13 November: Weekly Round Up
Malhotra, Climate Change Denial, Immunity Debt & Deaths in Children
US Mid-Terms
Last week focused on the run up to the US Mid-terms, Arizona was identified as a state to watch in regards to concerns of voter intimidation and potential for another “Stop the Steal” campaign.
As expected there were efforts by the Trump camp to undermine election integrity, however as the night went on and it became apparent that many Trump backed candidates were having a worse night than expected it looks like the GOP was starting to try and put some space between itself and Trump. The worst fears of widespread and large scale election denial have yet to have been realised.
However, its worth noting those that did try to push this agenda.
Over a month ago it looked like Rupert Murdoch had turned from Trump towards DeSantis. A battle between them for the presidential nominee could prove explosive, Trump has a dedicated base, however the elements of the wider movement have been pivoting to DeSantis for some time with covid being a decisive issue.
Trump has tried to claim credit for the vaccine roll out and has been blamed for giving in to “medical authoritarianism” by allowing lockdowns to occur in 2020. Meanwhile DeSantis has made Florida a safe haven for anti-vaxxers by appointing America’s Frontline Doctor’s linked Ladapo to the position of Surgeon General.
After releasing an anonymous anti-vax paper Ladapo is continuing his campaign against covid vaccines by appearing on Disinformation Dozen Tenpenny’s podcast.
Another interesting point to look at from the mid-terms is that part of the Republican strategy was to focus on transgender issues with considerable funding spent on disinformation and fear mongering.
This does not appear to have the cut through that campaigners hoped for.
Despite this it seems unlikely that the assault on trans people will diminish. This is a strategy being implemented in many countries, after being rarely mentioned in the UK’s media there has been a massive increase in negative stories about trans people. Analysis has shown a rapid rise since 2020, coinciding with the creation of the Free Speech Union and a number of astroturf groups linked to the Living Marxism/Spiked network.
The Telegraph which can platform multiple astroturf groups in a day has been linked to the abuse of the staff of a group supporting trans children.
The article in question has been received praise and condemnation around the world.
Anti-vaxxers
Malhotra also continued his tour of disinformation media appearing with Peter McCullough and Steve Kirsch.
The event looks to prove profitable.
Malhotra is currently misrepresenting a British Heart Foundation report.
Malhotra has taken to likening himself to Ghandi and Martin Luther King, he is now claiming he is such a thread to the establishment that his life is in danger.
Are there people martyrs, superheros, prophets or cult leaders?
There is now a thriving anti-vax event circuit for disinformation doctors to tour.
Beverly Turner is a former TV personality turned anti-vaxxer, becoming a regular on GB News she has just been given her own two hour show on the channel run by Legatum with profits from Gazprom.
GB News is now being investigated regarding its biased platforming of disinformation groups and conspiracy theorists. The relationship between HART group and GB News and Talk TV was revealed in the #HARTleaks.
Malhotra is also promoting conspiracy theorist Michael Yeadon (Pandata, HART, adviser to America’s Frontline Doctors, PCRClaims, former board member of the Truth for Health Foundation).
HART continue to put out junk papers claiming vaccines are responsible for excess deaths.
Civil war has broken out inside America’s Frontline Doctors in a power struggle over control of the organisation. It centres around accusations of misuse of funds.
The video here covers the dispute brilliantly.
More details and documents in this thread.
Climate Change Deniel
Toby Young’s (Free Speech Union, Brownstone Institute author, Spiked Online, Spectator, Quillette) Daily Sceptic continued to prove his role as in advancing the Koch network’s interests with yet another climate change denial piece.
The ties to leading Brexiteers and Koch backed climate change denial organisations like Heartland Institute and the GWPF continue to grow.
Its worth noting there are many links between covid disinformation and climate change denial from politicians to conspiracy theorists.
Immunity debt and covid in children
Debate regarding immunity debt has intensified as stories come out of paediatric hospitals running out of beds due to a combination of covid, flu and RSV. Stories this week have mainly focused on Canada where this is particularly acute.
The Counter Disinformation Projects research on the origins of the term has been widely quoted and now a number of mainstream outlets in various countries have been writing about the subject. Typically opinion is divided.
UK paediatricians whose work has informed the government’s evidence base have strongly defended the concept. Its worth noting they were some of the first to start promoting the term.
Some of those working with UKHSA have also faced criticism for the paper that lead to this headline in the Telegraph.
In the same week a contradictory paper was published that found covid was a leading cause of death for American children.
The same group of paediatricians have made it their mission to protect children from the harms of masks.
A piece by Munro and Hughes claims there is no evidence for masks in schools reducing transmission and have called into question their effectiveness when worn by adults.
This is after a recent paper by Hoeg was touted by them as definitive proof that should put an end to the debate on masks.
The UK’s lead for covid in children courted further controversy by claiming lockdowns were responsible for the current pressure on paediatric units in Canada.
Boost away!
Does compiling this boring nonsense give you all orgasms?
What is the point of this long litany of posts?
You sure changed some minds with this tedious compilation. You sure did.