Episodes
Friday Jan 05, 2018
The Ten Commandments of African Swine Fever
Friday Jan 05, 2018
Friday Jan 05, 2018
If you love disobeying the Ten Commandments of African Swine Fever, then you will be a big fan of Pig: A Memoir, the Orwellian novel about the connection between human and pig diseases now at Amazon here.
Thursday Dec 14, 2017
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Transmission Between People and Pets
Thursday Dec 14, 2017
Thursday Dec 14, 2017
Charles Ortleb discusses the 1998 research by Dr. Thomas Glass on the possible transmission of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome between people and their pets. He also reads from an article by Neenyah Ostrom published eight years eariler in his newspaper, New York Native. Ostrom reported on a woman with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome whose sick dog tested positive for HHV-6, the virus that in increasingly being linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
This audio is part of a documentary called Beyond Unrest being made by Ortleb. Beyond Unrest will explore the decade of reporting New York Native did on the link between HHV-6, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and AIDS. The documentary will put to rest any notion that there is anything mysterious about the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemic. Beyond Unrest will be based on Ortleb's book, The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up, which is a history of the intertwined nature of the AIDS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemics. Click to learn more about The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up.
Wednesday Nov 29, 2017
Wednesday Nov 29, 2017
Charles Ortleb, the publisher and editor-in-chief of New York Native, discusses a recent column on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Jane E. Brody in The New York Times. He also discusses the reporting he published by Neenyah Ostrom in New York Native on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome three decades earlier. Not only did The New York Times ignore Ortleb's dedication to covering Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemic, but the paper also mocked Ortleb when his paper went out of business in 1997 after a coordinated boycott by the AIDS activist group Act Up. Ortleb's account of his newspaper's attempt to bring the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemic to the public's attention can be found in his book The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up which is available at Amazon
Previous Podcasts
Wednesday Oct 18, 2017
Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Only Contagious in Canada?
Wednesday Oct 18, 2017
Wednesday Oct 18, 2017
Thursday Oct 12, 2017
The AIDS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Connection
Thursday Oct 12, 2017
Thursday Oct 12, 2017
In this episode, journalist Charles Ortleb reads the first chapter of Truth to Power, his paradigm-changing history of the relationship between the AIDS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemics. Charles Ortleb’s Truth to Power takes you inside the New York Native, one of the most unique and courageous newspapers of the twentieth century. Shortly after starting his small New York City newspaper in late 1980, one of the biggest scientific and political stories of our time fell into his lap in the form of the AIDS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemic. What he did with that story has secured his newspaper’s place in history. Under his guidance, a succession of intrepid journalists did some of their greatest work uncovering the crucial facts about the labyrinthine epidemic. The New York Times recently described Ortleb's early work on AIDS as "visionary." Ortleb made the decision to follow the facts wherever they led. His team of uncompromising investigative reporters inevitably stepped on the toes of the most powerful people in the medical and political establishment. Perhaps not surprisingly, the latter fought back by seeking to discredit the New York Native and even, in time, close its doors. But Ortleb stood his ground for as long as possible and as a result the world now can have a clear understanding of the relationship of AIDS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and HHV-6, the transmissible virus that now threatens everyone on this planet. Truth to Power is not just a compelling work of journalism and history, but also a major contribution to the intellectual life of our time.
Truth to Power has been the #1 AIDS book on Kindle for the past two weeks.
Previous episodes of Truth to Power
Wednesday Oct 04, 2017
The Disturbing Autism and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Connection
Wednesday Oct 04, 2017
Wednesday Oct 04, 2017
Listen to "The Lady Upstairs," the album on Spotify inspired by The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up. Lyrics by Charles Ortleb. Music and performance by Chris Davidson. This album is also available on Amazon, Apple Music, iTunes, Google, and Deezer. Please help raise awareness about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by including these songs on your Spotify list and by sharing them with your friends and family.
Thursday Sep 28, 2017
The mathematician who insists that the HIV story of AIDS does not add up.
Thursday Sep 28, 2017
Thursday Sep 28, 2017
Charles Ortleb, the author of Truth to Power, discusses Rebecca Culshaw's scathing critique of the HIV theory of AIDS. Culshaw who is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas and the author of Science Sold Out, has published several journal articles about the mathematical modeling of HIV immunology. After working for a decade on HIV, Culshaw came to the conclusion that the HIV/AIDS hypothesis is untenable and the cause of a reign of terror and discrimination against the gay and black communities.
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Listen to "The Lady Upstairs," the album on Spotify inspired by The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up. Lyrics by Charles Ortleb. Music and performance by Chris Davidson. This album is also available on Amazon, Apple Music, iTunes, Google, and Deezer. Please help raise awareness about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by including these songs on your Spotify list and by sharing them with your friends and family.
Thursday Sep 21, 2017
Thursday Sep 21, 2017
His play:
Thursday Sep 14, 2017
Thursday Sep 14, 2017
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
In the April 29, 1991 issue of New York Native, there was a long interview, conducted by Neenyah Ostrom, with a very honest and outspoken doctor named Paul Lavinger. He was an internist who developed chronic fatigue syndrome in December 1989. His wife had contracted it in 1987. Ostrom reported, “In his extended household, five people now have been diagnosed with or are starting to develop symptoms of CFS. The Lavingers also have a five-year-old dog that ‘collapses for three hours’ after being taken for a walk.”
Lavinger told Ostrom, “From 25 years’ experience of practicing medicine and seeing how government agencies deal with outbreaks of illnesses, [he] believes that a ‘conspiracy of dunces’ is keeping the truth about chronic fatigue syndrome from the American public. . . . It’s absolutely ironic that the patients who have this illness, who are often turned away by physicians, are sicker than most patients in any doctor’s practice.” He also said, “The government doesn’t want to let the public know that they might be at risk, because if the public knew that they were at risk, then the public would demand certain things of the government. . . . But the government doesn’t want a public outcry. I think the government really wants to keep this quiet.”
He also believed, “The insurance companies are glad that the government doesn’t want to admit that this thing is real, because the insurance companies don’t want to have to pay.”
He also told Ostrom, “Families are in this conspiracy because they don’t want to feel guilty for not taking care of the sick family member—it’s easier to say that it’s your own damn fault. Can you imagine walking up to someone in an iron lung and saying ‘It’s your own damn fault you’re in this iron lung?’ So families absolve themselves of guilt. I know this story of a young girl with this illness: She had a typical story, there were lots of things she couldn’t do. So the family put her in a mental institution. I mean, they do this in Russia, but . . . the family doesn’t want to admit that the CFS patient is so sick that they might have to care for him or her. It’s easier to get rid of the sick person.”
Lavinger had an apocalyptic view of CFS and warned, “If you think the infrastructure of this country is the bridges, tunnels, and highways, you’re wrong—it’s the people. And I’m telling you that everybody could get sick—well, not everybody because there are people who are naturally immune to different kinds of illnesses. But it’s possible that half this country could get sick and that would be a disaster.”
In the May 6 issue of New York Native, published the second installment of the interview with Dr. Lavinger. When Ostrom asked him about the transmissibility of CFS, he said, “First of all, this disease is probably caused by a virus. Why do I say that? You know the story about the duck: If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck? Well if this disease isn’t a virus, it’s a duck. . . . The sheer number of people who are estimated to have CFS, as much as two to five percent of the population—maybe five to twelve million people—speaks to the issue of transmissibility. Too many people are getting the illness.”
Lavinger told her, “Practically all the people who got this disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, got it after 1980. . . . I spoke to a doctor who has been sick with CFS for six years but continues to work. In addition to his regular gastroenterology practice, out of the kindness of his heart, he takes care of 100 CFS patients. He told me that, among these 100 patients, he has 10 families. Eight of the ten families have two family members who had CFS; two of the ten families have three sick family members.”
Even though most of the evidence pointed to CFS being transmissible, he told Ostrom, “If you call the hotline at the CDC and press the right buttons on your touch-tone phone, they’ll tell you that CFS cannot be transmitted from person to person, period. And in the CDC pamphlet to doctors about this disease, it says exactly the same thing.
His play:
Thursday Sep 07, 2017
His Father had AIDS. He has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Thursday Sep 07, 2017
Thursday Sep 07, 2017
This is a show that could revolutionize the way people look at Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and AIDS. Charles Ortleb discusses Jonathan Lyon, who has written Carnivore, a novel that is a "revenge tragedy" inspired by his struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Lyon may soon become the most talked-about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome victim in the world. Jonathan Lyon has suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for ten years, and in Attitude magazine he reports that he watched his "dad die of HIV." Lyon's condition is referred to as non-HIV AIDS by former National Cancer Institute researcher Judy Mikovits. Ortleb asks the painfully obvious question of whether there is a connection between Lyon's "non-HIV AIDS" and his father's "HIV AIDS." Ortleb also urges Lyon to follow the bold and honest path of CFS activist Karen Lambert rather than celebrity CFS sufferers Laura Hillenbrand and Jennifer Brea. Lambert has been quite vocal about the contagiousness of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and its connection to AIDS. Ortleb argues that Hillenbrand and Brea are squandering their opportunities to educate the public while they whitewash the disease and fail to discuss all the science (and journalism) that support the reality that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a contagious illness and a public health emergency. All of Charles Ortleb's books can be found at www.CharlesOrtleb.com.
Charles Ortleb's books on Amazon