Mark Polymeropoulos, highly decorated CIA senior intelligence officer who developed Havana Syndrome on official trip to Russia in 2017 is compelling.
The notion that this was anything other than an attack is OFFENSIVE. Starts at 4:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZjXw0e1T1M
Richard Ferrans (Twitter, Aug 2, 2023)

Retweeted by Mark Zaid.

The 'Havana syndrome' sufferers play the (CAPITALIZED!) victim card whenever the alleged reality of their 'attacks' is questioned. The mere notion is claimed to be OFFENSIVE.

dann · Aug 6, 2023

Disinformation

Olivia Troye on MSNBC again:

- What was going through your head? [When she read the most recent Trump indictment]
Troye: You know, honesttly, it was chilling. It brought back so many memories of January 6. It actually made me nauseous at times, and I could very visually visualize some of these moments.
'He was too honest': Fmr. aide to Mike Pence reacts to new details about Trump's pressure on Jan. 6 (MSNBC on YouTube, Aug 5, 2023 - 10:29)

Poor thing. It doesn't seem to take much to make her nauseous and visualize[/] things.

I just love it when somebody who told the story about being attacked with microwave guns at the White House compound now talks about going up against disinformation and alternative reality and being too honest:

- When you're too honest, you know, I'm also a bit too honest at times ... He has let over two years of disinformation, and these lies continue ... I think that those are the moments that matter because you let so much time pass that the divide and disinformation, the alternative reality that we are seeing in some of these people ...

Click to expand...

She didn't come clean about what she was experiencing during the Trump-Pence administration until after it was over. And she sure as hell hasn't come clean about her disinformation about raygun attacks. She seems to excuse her silence during the Trump years with her loyalty to Pence, so I guess she also can't come clean about the 'Havana syndrome' now because of her loyalty to Mark Zaid, the guy with the fundraiser in support of her defense fund to "help MAGA victims around the country to combat disinformation."

dann · Aug 8, 2023

Michael Hoffer Revisited

Dr. Hoffer doesn't mention 'Havana Syndrome', DEW attacks, microwaves, brain damage or Targeted Individuals.
It is almost as if he has given up on those ideas and doesn't know what to say:

I had the pleasure to see Dr Hoffer today, 3 years after he diagnosed me with “Acquired Neurosensory Dysfunction” from Directed Energy, aka #HavanaSyndrome. I gave him a podcast T-shirt and he reads a Thank You Card in this video. #TargetedIndividuals
Dr Hoffer Reads a Thank You Card from Targeted Individuals for His Unflinching Integrity (Len Ber MD on YouTube, Aug 3, 2023 - 1:15 min.)

dann · Aug 10, 2023

Centre to look into 'Havana Syndrome': What it means and the term's history (Indian Express, Aug 7, 2023)

The central government will be soon investigating the possibility of ‘Havana Syndrome’ in India, the government told Karnataka high court last week. According to reports, the Centre made the submission to the court while hearing a petition filed by A Amarnath Chagu.
The petitioner, who is a resident of Bengaluru, had approached the court seeking an inquiry into the syndrome in India and for the government to come up with measures to prevent its transmission in the country, reported LiveLaw.
Govt to investigate ‘Havana syndrome’ in India. Know all about the mystery illness (HindustanTimes, Aug 8, 2023)

The only other 'syndrome' case in India was the US intelligence officer who accompanied CIA director Burns in Delhi in 2021.

dann · Aug 11, 2023

The Indian case mentioned in the previous post has not only riled up the community of Targeted Individuals:

It would make sense for Russia to hit India, especially with the recent news of Neuro strike weapons from China. This would lead to misdirection. Everyone then starts to blame China, while forgetting Havana syndrome. People have the memory of a gnat.
targetedquestions (Twitter, Aug 9, 2023)

Also one of the prominent and officially recognized 'syndrome' sufferer seems to hope that it will reawaken interest in the 'Havana syndrome':

Interesting. As per press reporting, a member of the Director’s senior staff was hit by this in Delhi.
CIA officer 'suffered from Havana syndrome' during India trip (BBC, Sep 21, 2021)
Marc Polymeropoulos (Twitter, Aug 8, 2023)

dann · Aug 15, 2023

It is probably no coincidence that the Twitter account is called Redpill Drifter:

JOE ROGAN HAVANA SYNDROME
#DirectedEnergyWeapons #HavanaSyndrome #TargetedIndividuals
Redpill Drifter (Twitter, Aug 14, 2023)

An excerpt from the 1-minute-long Joe Rogan video:

- The panel focused on cases in which victims heard a strange sound or felt pressure, and then experienced a loss of balance and ear pain. In addition, the panel focused on cases in which the victims reported the sounds as coming from a specific location.
- Whoa, so spooky. Whoa.
- Spooky, man.
- That's wild ****, dude.

It is amazing that the ability to locate the specific location from which a sound is coming somehow makes it seem more sinister to people. I usually prefer to know which direction a sound comes from, but hearing aids tend to make it more difficult, unfortunately.
In the case of the alleged 'syndrome' victims, the cricket sound didn't even come from inside the house!
Some of the 'syndrome' victims said that they went out on the porch to record it.

I assume that David Relman is responsible for spreading the idea that a locatable sound is particularly insidious. The Relman group was also the one that has been consistently referred to as "the expert panel" - even though they seem to have missed out on a sound and acoustics expert.

One such expert, Kevin Fu at Northeastern University, who at first believed in the hypothesis about a directional sonic attack, gave up on the idea when he was told that other experts had analyzed the sound and determined that it came from the West Indian short-tailed cricket.

ALSO: Here is an article published by Forbes (who recently called me a conspiracy theorist for talking about DEWS) explaining Havana Syndrome in 2020
The Microwave Weapons That Could Explain Why 'Havana Syndrome' Report Is Not Being Released (Forbes, Oct 20/Dec 6, 2020)

Redpill Drifter (Twitter, Aug 14, 2023)

Is it possible that the explanation for Forbes' apparent inconsistency on this issue is that it was later discovered that the 2020 hypothesis wasn't true, i.e. that the 'syndrome' had very banal and not at all sinister causes?

dann · Aug 18, 2023

At this point, I actually thought that the U.S. embassy in Havana had reopened a long time ago.
It is amazing how they have managed to delay the opening of some functions this long.
I wonder if they'll shut it all down again if an embassy staffer comes down with an ailment whose cause is not immediately apparent.

More than 20,000 cases in the Cuban Family Reunification Parole program remained in limbo for several years because the Trump administration withdrew most staff at the U.S. embassy in Havana in late 2017 due to the unexplained health incidents that sickened two dozen U.S. employees with an illness later known as Havana Syndrome. A year later, in December 2018, DHS also closed its office in Havana amid efforts by the Trump administration to cut the number of refugees coming to the United States.
Havana Syndrome is still a mystery under investigation. Still, despite internal disagreements, some intelligence agencies have ruled out a foreign adversary waging a global campaign against U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers. Those developments have allowed the Biden administration to gradually restore services at the embassy in the Cuban capital amid the largest immigration wave of Cubans coming to the United States in several decades.
In May last year, DHS announced it was resuming the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, and interviews restarted in August 2021.
But last week, DHS said that “interview capacity limitations in Cuba, resource constraints within DHS and State [Department], and the pending application caseload have made the process inefficient and inaccessible” to many beneficiaries in Cuba.
US will reopen immigration office in Cuba to tackle family-reunification backlog (Spokesman, Aug 17, 2023)

dann · Aug 19, 2023

When a TI buys a microscope:

Three hours after preparing a slide of dental anaesthetic with a drop of blood - microbots come alive when they encounter a biological material, and keep going and going and going
Len Ber MD (Twitter/X, Aug 18, 2023)

And when right-wing media explains Hawaiian forest fires:

As you can see from this CA video, Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs) somehow only burn houses, buildings, and cars but not trees.
This is what happened in Maui. This was a targeted attack against innocent Hawaiians.
Stew Peters (Twitter/X, Aug 14, 2023)

This was added to Stew Peters' tweet:

Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Many trees are adapted to surviving wildfires and benefit from these "fire regimes." However, many artificial structures are prone to catch flying embers (vents, roof composition, windows) which then find a vast abundance of fuels inside them to rapidly ignite.

dann · Aug 22, 2023

The microbots have now turned into Kinetically Active Micro Structures (KAMS) (Twitter/X, Aug 21, 2023).
It is not a story I intend to follow, unless a connection to Havana, crickets or DEWs pops up at some point.

dann · Aug 22, 2023

This article mentions several cases of mass hysteria/mass psychogenic illness, including the 'Havana syndrome'.
I don't remember hearing about this Portuguese case:

The Soap Opera Disease
In May 2006, a number of Portuguese schools were brought under the weather by "Morangos com Acucar" or "Strawberries with Sugar." This wasn't some form of contaminated fruit or allergy, but rather a youth-oriented soap-opera in which a number of characters became infected with a life-threatening illness.
Highly stressed by the upcoming exams, a number of students interpreted itches and rashes as the onset of this fictional disease, and soon a mass anxiety-type hysteria ripped through the schools. Over 300 pupils came down with this imaginary sickness before it abated.
Outbreaks of Delusion: Mass Hysteria (Owlcation, Aug 21, 2023)

Morangos com Açúcar Virus (Wikipedia)
How a Soap Opera Virus Felled Hundreds of Students in Portugal (SmithsonianMag, Mar 6, 2017)
If the SmithsonianMag article had been written in late-2017 instead of at the beginning of the year, it would probably have mentioned the 'Havana syndrome'.

dann · Aug 25, 2023

'Havana syndrome' & U.S.-Cuba relations:

Smarter Cuba policy. The Biden administration's decision to reopen an immigration office in Cuba is good news for the expatriate community in Florida and for border control more generally. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Thursday it would reopen an international field office in Havana to assist in processing pending cases of Cuban's seeking to move to the United States, including those seeking refugee status. The Havana office was closed in 2018 under a Trump administration policy aimed at responding to so-called "Havana Syndrome," an unresolved spate of symptoms experienced by U.S. diplomats that some believed were caused by microwave or other electronic attacks. The Biden Administration said it reopened the office to promote safe and legal migration between the countries, coming after huge numbers of Cubans undertook dangerous travels by boat and through Central America in recent years to reach the U.S. border. This is a smart and timely change to immigration policy that bodes especially well for the Tampa Bay area, which hosts the third-largest population of Cubans in the U.S.
Free Everglades literacy classes are a good step for Florida (TampaBay, Aug 21, 2023)

“I am appalled by the Biden Administration’s appeasement of dangerous adversaries and rewarding human rights abusers, this time by granting the special privilege of U.S. entry to Cuba’s Díaz-Canel, and the rest of his ‘delegation’ of thugs, particularly after the expulsion of Cuban diplomat-spies over the past two decades from the missions in New York and Washington, D.C. for espionage,” the Miami Republican said.

In 2017, then-President Donald Trump’s administration expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from the nation’s embassy in Washington. At the time, the State Department said the action took place “due to Cuba’s failure to take appropriate steps to protect our diplomats in accordance with its obligations under the Vienna Convention,” a seeming reference to a mysterious illness affecting the U.S. embassy in Havana. The conditions were later called Havana Syndrome by the State Department.
Mario Diaz-Balart slams planned U.N. visit by Cuban President (FloridaPolitics, Aug 22, 2023)

dann · Aug 30, 2023

New article by Baloh and Bartholomew in Skeptical Inquirer:

Fast-forward to March 1, 2023: The National Intelligence Council announced that five different intelligence agencies had concluded it was “highly unlikely” the health incidents were the result of a foreign adversary or inadvertent exposure to a directed energy device (National Intelligence Council 2023). Over the past six years, the confusion over the status of Havana Syndrome can be summed up in seven words: bad government, bad science, and bad journalism.
The Rise and Fall of ‘Havana Syndrome’ (Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 47, No. 5, September/October 2023)

The article looks at the three themes summed up in the seven words.
Baloh and Bartholomew mention the two articles in ProPublica by Tim Golden and Sebastian Rotella which were entirely ignored by David Relman in his NAS report as was the book by Baloh and Bartholomew.

I linked to the ProPublica articles in this thread when they were published, and I can still recommend them to anybody who hasn't read them yet or doesn't remember them:
The strange case of American diplomats in Cuba: As the mystery deepens, so do divisions in Washington. (ProPublica, Nov 9, 2018)
The sound and the fury: Inside the mystery of the Havana embassy. ProPublica (ProPublica, Feb 14, 2018)

dann · Aug 31, 2023

TIs are convinced that Mitch McConnell is a victim of Havana Syndrome and has now joined their ranks:

#neurostrike formerly #havanasyndrome used by shadow government, perfected through ongoing #mkultra projects, partnered with technology. When will the shadow gov be exposed? These are weapons of war, also being used on civilians #TargetedIndividuals
Shaina Shaina (Twitter/X, Aug 31, 2023)

I don't know who the other alleged Targeted Individuals in the short (0:41) video are.

dann · Sep 7, 2023

I mentioned the recent Indian case in posts 1,985 and 1,986.
Even thought the new case is neither a diplomat nor a CIA agent. He is "Raavi Tarun, a US citizen from Las Vegas, who has been working as a software consultant."

So another 'Targeted Individual', apparently:

Elaborating on the DEW, Tarun said that the US agencies inject Nanobots and Nanoparticles to the persons and they settle in the brain taking control of the thought process. For instance, Saroja from Bengaluru and Hemant Pandey from Mumbai and another person, who refuses to divulge his name from Visakhapatnam, are a miniscule of the large number of victims in the country. Surprisingly, they never even visited the United States of America. “There is no safety for anyone if this continues,” Tarun said.
‘DEW’ causes Havana Syndrome: US citizen Tarun (TheHansIndia, Sep 7, 2023)

dann · Sep 8, 2023

The 'syndrome' in pop culture

I never read any of the Clive Cussler mystery novels, and I don't know if I ever will:

The captain lies face down in the silent starboard bridge. Clutched beneath him - an empty shotgun.
When Kurt and Joe search the freighter for clues, the situation grows stranger - and more dangerous. Lying hidden in wait are the rest of the paranoid, disoriented and ready to fight.
Could a mind-altering sickness have struck down an entire ship? Or is something much more sinister going on?
Following the crew's tale of mysterious lights leads Kurt and Joe to a cadre of Cuban mercenariesClive Cussler’s Condor’s Fury (Goodreads)

Never mind that Cuba condemns any use of mercenaries. All American patriots know that Cubans are devious and have directed energy weapons that cause "mind-altering sickness," so ...

Kurt and Joe deduce that the men are suffering from Havana Syndrome, which deepens the mystery and raises the stakes. Soon, they’re confronting Cuban mercenaries who plan to use magnificent modern airships to hijack a nuclear submarine—culminating in a life-or-death showdown in the skies.
Clive Cussler Condor's Fury (History Book Club)

Interesting that there are "mysterious lights" in this story. I suppose the mysterious sound was toned down on purpose.

dann · Sep 13, 2023

It occurred to me that DoD's ongoing investigation, or at least what appeared to be an important part of it, would come to an end this month, but we aren't quite there yet:

The Army in September awarded Wayne State University in Michigan a $750,000 grant to study the effects of radio frequency waves on ferrets, which have brains similar to humans, according to information on the grant posted on USASpending.gov. The aim is to determine whether this exposure induces similar symptoms to those experienced by U.S. government personnel in Havana, Cuba, and China, the documents show.
(...)
DoD spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman confirmed that the grant to Wayne State University, with collaborators from the University of Michigan, “will develop and test a novel laboratory animal model to mimic mild concussive head injury.”
(...)
Gorman declined to comment on whether DoD has recently conducted these experiments on primates.
(...)
The yearlong study, which is funded from Sept. 30 of last year to Sept. 29 of this year, is part of DoD’s continuing effort to determine the cause of the mysterious incidents.
The Pentagon is funding experiments on animals to recreate 'Havana Syndrome' (Politico, Mar 9, 2023)

Sep 29, so still two weeks to go.
Somehow, I can't imagine that we wouldn't have heard a thing by now if they had found the smoking gun, so I guess nothing has come out of this but smoking brains.

I also notice that only "similar symptoms to those experienced by U.S. government personnel in Havana, Cuba, and China" are mentioned. It seems to imply that the symptoms experienced by other agents and diplomats in the rest of the world, e.g. the symptoms Marc Polymeropoulos had in Moscow or Olivia Troye in Washington, are not considered to be symptoms of 'Havana syndrome'.

The researchers at Wayne State U will no doubt have dissected the ferret brains to see how they responded to the microwaves, i.e. to determine if it looks like "mild concussive head injury," but since no victim of the 'syndrome' has died yet (to my knowledge), I think it will be difficult to make a proper comparison. A dog that had to be put down (in Havana, I think) was mentioned at one point, but I don't know if it is still considered to have been a victim of the 'syndrome' or if its brain was properly examined at the time.

dann · Sep 16, 2023

dann said:
Dr. Hoffer doesn't mention 'Havana Syndrome', DEW attacks, microwaves, brain damage or Targeted Individuals.
It is almost as if he has given up on those ideas and doesn't know what to say:

I thought Michael Hoffer (see post 1,918) might have stopped diagnosing cases of 'Havana syndrome', but he is still doing it, apparently:

On Sept. 27 at 8:00AM I have an appointment with Dr. Michael Hoffer, MD Professor of Otolaryngology and Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami in Coral Gables for Havana Syndrome.
Dale Schenck (Twitter/X, Sep 15, 2023)

Does he take insurance or is it self pay?
Stalked Non-Investigative Subject, Target-Loudoun (Twitter/X, Sep 16, 2023)

I doubt that any insurance company will pay for that.

dann · Sep 26, 2023

Brain Scans

When TIs are brain-scanned. And many of them are, apparently:

For all of the people that purport to be an #mkultra #targetedindividual #havanasyndrome survivor
I truly wish you freedom, peace and love, take care, Roy
I won't be around for a while, too much BS and lies flying around.
To all of the people stealing and taking money from innocent victims of torture, I hope you can live with yourselves.

(...) The ventricular system is within normal limits, no focal intra-cranial mass lesion identified. There are two or three small high signal foci within the deep white matter of the cerebral hemispheres, which are very unlikely to be of any clinical relevance.
Report has been verified
Radiologist: DR C. LEE-ELLIOTT

Click to expand...

Roy Eacups (Twitter/X, Sep 25, 2023)

Doctors do not want to find anything because they are advice to or know that they will encounter problems removing ilegal implants. It takes a brave doctor to go into a procedure that they do not know much about.
Frederico ODS (Twitter/X, Sep 26, 2023)

That is what many of the reports look like.
Mine says the 2 hemispheres are separated by almost an inch and the 3rd ventricle is super-enlarged. They can't find a reason.
But it's like the scans of astronaut brains that went through centrifuge training. JUST like them.
Penelope (Twitter/X, Sep 25, 2023)

What’s most interesting is they made an error & didn’t get complete imagery. The white matter lesions are consistent in all of us. You don’t have very many compared to the brains of others that I’ve seen but it also was not a complete scan
Teresa Tindal (Twitter/X, Sep 25, 2023)

Now, I am neither a brain surgeon nor a radiologist. I am no kind of health-care professional, so if I had received a similar report after a brain scan, I would also have wondered what "high signal foci" are, but I would have asked what it meant and I expect that I would have been given a reassuring answer.
As it is, I asked Dr. Google about high signal foci and got this:

Foci of high signal in the cerebral white matter are common incidental findings on MR images of the brain of control subjects or patients with a variety of diseases.
High-signal foci on MR images of the brain: observer variability in their quantification (PubMed, American Journal of Roentgenology, July 1992)

Notice that when the report about the brain scan was that "the ventricular system is within normal limits, no focal intra-cranial mass lesion identified," Teresa Tindal nevertheless read it as if the scan had found "white matter lesions."
As for the astronaut brains, I assume they are pretty healthy and well-functioning. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been allowed onboard any kind of space shuttle. (Maybe except Elon Musk's, but I'm not even sure about that.)

I look forward to hearing what Michael Hoffer will tell Dale Schenck tomorrow. (See post 1,998 from Sep 16.)

dann · Sep 26, 2023

The 'Syndrome' Has Come Home to Roost

The TIs don't blame Cuba or Russia for the 'syndrome'. Instead, they blame the people who invented and spread it:

THIS!!! #HavanaSyndrome was another operation & unethical, illegal, human testing on unwitting civilians & their CHILDREN that was once again blamed on these incredibly crafty Cubans & Russians with magic powers to infiltrate the most secure facilities in the world.

1) Events in Havana were caused by #US @DeptofDefense.
@StateDept personnel and buildings are very, very well protected by @StateDeptDSS Security Technical Specialists (STS), Security Engineering Officers (SEO), @USNavy Seabees, @SecretService, @CIA and other alphabet agencies.
Subliminal Industries (Twitter/X, Sep 16, 2023)

Click to expand...

Teresa Tindal (Twitter/X, Sep 17, 2023)

It is very unfortunate that they don't know what the 'syndrome' is, but at least they've pointed out who the perpetrator was.

Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

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