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💉 The most recent GOP debate was interrupted by an 8-minute blackout that was perfectly-timed to delete Vivek Ramaswamy’s entire answer to Megyn Kelly’s question about vaccine problems:




The trouble started when Megyn asked candidate Ramaswamy about the horrifying failure of the federal vaccine liability program:

“The Trump administration and private industry developed the covid vaccine in record time. The program protected the drug companies from virtually all lawsuits over vaccine injuries. The government has a program to compensate for such harm but critics say it is a black hole of bureaucracy. 12,000 claims filed, 10% decided, only 8 payouts so far, in a forum with no right to counsel, no hearings, no appeals. Mr. Trump says he’s very proud of Warp Speed. Should he be?”

First, to assuage Trump supporters, Megyn’s question was totally unfair to Trump. Trump created neither the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 nor the 2005 PREP Act, which shield pharma from legal liability for vaccine injuries. Those laws were passed under Presidents Reagan and Bush, respectively, and both laws passed with wide bipartisan support.

The next problem was that both Megyn and Vivek immediately got in the ditch by confusing those two laws. Megyn’s question properly asked about the PREP Act and its Orwellian CICP program, deservedly called a ‘black hole of bureaucracy,’ which has only paid out eight covid vaccine claims in the last three years. Worse, the average payout on those eight claims was insultingly low, around $1,200.

It’s a punchline to a bad joke.

Vivek and Megyn both promptly confused the two programs. In fairness, it can be a little confusing. Bush’s PREP Act and its CICP program handle Emergency Use Authorized “countermeasures.” Reagan’s NCVIA and its vaccine court handle FDA-approved vaccines. PREP covers covid vaccines. (I am currently preparing a lawsuit to challenge the PREP Act.)

Much more interesting to me was how the debate moderators panicked and pulled the plug on Vivek’s answer. I’ll skip discussing how awful that was. Consider it stipulated. But consider this: the debate was live streamed. Moderators must have had prior instructions to delete this question and Vivek’s answer.

Who gave that instruction?

Next, consider the blackout in its historical context. Can you ever recall something like this happening before? A Presidential candidate’s answer censored in real time to “protect” voters from “misinformation?” About drugs?

It has never happened before.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are truly in a brave new world when our overseers control which answers to Presidential debate questions we get to hear. Orwell would probably be jumping up and down, pointing and shouting about having told us so. But they gave away the game by ham-handedly blacking the question out.

Free speech video hosting platform Rumble was hit with an “unprecedented” cyber attack shortly after new security camera footage from January 6 was posted on the platform. ...

Last week it was revealed that the GOP-controlled Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight had created a new Rumble channel to post hours of security footage from Capitol Police taken on January 6, 2021.

“The first few videos were posted to the Rumble channel on Dec. 5. By the next day, the collection grew to 135 clips—each about 10 minutes long. The channel had nearly 700 followers on Dec. 7,” reported the Epoch Times. ...

Shortly after, Rumble was hit by a massive and seemingly organized attack that left people unable to upload or watch content.

“I can confirm that this attack has been unprecedented and has been happening since this weekend,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski posted on X.

“I also suspect it is political, coming from activists and/or organizations who want to censor our creators, and related to J6 videos being posted on Rumble,” he added.

Rumble was only able to completely restore services last night.

It’s that time of the US election cycle again: what were formerly known as “newspapers of record” attempting to, for political reasons, promote odd ideas like regulating jokes.

It’s the New York Times this time, looking like it’s terrified that Donald Trump might be successful in his new presidential bid, and so going guns blazing after what it calls his “troll army.”

And “troll” here means – meme creators. As for the memes themselves, the NYT either pretends not to or doesn’t get the joke – namely, that they are jokes, and basically treats them as sinister tools for peddling misinformation and deepfakes.

To add insult to the paper’s injury, the memes not only support the Trump campaign, but Trump also enjoys them, and takes time to communicate with the meme creators.

The article claims that there is a large number of “sexist and racist tropes” being repeated in these memes, but singles out a video collection of some of President Biden’s many gaffes. ...

But it’s the suggested “solutions” that are the most bizarre part of the article.

One is the implication that memes should be treated as ads that run on TV and radio, meaning, regulated for “accuracy, fairness and transparency.”

And then onto the creators: the paper wouldn’t mind if they start being considered “super PACs” (i.e., independent expenditure only political activity committees), who would have to disclose any donors and provide reports about spending – and, possibly face restrictions on coordinating with campaigns.

RWSGFY says

How the fuck one doesn't have an offsite backup copy sitting somewhere in a safe and still has the gall to call himself a DBA?

As a DBA, I approve of this message.

That freedom of association also includes items like an owner of a Chinese restaurant wanting to hire only Chinese ancestor folks for a wait staff to preserve a Chinese ambience. Same with a Black barbershop who only wants Black barbers and Black customers.

Hosting companies don't have backup processes?

Australian medical regulator finally relaxes Covid gag order on doctors

But doctors say the regulatory environment remains 'hostile to individualised care'

A directive to health practitioners barring criticism of the Covid vaccines and rollout has finally been dropped by Australia’s medical regulator, AHPRA.

On 9 March 2021, AHPRA and the National Boards published a joint statement to help health practitioners “understand what’s expected of them in giving, receiving and advising on and sharing information about COVID-19 vaccination.” This has now been superseded by a general information page on vaccination. ...

This was not an empty threat. In the first year of the Covid vaccine rollout (2021-22) AHPRA suspended 21 health practitioners and investigated many more in response to 1,300 notifications relating to Covid and the vaccines.

Forest of the Fallen Disappears!
Daily Insight ( at ) DailyRant Australia
March 9, 2023
https://odysee.com/@DailyRantAustralia:d/forest-of-the-fallen-disappears!:4

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: The transcript is already in the show notes on the video's Odysee page; I reproduce it here with added notes in brackets. The Forest of the Fallen is a silent vigil of bamboo poles planted in the ground, each topped with a page set at eye-level with the story and photo of someone who was injured or killed by the covid jabs. For more information see: https://theforestofthefallen.com/

MALE VOICE: Yesterday 8th of March 2023 there was an article posted on news.com.au titled Eerie scene emerges around Australia*

[Screen shows a screenshot of Google search results with the article at the top, then we see a screenshot of the photo accompanying the article, of a woman in a blue sundress reading a piece of paper affixed to a pole. Her face is pixelated.**]

It shows a picture of a lady looking at some signs that have been erected in a park to remember those who were injured or fallen. It's unclear in the photo what they were injured from.

[Screen returns to screenshot of Google search results with "Eerie scene emerges around Australia" at the top]

This link can still be found on Google at the time of making this video, however, when I click on the link I get a page not found error.*

[Screen shows screenshot of news.com.au Page not found]

At the top it reads Eerie Forest Of The Fallen Exhibitions Pop Up in Australia.

[Screen shows screenshot of another photo of a woman, her face pixelated, reading one of the stories affixed to a pole in the Forest of the Fallen]**

This news was definitely available yesterday. I saw it for myself. But today it is not. I can't remember the exact details of the article, my memory seems to have failed me but it was something about something where people died from something. And now the news don't seem to want to talk about it. Strange.

Vivek Ramaswamy Subject to "Technical Issues" When Talking About Censorship
Dec. 15th, 2023 12:45 pm

https://twitter.com/michaelpsenger/status/1733328375677329525

Hat tip: https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/chicken-soup-saturday-december-9

TEXT OF TWEET: During the last GOP debate, this entire discussion on liability for COVID vaccine injuries and the Trump administration’s fast-tracking development of these mRNA vaccines through “Operation Warp Speed” was blacked out, allegedly due to “technical issues.”

TRANSCRIPT OF ATTACHED VIDEO

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: This video is a report on the Republican Primary Debate hosted by News Nation. The full debate, including this part transcribed below, is posted as dated December 7, 2023 on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpIwZNlBAE. Show description: "Republican presidential hopefuls Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy take the stage in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for a pivotal debate on NewsNation, moderated by Elizabeth Vargas, Megyn Kelly, and Eliana Johnson. For analysis, highlights and to watch the full debate, visit https://www.newsnationnow.com/ "

TEXT ON SCREEN: This was the 2023, 4th Republican debate [as Vivek Ramaswamy is speaking]

VIVEK RAMASWAMI: —competitive market place begins, that's crony capitalism and that's the answer.

TEXT ON SCREEN: What you're about to see is exactly what happened

MEGN KELLY: OK. Through Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration and private industry developed a Covid vaccine in record time....

TEXT ON SCREEN: The screen froze, then went black

TEXT ON SCREEN: Then this screen came on with some GOP buzzkill melody

TEXT ON SCREEN: WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK

TEXT ON SCREEN: The break last for over 8 minutes.

TEXT ON SCREEN: This is what you didn't see.

TEXT ON SCREEN: I got the footage

MEGYN KELLY: — the Trump administration and private industry developed a Covid vaccine in record time. The program protected the drug companies from virtually all lawsuits over vaccine injuries. The government has a program to compensate for such harm but critics say it is a black hole of bureaucracy. 12,000 claims filed, 10% decided, only 8 payouts so far in a forum with no right to counsel, no hearings, no appeals. Mr. Trump says he's very proud of Warp Speed. Should he be?

VIVEK RAMASWAMI: Well this question specifically on liability goes back to actually Reagan, and Reagan is a president who I admire, many of us do. I think that reviving that spirit is in many ways going to be good for this country, in so many ways. But one of the areas where he erred was this special form of lobbying, to say that one kind of manufacturer, a vaccine manufacturer, cannot be sued for their product liability. So I have pledged this part of my legislative agenda, we will repeal that. Just like we will repeal every other form of crony capitalism. People who have been harmed by those vaccines deserve accountability. They cannot be forgotten Americans.

And I think one of the top lessons we learned from that covid pandemic is that free speech in this country is most important in those alleged times of emergency. If we had been allowed to openly debate the merits of those vaccines, they would have been never mandated in the way that they were.

And in general I don't think that we should want capitalism and democracy to share the same bed anymore. It's time for a clean divorce. Let companies be companies, but I don't like the crony capitalism. This dates back a long time in both parties. And I think that we need to end the lobbying. And I personally believe that if you have been working in the government you should not lobby that government for 10 years. If you have been a government elected official, doing deals with companies, be they Boeing or be they pharmaceutical companies, you should not join the board of that company for 10 years after. The former chairman of the FDA, the lead commissioner of the FDA, ended up on the board of Pfizer. Nikki Haley, that deals with Boeing, ends up on the board of Boeing. I don't care if it's a Republican or Democrat, we need some basic principles that end the corruption in government. That's how we got the health insurance exemptions, that's how we got the pharmaceutical product libaility exemptions—

MEGYN KELLY: OK, Thank you.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY: — we end the corruption.

RON DESANTIS: We need—

TEXT ON SCREEN: But people didn't see that, they still saw dead air, then commercials for another 5 minutes

2:54
[video speeds through the commercials]

3:06
TEXT ON SCREEN: Then the show came back, it was the final question of the debate...

ELIANA JOHNSON: — Alabama. Final question before closing statements, and we want to get you all in, so we're going to get you 45 seconds for this last one. Governor Christie, we're going to start with you. Which former president would you draw inspiration from for your own presidency and why?

Newsguard is a well-financed, shadowy partisan group pretending to be a neutral arbiter of which websites are “reliable” and which are not. While the good news is that I am important enough for them to react to, the bad news is that NewsGuard is angling to declare my blog an “unreliable news source.” I received this email from them:




NewsGuard is asking me to “disclose my anti-COVID-vaccine perspective.” At the same time, they are not asking Pfizer-sponsored pro-COVID-vaccine media to disclose their “pro-COVID-vaccine” bias. It's a bit unfair, I would say and shows how flawed NewsGuard’s process is.

In any case, do expect my blog to be rated an “unreliable news source” and blocked by major social networks such as Facebook. Oh well.

In any case, do expect my blog to be rated an “unreliable news source” and blocked by major social networks such as Facebook. Oh well.

On January 5th, in Freedom Coalition of Doctors for Choice v. Centers for Disease Control, et al, a Texas federal court gave the CDC a twelve-month rolling deadline to cough up all the “free-text” entries from its V-SAFE vaccine side-effect tracking database.

It was surely the most important decision of this year (so far). It may ultimately be ranked among the most important of the pandemic’s court decisions. To start, the Court declined to believe the giga-funded health agency’s sworn affidavit that redacting those side-effect documents would take 59 years.

V-safe is similar to but different from VAERS; it is a smartphone-based app allowing vaccine recipients to enroll and report their (or their child’s) health status after vaccination. Users get a confidential registrant number to protect their privacy, and for 12-months after each shot the system regularly sends texts prompting folks to sign in and report how they’re doing. Each check-in collects two types of data: a series of generic check boxes asking high-level questions about pain at the injection site, chills, headaches, et cetera, and a 250-character free-text field where users can type out any other feedback.

Any other feedback like myocarditis, rashes, blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, or death. The CDC ensured serious adverse events would be limited to the difficult-to-search free text field and not show up in an easy-to-check box.

By the time the CDC suddenly and unexpectedly pulled the plug on the V-safe program last May, it had collected 7.8 million text entries.

Despite initially promising to promptly make the V-safe data public, the CDC has instead been guarding the V-safe data like it is made out of gold. CDC stubbornly refused to release any V-safe data — privacy! — except on a limited basis to a couple friendly teams of CDC-affiliated scientists. It released the ‘check the box’ part of the data in September 2022 to ICAN — but only after a lawsuit and a court order. In January of last year, the Plaintiff in this case asked the CDC for the free-text entries.

It’s taken a full year.

One of the most remarkable things about last week’s order was how skeptical the judge seemed about nearly everything the CDC said. The public’s loss of trust in the health agency apparently extends to the judicial branch. Judges are part of the public, after all. The order even referenced the disgraceful loss of trust, ironically noting that “While 'Trust the Science’ became something of a national slogan, the American public’s trust in science and scientists are at an all-time low.”

Ouch!

The Plaintiff is a non-profit formed specifically to get the V-safe data and make it available to the public on its website, www.drsforchoice.org. Now that they have an order, the first batch of V-safe entries should be released to the public on February 15th.

Warning signs for the CDC started appearing early in the order. In addition to snarking about the CDC’s loss of public trust, by page 12 (out of 30), the court had also footnoted Francis Collin’s recent mea culpa, where the NIH director loonily admitted that public health people shouldn’t be in charge of important decisions. ...

Next, the Court began using skeptical language suggesting it thinks the CDC lies like a rug, or a dog, or a Pelosi. The Court considered the CDC’s sworn claim that it would take one of its analysts fifty-nine years to review all the 7.8 million text entries for private information, which came to 650,000 pages, and said, yeah, that’s your own fault:




To this lawyer’s eyes, that last comment about overestimating — wholly unnecessary to the order — stuck out like a sore injection site. The Court didn’t just say the CDC overestimated the number of pages; it said the CDC excessively overestimated the number of pages.

That’s how the judge calls you a liar without calling you a liar.

Then the Court began analyzing whether forcing the CDC to cough up the V-safe data was in the public interest, and here is where the order really began to soar. ..

Now let’s consider some of the order’s implications.

First of all, we know this must be bad news for the jabs because, had the V-safe data shown the vaccines were safe and effective, the CDC would have already released the data. (We can ignore the CDC’s bogus claims about its alleged 59-year effort to review the data, since the court already dealt with that.) It is vexing that a publicly-funded health bureaucracy used taxpayer money to protect big pharma from the reality of its defective products by dragging out the release of this information for two years.

But the data is finally coming out. Add this order to the list of other eye-popping disclosures last week. It’s starting to look like 2024 could be a lot more productive — and a lot less apocalyptic — than we thought.

Did you see what happened last Monday night after Donald Trump won a landslide victory in Iowa?

Rachel Maddow announced that MSNBC would not be covering Trump’s victory speech, and CNN cut away after just a few minutes of it. Why was that?

According to Maddow, it’s because Trump and his supporters are fascist, and Trump spreads misinformation.

Russia's State Duma on Wednesday passed the first stage of a bill allowing the confiscation of property from those convicted of a number of crimes including spreading "deliberately false information" about the Russian army.
The measure will also apply to those found guilty of "discrediting" the armed forces, calling for sanctions against Russia or inciting extremist activity.
The Duma, parliament's lower house, passed the bill in the first of three required readings by 395 votes to 3.
It would allow the state to seize the property of Russians who have left the country and have criticised the war in Ukraine, but who continue to rely on revenue from renting out their houses or apartments in Russia.
Since sending its army into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has intensified a long-running clampdown on all forms of political dissent. Under laws passed in March of that year, discrediting the armed forces or spreading false information about them are already punishable by long jail terms.