Better in their words…

Source: SACKED ☙ Sunday, August 27, 2023 ☙ C&C NEWS

WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY

🔥 Normally I ignore moronic journalism, but this CNN story was so bad that it’s good. At least it’s a good example for you of how to spot fake news. Remember the C&C Fake News Test? CNN ran a story yesterday that scored 100% on the fake news test, headlined, “Newly declassified US intel claims Russia is laundering propaganda through unwitting Westerners.”

My initial impression was surprise that they didn’t call it “Russian disinformation.” They said “Russian propaganda.” Weird. A narrative shift?

The alarming, inflammatory story cited a single anonymous “US intelligence official” who claimed — which CNN obediently reported as fact — that Moscow is running a “deliberately small scale” influence operation against individuals in “the West.”

Haha! “Deliberately small-scale.” Maybe even microscopic. You can’t even see it, it’s so small-scale. Just trust them, it’s there. Like a new variant.

Sidebar: where is CNN’s story on the deliberately large-scale propaganda operation that the US intelligence agencies are running on everybody, including Americans? Alas, I digress.

Even more laughable was the “declassified” example CNN used, provided by the anonymous agent. I’ll summarize. Some guy named Maxim Grigoriev, who apparently runs a Russian NGO, gave some speeches at the UNITED NATIONS in April presenting studies concluding that an alleged humanitarian group called the ‘White Helmets’ (partly funded by the US State Department) is actually running a black market human organ operation. (CNN called those studies “false,” citing no less than the Daily Beast.)

Then, an OANN story reported on the White Hat group’s involvement in illegal organ trafficking, which would be a very legally risky move if the story were, indeed, false. CNN didn’t consider that, but instead asked the OANN reporter for a response to claims the story was Russian disinformation. The OANN reporter angrily denied his story was Russian disinformation, said it was independently based on local sources in Syria, and stood by his reporting.

That’s it. That was CNN’s “evidence” of the “deliberately small scale” Russian influence operation. The “shady” conspiracy was a public speech to the UNITED NATIONS by a private Russian NGO, citing at least one published study — not any kind of backroom shenanigans or blind letter drops or something. The “unwitting Westerner” presumably was the OANN reporter.

And what exactly does CNN think that Russia is up to with this sneaky small-scale disinformation campaign? Stopping organ trafficking? Interfering with a Syrian aid organization? But why?

That’s when I discovered my favorite line from CNN’s story, appearing far down the article:

The US official declined to say whether Russia has used these same tactics to try to influence US elections.

Hahaha! Declined to say. I bet he did.

So, if it’s not directed at us, what’s the problem? And, even if the sketchy anonymous claim is true, are they saying government propaganda is bad in general, or is it only bad when Russia does it?

💉 A favorite element of early Coffee & Covid back in 2020, when C&C was still only on Facebook, was when scads of scientists and jab doctors would show up to “combat misinformation” in the comments. I always enjoyed rhetorically sparring with them, and readers enjoyed watching the lawyer-vs-fake-expert show.

Sadly, it hardly ever happens anymore.

But yesterday one showed up in my Twitter feed. And, even though he only has 17 followers (sign of a likely ‘bot’ account), he claims to be a scientist, and I decided to tangle with the commenter over his complaints about Coffee & Covid. I’ll call him Covid Critic to respect his privacy.

It began with this tweet, wherein Covid Critic trotted out the tired argument that I’m only a lawyer, not a “healthcare provider,” and demanded “evidence:”

I found his typo “mRNA viruses,” instead of mRNA vaccines, delightfully ironic. But I kept it professional, overlooking the Freudian slip, and stuck to the merits. Covid Critic wanted “evidence” proving the jabs cause unacceptable numbers of sudden deaths. And I wanted to give him that evidence. But I wanted to have a fair debate, so first I asked him to agree on a definition of “evidence.”

Perhaps over-optimistically, I offered Covid Critic the Black’s Law Dictionary’s definition of “evidence,” which — simply put — is “something that tends to prove or disprove the existence of an alleged fact”:

Apparently Black’s Law Dictionary was not good enough for Covid Critic. He suddenly shifted his terms, re-defining “evidence” as an amorphous and endlessly debatable standard of “good scientific studies,” and for good measure arrogantly leaned back into the old, patronizing “you’re just a lawyer”:

I love that one. The “studies” argument. So I gamely responded, asking whether the “scientific studies” standard is at all useful for the debate, since even sciencefinds scientific studies unreliable:

I hate to leave you hanging, but so far it’s been crickets. I’ll let you know if anything interesting results. But I thought you’d enjoy a rare view of how I respond to anonymous white-coat pretenders when I have the time.

A final point: I’ve explained this before, but with so many new readers, it is probably time to review it again. All important debates — especially scientific debates like how much lead can be in the water supply, or whether airbags save lives, or what caused an airplane to crash — are not ultimately resolved in a lab.

The are usually ultimately resolved in court. With lawyers.

Scientists don’t decide these matters. Juries and judges do. Scientists only testify as witnesses. And lawyers interrogate the scientists. As a litigating lawyer, I often have to quickly learn an area of science so that I can successfully spar with the other side’s scientists and experts. I do it all the time.

So, as a lawyer, I am fully qualified to spar with scientists. So there.

💉 Speaking of evidence: Drip, drip! Last week, Joe Rogan — who is no dummy — began questioning the once-in-a-lifetime increase in all cause mortality in the United States. Rogan has six million listeners.

During the back-and-forth, Rogan’s guest asked the obvious question about getting to the bottom of what’s causing all these excess deaths.

“[Why does] the starting point have to be we rule out this brand new medical intervention? Like, you can’t look at that? The starting point is, that can’t be part of the conversation? Come on.”

https://twitter.com/EthicalSkeptic/status/1695248178734404030

That is a terrific question. Apparently, “science” means all agreeing not to consider the most obvious potential cause of the disaster. And that is why we don’t let scientists decide lawsuits. Among plenty of other reasons.

💉 While scientists and U.S. Establishment Media continue to — somehow — assiduously ignore the most obvious story in our lifetimes, international media is starting to ask questions. Last week, India’s International Business Times ran a story headlined, “Another pilot dead: Five cases of cardiac arrest among pilots, three died in a week.”

By the way, I would call this story some evidence tending to prove the jabs are causing sudden deaths, but I’m just a lawyer.

The article described the recent, totally insane mid-August week in which three pilots had unexpected heart attacks — in or near the cockpit — and two more pilots suddenly collapsed from heart attacks. Five in all. Five cardiac arrests, just in pilots. (I covered this story in a previous roundup.)

More tellingly, pilots might just be the most carefully screened employees in any industry in history. They are particularly screened for cardiac health. Can we at least agree that either something is wrong with pilot screening procedures, or something else is afoot?

While the Business Times didn’t quite go there, it did include a very revealing quote. Check out this cite from an un-named pilot:

“I can’t say it’s a pattern but given our lifestyle of disrupted sleep patterns, jet lag etc it certainly does take a toll on our bodies. Additionally, it would be worth checking which vaccine did they all take, to see if there is any correlation,” a pilot who goes by Bandit on Twitter told IBTimes. 

First, not a pattern? It was more like a massacre. But second, the Times didn’t have to quote the next sentence about the vaccines. It could have left that off.

Anyway, it’s progress. Unlike Establishment Media, at least the Business Times let Bandit ask the obvious question. Including his quote in the story wasn’t an accident. The reporter wants us to think about the jabs.

It is darkly hilarious watching the lengths Establishment Media will go to avoid dealing with the obvious.

💉 How about a Jamie Foxx update? TMZ reported on a recent social media post from Jamie Foxx, who as you recall suddenly and unexpectedly disappeared into the medical system’s lower intestine, right amidst filming his next big movie. It must have cost him millions. The newest post, allegedly posted by Jamie, reported the actor is feeling a lot better, “like myself again.” We certainly hope that’s true.

But the TMZ hosts specifically and repeatedly noted that, although Jamie is chatting up a storm on social media, the blockbuster actor has yet to say anything about what exactly happened to him. It remains a baffling mystery.

Don’t feel bad if you remain skeptical. Even in spite of the ostensible good news, and Jamie saying he’s feeling like himself again, one of the hosts blurted out, “I’m starting to wonder if he’s ever coming back.”

Me too.

https://twitter.com/TMZLive/status/1692677756361011660

On an aside, this is probably nothing, but I asked both ChatGPT and Bard.ai to each list the top-grossing black Hollywood actors, and both chatbots strangely omitted Jamie Foxx from their responses. And then both AIs politely apologized after I asked, “What about Jamie Foxx?”, both admitting he should have been included.

So. I’m not saying anything. I’m just saying.

💉 With only eight minutes to go in the Dolphins-Jaguars preseason game last night, rookie wide receiver Daewood Davis collapsed, motionless, after a pretty normal-looking tackle. Commotio cordis!

Oh wait. No hit to the chest.

So anyway after one injury they just canceled the entire game and took Davis to the hospital.

https://twitter.com/AndrewFazzolare/status/1695614072929054955

Fortunately, the team has reported that Davis now seems to be doing fine. Hopefully. But this was the second preseason game canceled for a weird player collapse so far this season — actually, so far this week.

The media blamed both injuries on general “head and neck” injuries. Not doctors or even officials, that’s media speculation.

The other game cancellation happened after Patriot cornerback Isaiah Boldon collapsed, motionless, after colliding with another Patriot player last Saturday during the New England Patriots—Green Bay Packers preseason matchup. The game was scrubbed with only 10:29 left on the clock.

https://twitter.com/ZackCoxNESN/status/1693091932984004701

The Patriots only reported Isaiah had “an injury.” Not a head injury or neck injury, just “an injury.” Apparently, the days are now over when players’ injuries are immediately reported in microscopic detail so that ardent fans (and bookies) can handicap the injury’s effect on the rest of the season.

Here was the initial report after Isaiah’s collapse:

The next day — after Isaiah was released from the hospital, the Patriots again officially reported, and again only reported “an injury.” Here’s the entire statement:

An injury? That’s it? I scoured Google news. There is not one single article about Isaiah, his injury, his condition, his prospects, nothing, after Monday (the day after the injury). Since then, blackout.  There’s no news on whether Isaiah will return to play, which seems weird. How’s he doing in practice? Crickets.

So far, that makes two preseason games bizarrely canceled mid-game after vaguely-defined “injuries” leaving players lying motionless on the field. I ask our football fanatics: when was the last time something like that happened? Two games canceled in one week during the fourth quarter after a single player injury?

The NFL is getting pretty delicate. It’s almost like they’re terrified the players are going to die and then they’ll be criticized for playing on, or something. Weird. Wonder what could make the league feel that way?

💉 Broadway actor Chris Peluso, 40, known for starring in Mamma Mia and Wicked, died suddenly, unexpectedly, and mysteriously last week. Late last year, Peluso announced he was taking a break from acting to seek treatment for a neurological disorder.

Peluso who played Sky in Mamma Mia!, and Fiyero in Wicked for multiple tours on Broadway, attended Life’s last curtain call on August 15th. No cause of death was disclosed. And never will be.

Peluso is survived by his wife Jessica Gomes and their two children, Aria and Caio.

💉 Last weekend, the UK Mirror ran a story headlined, “EastEnders actress Jane Whittenshaw dies as heartbroken friends pay tribute.”

The multi-talented actress, 54, worked in theatre, film, television, and radio throughout her 30-year career. Jane was known for her appearances (among many others) on British productions like The Bill, Silent Witness, Grange Hill, The Green Wing, Endeavour and Call the Midwife. Her last role was in the series I Hate You in 2022.  The Shakespearean actress also recorded over 500 BBC radio plays.

No cause of death was released, but the Guardian’s article added, “She slipped away peacefully on Saturday last, with her husband, Hugh, best friend, Rebecca, and carers at her side.” The media took great pains to NOT explain why they are keeping Jane’s cause of death under wraps:

However, the exact cause of Jane Whittenshaw’s passing remains undisclosed. This may be out of respect for her privacy or to allow her family and loved ones the space to grieve without unnecessary speculation. In such instances, the decision to withhold the cause of death is a common practice to maintain the dignity of the deceased and their family.

Uh huh. Where, exactly, have the paparazzi gone, and how much do we have to pay the kidnappers to get them back?

🔥 Last week, Fox News ran a story headlined, “Suzanne Somers’ husband called 911 after frightening blood pressure scare: ‘I took 8 or 10 readings’.”

The actress, 76, perhaps most famous for her role in Three’s Company, a show that should have put everyone on notice decades ago that the trans revolution was coming, recently announced the sudden and unexpected “return” of her breast cancer (Suzanne beat breast cancer 26 years ago when she was 50).

The breast cancer news was slipped into the story, which was ostensibly about a ‘mishap’ when the couple recently took each others’ blood pressure at their Palm Springs home. As the headline indicated, Suzanne’s BP was terribly high, despite multiple readings. When emergency services arrived, Suzanne appeared just fine.

Crisis averted! Later the couple told media their home blood pressure monitor was broken. But they didn’t explain why Suzanne’s husband’s readings were normal.

Cancer, blood problems. Happens all the time. We pray for Suzanne’s complete recovery.

🔥 Docs are baffled again. Last week, the New York Post ran a story headlined, “Teen ER crisis: Overwhelming mental health visits are not for us, docs say.”

According to the story, a new pandemic is overwhelming hospital emergency rooms, and it isn’t covid. It’s not just teens. It is childrens’ mental health crises.

The Post reported parents are hauling kids as young as 5 or 6 years old into emergency rooms in large numbers, with psychiatric emergencies like anxiety, depression and suicide attempts — but they’re finding out the ERs are not equipped to help with pediatric mental health disorders.

ERs normally handle cases like car crash victims, broken limbs, gunshot wounds, and leather festival accidents, not problems requiring specialized long-term treatment and follow-up like mental health crises in kids. Dr. Mohsen Saidinejad, director of pediatric emergency medicine at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, told HealthDay, “That is not who we are as ER physicians. We are not mental health professionals. We cannot provide definitive care.”

Dr. Willough Jenkins, psychiatrist and medical director at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California told NBC News that the number of kids seeking emergency psychiatric care at her hospital has spiked from about 30 a month in the past to 30 per day in recent months. In other words, from 30 per month to 900 per month.

Dr. Jenkins said children as young as 6 years old are arriving in the ER talking about killing themselves.

Useless doctors are, of course, baffled. Bizarrely, the story focused on ideas for increasing the number of mental health professionals to treat this insane spike in depressing and crippling childhood anxiety, rather than actually trying to, you know, figure out what might be causing it.

I don’t have the figures handy, but I’m pretty sure that anxiety and depression treatment success rates are painfully low. It’s more about ‘management’ of anxiety and depression rather than curing it. So, and this is a radical idea, it might be better to stop kids from being infested with evil spirits of anxiety and depression before it starts.

So what could be causing it?

Mask and vaccine mandates spring to mind, especially since the two hospitals quoted for the story were both in California, which requires covid jabs on the school vaccine schedule.

But I also wonder how much of this might be caused by involving children in controversial adult political debates, and prematurely exposing them to sexuality — especially atypical sexual lifestyle options. Their little brains are poorly prepared to handle those issues.

Establishment doctors’ brains are also poorly prepared to handle this issue. Isn’t it remarkable how worried they were about overwhelmed hospitals just a couple years ago, but not so much this time?

But what do I know? Only a lawyer and so forth.

🚀 Think of this next story as a metaphor for the Proxy War. The BBC ran a story Friday headlined, “Ukraine war: Fighter ace and two other pilots killed in mid-air crash.”

Ukrainian fighter pilot Andrii Pilshchykov, call sign “Juice”, became famous for his part in dogfights against incoming missiles over Kiev during the early Proxy War. Since then, he’s been interviewed on countless U.S. news networks.

Juice has often been called Ukraine’s “top fighter pilot” and one of its “most celebrated pilots.”

He was not killed in combat.

Juice was flying one of two L-39 training planes flying over northern Ukraine, far from the frontlines, that somehow fatally crashed into each other. You wouldn’t expect a top fighter pilot to make a mistake like that, but I suppose it happens. We are, of course, sympathetic to Juice’s family.

The BBC called the crash and the pilot deaths “a major upset for Ukraine” as it prepares to receive sixty-one $100 million-dollar F-16 fighter jets from the United States and NATO allies, to boost Kiev’s failed counteroffensive.

On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that in September, it will start training Ukrainians on how to fly the F-16s in Texas and Arizona.  The BBC drily noted, without additional comment, that the U.S. “top gun” training on how to fly the F-16s is expected to take the Ukrainians only around five months.

Warp-speed Top Gun training.

Five months? I asked ChatGPT how long the US military takes to prepare an American pilot to fly jet combat missions, and it replied, “five to seven years.” Years!  You should see all the steps and interim certifications jet pilots must complete.

I don’t know about you, but I am outraged. All this time, they’ve been able to complete advanced fighter-jet top gun training in only five months, but they’ve been bilking the taxpayers for five to seven years of slow-motion training while our fighter pilots spend most of their time dancing around in jorts, drinking fancy cocktails in picturesque bars, and playing shirtless volleyball?

Maybe the Pentagon will adopt this brand-new, super-efficient, very cost-saving warp-speed training for all our jet fighter pilot programs.

Otherwise, you might rightly wonder whether the Ukrainians are being underprepared to fight against Russian fighter pilots who have at least five to seven years of training. Just saying. And you might also wonder whether we are just throwing billions of dollars of advanced fighter jets onto the black markets, I mean the Proxy War’s ash-heap.

🔥 Finally, in today’s feel-good story, a manly, fast-thinking Fedex delivery driver handled a distressing rattlesnake problem for an absent homeowner, leaving only a note saying “I hope that wasn’t your pet.”

https://twitter.com/usatodayvideo/status/1694780165350465841

I hope that wasn’t anyone’s pet.

The creepiest part of the video is where you can see the snake slithering around before the delivery driver arrived. I’m not showing this to Michelle, she doesn’t need something like this in her head. She caught me removing a baby snake from the back patio yesterday, and instead of praising my expert snake-removal skills, Michelle only said, “that probably means there’s a nest around here somewhere.”

I guess I still have work to do! (Just kidding! Michelle actually sent me the Fedex snake story.)

Have a blessed Sunday! And thank you for all your continued loyal support. It means a lot. I’ll see you guys back here tomorrow for lots more in the Monday morning weekly C&C kickoff roundup.

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