Well written, my friend. This issue is quite simple, and the scientific method is quite straightforward (and something most people understand at even a basic level).
Sadly, Kirsch isn't alone in his conception of "science" - this notion that someone can just make up a fairy tale hypothesis, and as long as it's accepted via consensus, it remains "true" until someone comes along with a BETTER fairy tale.
None of that has anything to do with actual science (which is a method). A hypothesis itself must be based on reality. Your presumed cause MUST EXIST.
This isn't hard, yet it's a fallacy committed by many.
If Kirsch, or anyone else, claims that "this thing is causing that thing", then simply show where the "this thing" was first identified to exist in reality (not the mind, not as an effect in a lab), and THEN show where said entity was proven to cause "Y" disease. Just show it. Everything else is a red herring.
D. Alec Zeck......I have offered a conversation between Steve Kirsch and Poornima Wagh on several occasions. He finally contacted her and then lied that she never responded to him. I explained that Dr. Wagh was currently involved in 2 major projects and if she did not respond to his email as promptly as he expects that she assured me she would contact him as soon as she had these projects tied up which would be as of August 28th. She called him 3 times already and as of today (8-25-22) Poornima has not gotten a return phone call. Now I understand Steve is out of the country but if he can sling insults because someone didn’t drop everything they were doing and respond to him then I can say the same about him. I believe Steve is hesitant to speak with her because she has done the analysis using the gold standard not mixing up a cocktail and then saying they isolated a virus. If you or anyone is interested in speaking with her just let me know. If you do not know her back story....she has a PhD in virology and a PhD in immunology (she also has a Masters in Economics and Finance). The lab she worked in was given a $1.5 million NIH grant and was asked to isolate SARS COV2. She refused at first and was convinced to participate. The samples (using the gold standard of isolation, purification and causation (using Koch’s Postulates) they found NO VIRUS. The analysis was done 2 more times with the same result. They reached out to about 100 Universities and requested they provide an analysis using the same process. 6 replied and they too found NO VIRUS. The findings were shared with the CDC on a brief 30 minute ZOOM meeting with only a small group. Then there was a 2.5 hour ZOOM with Robert Redfield and a very large number of participants. Poornima shared their results. Redfield stated that he did not care what they found they would report that they isolated the SARS COV2 or the lab would be shut down. Poornima refused to lie and of course her lab was raided by the FBI and shut down. She has been unable to work since then and no one will publish their research paper. The FBI also went to her home......she said they were very polite but basically said she needs to keep quiet. She has only recently been speaking out. She had 2 excellent interviews with Dr. Lee Merritt and she will be on a ZOOM conference out of Malaysia on Aug. 28th with Dr. Reiner Fuellmich. She also just finished an interview in which she shared the results of a international team she is working with on analyzing the ingredients in the COVID gene therapy.
I have listened to Dr Wagh speak about this - nice write up - thanks!
Also, if true, it sheds a little more light on Stevo's behavior vis he behaves like he is CEO and treats folks as employees. Also Stevo is clearly OBSDESSED with "money" or at least what passes for it these days.
Even if she doesn't have a diploma, she is excellent and has my full support! I find it shameful that she overwhelmed in this way. what do the "Experts" and "doctors" of science do??? .
Excellent article Alec. Anyone claiming that we require an alternative hypothesis fail to understand the burden of proof. If people still have problem understanding the burden of proof then lets use an analogy of a murder trial. If you fail to gather evidence against a suspect as the prosecutor then you let the suspect go even if you lack evidence for the real murderer. You don't try to convict an innocent man for a murder just because you lack another suspect, this is common sense and yet when dealing with "virology" this common sense seems to be uncommon.
Excellent article as usual, Alec. You're certainly more tactful than I am. I've said it before and I'll say it again: at this point, after over two years during which virology has been vigorously and redundantly debunked, it's important to realize that anyone still talking about "viruses" with a straight face is either a fool or a tool.
My left socks keep going missing. It is clearly a goblin taking them. In fact, I even got a picture of the goblin; okay, it's pretty blurry and dark but I absolutely know it's a goblin. My daughter even drew a picture of the goblin! Until Steve can prove where else my socks are going my goblin theory stands solid.
A vital point that is overlooked, altogether ignored or purposefully kept out of these discussions by many in the "Covid skeptic" movement, and especially those who have the biggest megaphones, is the simple fact that there was no pandemic- period.
A deeper dive into the history of these frauds, starting with the HIV/AIDS scandal, is essential to understanding the trajectory and operations of these "health emergencies" and the present day workings of the "Covid" fraud.
If this is not properly understood then there is fertile ground for yet "another response", "a better response" etc. for the next invented "pandemic." This then means the merry-go-round spins ad infinitum.
What must be understood is that all of these "health emergencies" are founded on fraud, money laundering and racketeering.
The propaganda is not simply limited to "how the pandemic was handled" or the countless peripheral aspects of the fraud- it is foundational to the creation of the very thing itself.
That the "Covid pandemic" was able to produce the cadavers this time (unlike the Swine Flu hoax of 2009) by killing the poor, mentally disabled and fragile elderly via policy and mass medical slaughter should make it even more imperative to investigate how and why all of that was done rather than persisting with the Big Lie that there ever was a pandemic.
That this is not front and center of the many discussions amongst 'Covid skeptics' is quite troubling.
Asserting a priori that there was a pandemic serves as cover for these ugly crimes.
I’m a layperson relatively new (2 years) to the germ theory debate but have learned a great deal from the ‘team’. I find the argument sound and share my developing understanding with people I meet if the moment feels right. The phrase the underpins my position is ‘the truth is relentless’.
18 months ago I had the privilege of taking part in a Zoom meeting with Celia Farber and Kevin Corbett. We chewed the cud and discussed a philosophical approach to share these world changing ideas.
Gr8 article and a solid rebuttal to Steve's pseudo science Stuff & Viral Nonsense.
If you have been reading the comments in Steve's substack as you indicate you will have likely noticed mine. I had quite a good time trying to counter his virus position though, like you, I was quite complimentary towards his good, well and reasoned efforts to stop the toxic if not lethal injections.
So several days ago a friend on Telegram (who btw just now linked me your excellent article), with whom I had been providing Stevo up dates (she does not like to subscribe to anything etc) speculated Stevo was going to find a reason to give me the boot - and yesterday he did.
W/o getting into the weeds I will just post my email reply to him in response to his **WARNING** Notice I was going to be banned in 24 hours (Long and short of it I had suggested to Steve he MIGHT JUST AS WELL raise the bet level to $10Trillion or the approximate amount ridding on Big pHARMa's Virus Business Model. Of course Stevo took it to mean I was BETTING him $10t and thus he DEMANDED I produce proof I had $10T in the "bank" to wager with😂):
//
Dear Steve,
You have become a joke especially since and given the obvious push back and your obvious REFUSAL TO ACTUALLY look at the science of quackology. Your "virology friends" are LYING to you but, you will figure that out soon enough. Regrettably ALL of science has become a joke and CORRUPT ever since the government got involved never mind health care, student loans; the Midas Touch you might say.
You of course missed my point which is you are offering "bets" to folks who OBVIOUSLY do not have the kind of funds available to cover your "bets" which are apparently available to you. I actually did offer you a sincere "bet" and that was a Case of 0.5ltr bottles of Mamos Greek Beer but, alas, obviously that comes at a price to dear for you to cover.
So, if you think I was SERIOUSLY offering such an amount you are delusional. Or, in the alternative, you and your family have been in fact threatened by Agents of Big pHARMa which, if true, I forgive you as you have to do what is best for your family .
But, either way I sensed you were going to find some way to get rid of me so BEFORE I even viewed your **IMPORTANT**FLASH**SELF AGRANDIZING** message I was conversing with a friend on TeleSCAM this morning (MY morning in Europe) and we agreed YOU HAD TO FIND SOME REASON TO GET RID OF ME so, here it is.
Bravo Steve, I concede, YOU WIN.
I have actually WASTED WAY TOO MUCH TIME TRYING TO EDUCATE YOUR ARROGANT MIT Phd ignorance (you are spawned from the same sort who will not allow you to make presentations on the campus to which you have been so generous) so I will save you the trouble. Thus I hereby ORDER you to keep fighting the Toxic Injections though take the friggin time to read the science bcs, no virus has yet to be isolated and purified pursuant to ALL the papers published to date.
Btw, a few weeks ago I did IN FACT Un-Subscribe from your Substack - you can find the comment if you look - but they ignored my request and kept sending me your notices to my protonmail. So, finally, I hereby ORDER you to BAN me and CEASE & DESIST sending any more of your CRAP to my ***@protonmail.com - thank you.
You have two (2) hours from receipt of this C&D to comply.
I wish you and your family well,
Bubye
Bjorno
Crete
Ps (from my telegram this morning)
"And for my encore I am going to pull a virus out of my hat! - Steve Kirsch"
Well ya know poor Stevo is getting a lot of push back and DAZ's excellent article is emblematic.
I suggested numerous times in my posts - all now Memory Holed by Stevo (I should have Archived it all) - Stevo may in fact have been threatened by agents of Big pHARMa bcs Judy Mikovits was and a bunch of virologist types died mysteriously in the decade leading up to the Covid Hoax. However, Stevo did not comment on any of those posts so Ima thinking he has been threatened.
In any event Stevo is gong to loose this viral argument.
They also get into "gene theory" which some of us have been bangin' on the drum about for over two decades since "gene therapy" and Biotech became all the rage.
Gene theory like germ theory also belongs in the dustbin of history.
If it weren't for the endless tap of grant monies both would be tossed in that dustbin where they belong.
This is Dr. Wagh's latest with more detail about examining 2,305 vile vials and she will email you her PP slides on request and I just got them this morning.
Another very important aspect to Steve’s first point regarding “the science” is that Steve omits to include (and perhaps does not even know) HOW it came to be that the working hypothesis that "viruses exist" was promulgated as the mandated scientific paradigm.
A huge omission here is the way "viral theory" became the "accepted" and promoted theory of disease and how that process was directly connected to the fact that very large, powerful political and financial parties had a direct vested interest in making sure this is what would be catapulted into the "acceptable" medical and scinetific insitutions and through this into society at large.
This then guarnteed that virology would be the dominant, unyielding and ONLY explanation allowed for the "next 100 years" as it is these institutions (who are completely controlled by these same forces) that dictate the narrative.
Here’s another link to Christine Massey’s research back in August 2020👇🏿
From Jon Rappoport: First of all, very high praise goes to Christine Massey, for her work in exposing the coronavirus fraud. In a half-sane world, she would have received many awards by now.
Her latest communication reads: “Freedom of Information reveals Public Health Agency of Canada has no record of ‘SARS-COV-2’ isolation performed by anyone, anywhere, ever” [1]
"Virologists presuppose that there is a virus present in the fluids that are presented to the cell culture (alongside DMEM, fetal bovine serum, amphotericin B/gentamicin, etc.), and assume that the virus in the snot is causing the cell to experience the cytopathic effect."
Would it not be relatively simple to do a double blind test on this process?
To show that, for example, distilled water produces the same effects?
Would that not obviate the need for viruses to cause these effects?
Well written, my friend. This issue is quite simple, and the scientific method is quite straightforward (and something most people understand at even a basic level).
Sadly, Kirsch isn't alone in his conception of "science" - this notion that someone can just make up a fairy tale hypothesis, and as long as it's accepted via consensus, it remains "true" until someone comes along with a BETTER fairy tale.
None of that has anything to do with actual science (which is a method). A hypothesis itself must be based on reality. Your presumed cause MUST EXIST.
This isn't hard, yet it's a fallacy committed by many.
If Kirsch, or anyone else, claims that "this thing is causing that thing", then simply show where the "this thing" was first identified to exist in reality (not the mind, not as an effect in a lab), and THEN show where said entity was proven to cause "Y" disease. Just show it. Everything else is a red herring.
The whole "consensus" concept is truly anti-scientific. You've helped open my eyes on this subject with your presentations.
Yes- 'how did they know that would couldn't be seen was causing the disease' https://georgiedonny.substack.com/p/seeing-is-believing
Jo
D. Alec Zeck......I have offered a conversation between Steve Kirsch and Poornima Wagh on several occasions. He finally contacted her and then lied that she never responded to him. I explained that Dr. Wagh was currently involved in 2 major projects and if she did not respond to his email as promptly as he expects that she assured me she would contact him as soon as she had these projects tied up which would be as of August 28th. She called him 3 times already and as of today (8-25-22) Poornima has not gotten a return phone call. Now I understand Steve is out of the country but if he can sling insults because someone didn’t drop everything they were doing and respond to him then I can say the same about him. I believe Steve is hesitant to speak with her because she has done the analysis using the gold standard not mixing up a cocktail and then saying they isolated a virus. If you or anyone is interested in speaking with her just let me know. If you do not know her back story....she has a PhD in virology and a PhD in immunology (she also has a Masters in Economics and Finance). The lab she worked in was given a $1.5 million NIH grant and was asked to isolate SARS COV2. She refused at first and was convinced to participate. The samples (using the gold standard of isolation, purification and causation (using Koch’s Postulates) they found NO VIRUS. The analysis was done 2 more times with the same result. They reached out to about 100 Universities and requested they provide an analysis using the same process. 6 replied and they too found NO VIRUS. The findings were shared with the CDC on a brief 30 minute ZOOM meeting with only a small group. Then there was a 2.5 hour ZOOM with Robert Redfield and a very large number of participants. Poornima shared their results. Redfield stated that he did not care what they found they would report that they isolated the SARS COV2 or the lab would be shut down. Poornima refused to lie and of course her lab was raided by the FBI and shut down. She has been unable to work since then and no one will publish their research paper. The FBI also went to her home......she said they were very polite but basically said she needs to keep quiet. She has only recently been speaking out. She had 2 excellent interviews with Dr. Lee Merritt and she will be on a ZOOM conference out of Malaysia on Aug. 28th with Dr. Reiner Fuellmich. She also just finished an interview in which she shared the results of a international team she is working with on analyzing the ingredients in the COVID gene therapy.
I have listened to Dr Wagh speak about this - nice write up - thanks!
Also, if true, it sheds a little more light on Stevo's behavior vis he behaves like he is CEO and treats folks as employees. Also Stevo is clearly OBSDESSED with "money" or at least what passes for it these days.
Insane!
I am awake re so called viruses but we need to be careful who we consider an expert or insider.
https://planetwavesfm.substack.com/p/charlatans-web?utm_source=email
Hi
very interesting.
Jo
she has no credentials
https://planetwavesfm.substack.com/p/charlatans-web?
Even if she doesn't have a diploma, she is excellent and has my full support! I find it shameful that she overwhelmed in this way. what do the "Experts" and "doctors" of science do??? .
Here is the Solid Evidence - allegedly the school where she claims to have obtained two Phds claim they have never heard of her...
https://apocalypticyoga.substack.com/p/poornima-wagh-is-a-fraud
Well "solid" if it is true.
This is for Wagh to straighten out and I have not seen anything new from her yet.
In any event I am with you as we have been lied to about everything for....GENERATIONS!
If I see n e thing new I will post here too😉
Excellent article Alec. Anyone claiming that we require an alternative hypothesis fail to understand the burden of proof. If people still have problem understanding the burden of proof then lets use an analogy of a murder trial. If you fail to gather evidence against a suspect as the prosecutor then you let the suspect go even if you lack evidence for the real murderer. You don't try to convict an innocent man for a murder just because you lack another suspect, this is common sense and yet when dealing with "virology" this common sense seems to be uncommon.
Excellent article as usual, Alec. You're certainly more tactful than I am. I've said it before and I'll say it again: at this point, after over two years during which virology has been vigorously and redundantly debunked, it's important to realize that anyone still talking about "viruses" with a straight face is either a fool or a tool.
My left socks keep going missing. It is clearly a goblin taking them. In fact, I even got a picture of the goblin; okay, it's pretty blurry and dark but I absolutely know it's a goblin. My daughter even drew a picture of the goblin! Until Steve can prove where else my socks are going my goblin theory stands solid.
Ah, but have you believed in goblins for a century?!?!
A vital point that is overlooked, altogether ignored or purposefully kept out of these discussions by many in the "Covid skeptic" movement, and especially those who have the biggest megaphones, is the simple fact that there was no pandemic- period.
A deeper dive into the history of these frauds, starting with the HIV/AIDS scandal, is essential to understanding the trajectory and operations of these "health emergencies" and the present day workings of the "Covid" fraud.
If this is not properly understood then there is fertile ground for yet "another response", "a better response" etc. for the next invented "pandemic." This then means the merry-go-round spins ad infinitum.
What must be understood is that all of these "health emergencies" are founded on fraud, money laundering and racketeering.
The propaganda is not simply limited to "how the pandemic was handled" or the countless peripheral aspects of the fraud- it is foundational to the creation of the very thing itself.
That the "Covid pandemic" was able to produce the cadavers this time (unlike the Swine Flu hoax of 2009) by killing the poor, mentally disabled and fragile elderly via policy and mass medical slaughter should make it even more imperative to investigate how and why all of that was done rather than persisting with the Big Lie that there ever was a pandemic.
That this is not front and center of the many discussions amongst 'Covid skeptics' is quite troubling.
Asserting a priori that there was a pandemic serves as cover for these ugly crimes.
Excellent piece Alec, thank you for your efforts.
I’m a layperson relatively new (2 years) to the germ theory debate but have learned a great deal from the ‘team’. I find the argument sound and share my developing understanding with people I meet if the moment feels right. The phrase the underpins my position is ‘the truth is relentless’.
18 months ago I had the privilege of taking part in a Zoom meeting with Celia Farber and Kevin Corbett. We chewed the cud and discussed a philosophical approach to share these world changing ideas.
I consider myself a flag waver for the ‘cause’.
Hi DAZ,
Gr8 article and a solid rebuttal to Steve's pseudo science Stuff & Viral Nonsense.
If you have been reading the comments in Steve's substack as you indicate you will have likely noticed mine. I had quite a good time trying to counter his virus position though, like you, I was quite complimentary towards his good, well and reasoned efforts to stop the toxic if not lethal injections.
So several days ago a friend on Telegram (who btw just now linked me your excellent article), with whom I had been providing Stevo up dates (she does not like to subscribe to anything etc) speculated Stevo was going to find a reason to give me the boot - and yesterday he did.
W/o getting into the weeds I will just post my email reply to him in response to his **WARNING** Notice I was going to be banned in 24 hours (Long and short of it I had suggested to Steve he MIGHT JUST AS WELL raise the bet level to $10Trillion or the approximate amount ridding on Big pHARMa's Virus Business Model. Of course Stevo took it to mean I was BETTING him $10t and thus he DEMANDED I produce proof I had $10T in the "bank" to wager with😂):
//
Dear Steve,
You have become a joke especially since and given the obvious push back and your obvious REFUSAL TO ACTUALLY look at the science of quackology. Your "virology friends" are LYING to you but, you will figure that out soon enough. Regrettably ALL of science has become a joke and CORRUPT ever since the government got involved never mind health care, student loans; the Midas Touch you might say.
You of course missed my point which is you are offering "bets" to folks who OBVIOUSLY do not have the kind of funds available to cover your "bets" which are apparently available to you. I actually did offer you a sincere "bet" and that was a Case of 0.5ltr bottles of Mamos Greek Beer but, alas, obviously that comes at a price to dear for you to cover.
So, if you think I was SERIOUSLY offering such an amount you are delusional. Or, in the alternative, you and your family have been in fact threatened by Agents of Big pHARMa which, if true, I forgive you as you have to do what is best for your family .
But, either way I sensed you were going to find some way to get rid of me so BEFORE I even viewed your **IMPORTANT**FLASH**SELF AGRANDIZING** message I was conversing with a friend on TeleSCAM this morning (MY morning in Europe) and we agreed YOU HAD TO FIND SOME REASON TO GET RID OF ME so, here it is.
Bravo Steve, I concede, YOU WIN.
I have actually WASTED WAY TOO MUCH TIME TRYING TO EDUCATE YOUR ARROGANT MIT Phd ignorance (you are spawned from the same sort who will not allow you to make presentations on the campus to which you have been so generous) so I will save you the trouble. Thus I hereby ORDER you to keep fighting the Toxic Injections though take the friggin time to read the science bcs, no virus has yet to be isolated and purified pursuant to ALL the papers published to date.
Btw, a few weeks ago I did IN FACT Un-Subscribe from your Substack - you can find the comment if you look - but they ignored my request and kept sending me your notices to my protonmail. So, finally, I hereby ORDER you to BAN me and CEASE & DESIST sending any more of your CRAP to my ***@protonmail.com - thank you.
You have two (2) hours from receipt of this C&D to comply.
I wish you and your family well,
Bubye
Bjorno
Crete
Ps (from my telegram this morning)
"And for my encore I am going to pull a virus out of my hat! - Steve Kirsch"
b
I tried on Stevo's stack too. But Kudos to your response.
Well ya know poor Stevo is getting a lot of push back and DAZ's excellent article is emblematic.
I suggested numerous times in my posts - all now Memory Holed by Stevo (I should have Archived it all) - Stevo may in fact have been threatened by agents of Big pHARMa bcs Judy Mikovits was and a bunch of virologist types died mysteriously in the decade leading up to the Covid Hoax. However, Stevo did not comment on any of those posts so Ima thinking he has been threatened.
In any event Stevo is gong to loose this viral argument.
Great response Alec, thank you so much for having the patience to respond point by point to Steve's illogic :)
Outstanding articulation. Thank you for being ethical, honest, clear and detailed. As always, Alec, you’re a beacon on the topic.
Alec,
Have you seen this conversation?
DR. LEE MERRITT INTERVIEW WITH POORNIMA WAGH PHD VIROLOGY
https://www.bitchute.com/video/0wVQQXV1LkVd/
They also get into "gene theory" which some of us have been bangin' on the drum about for over two decades since "gene therapy" and Biotech became all the rage.
Gene theory like germ theory also belongs in the dustbin of history.
If it weren't for the endless tap of grant monies both would be tossed in that dustbin where they belong.
This is Dr. Wagh's latest with more detail about examining 2,305 vile vials and she will email you her PP slides on request and I just got them this morning.
https://www.brighteon.com/a7c19171-06a0-4e25-8d8f-a71e53137260
Have you seen this- what are your thoughts:
https://planetwavesfm.substack.com/p/charlatans-web
I am just reading this whole thing now; the plot apparently thickens.
Btw I watched this recent interview, mentioned in Charlatan's web https://www.brighteon.com/a7c19171-06a0-4e25-8d8f-a71e53137260, and there were some PP Slides put up and in the notes was "For a copy of the Powerpoint email tremregi@gmail.com" so I did yesterday. And I very soon got back an email from "poornimawagh@startmail.com" with three attachments.
At this point I got a little bit suspicious so, I dumped the email in Archive and did not open the attachments.
Ima loosing more hair scratching my head on this one!
Another very important aspect to Steve’s first point regarding “the science” is that Steve omits to include (and perhaps does not even know) HOW it came to be that the working hypothesis that "viruses exist" was promulgated as the mandated scientific paradigm.
A huge omission here is the way "viral theory" became the "accepted" and promoted theory of disease and how that process was directly connected to the fact that very large, powerful political and financial parties had a direct vested interest in making sure this is what would be catapulted into the "acceptable" medical and scinetific insitutions and through this into society at large.
This then guarnteed that virology would be the dominant, unyielding and ONLY explanation allowed for the "next 100 years" as it is these institutions (who are completely controlled by these same forces) that dictate the narrative.
Here’s another link to Christine Massey’s research back in August 2020👇🏿
From Jon Rappoport: First of all, very high praise goes to Christine Massey, for her work in exposing the coronavirus fraud. In a half-sane world, she would have received many awards by now.
Her latest communication reads: “Freedom of Information reveals Public Health Agency of Canada has no record of ‘SARS-COV-2’ isolation performed by anyone, anywhere, ever” [1]
[1] https://www.fluoridefreepeel.ca/freedom-of-information-reveals-public-health-agency-of-canada-has-no-record-of-sars-cov-2-isolation-performed-by-anyone-anywhere-ever/
Source:
SARS-CoV-2 has not been proven to exist; I can do this forever « Jon Rappoport's Blog
https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2020/12/18/sars-cov-2-has-not-been-proven-to-exist/
Keep it up, brother! They don't want to have an honest debate or they'd stop trying to make it contingent on gambling large amounts of money.
I found Cowan’s work fascinating and within the realm of possibility. I’m open.
"Virologists presuppose that there is a virus present in the fluids that are presented to the cell culture (alongside DMEM, fetal bovine serum, amphotericin B/gentamicin, etc.), and assume that the virus in the snot is causing the cell to experience the cytopathic effect."
Would it not be relatively simple to do a double blind test on this process?
To show that, for example, distilled water produces the same effects?
Would that not obviate the need for viruses to cause these effects?
Stefan Lanka did exactly that (the control experiment).
And he noticed there was no difference between the two experiments - hence, no virus.