Mass Media Hasten To Help Pentagon Exonerate Itself In Afghan Airstrike

The mass media are full of headlines announcing that a “watchdog” has concluded in an “independent” investigation that US military personnel did nothing wrong in an August airstrike in Kabul which killed ten civilians and zero combatants.

“An independent Pentagon review has concluded that the U.S. drone strike that killed innocent Kabul civilians and children in the final days of the Afghanistan war was not caused by misconduct or negligence, and it doesn’t recommend any disciplinary action,” the Associated Press reports in an article titled “Watchdog finds no misconduct in mistaken Afghan airstrike“.

The word “watchdog” appears nowhere else in the article apart from its title, which means it was calculatingly chosen by an AP editor for the public (the vast majority of whom only read headlines) to see. When people hear the word “watchdog” in reference to scrutiny of government institutions they naturally think of the standard usage of that term: parties outside the institution being watched like Amnesty International or the American Civil Liberties Union. They most certainly don’t think of “watchdogs” being the government institutions themselves, as is the case here.

“The review, done by the Air Force Lt. Gen. Sami Said, found there were breakdowns in communication and in the process of identifying and confirming the target of the bombing, according to a senior defense official familiar with the report,” AP informs us.

The US Air Force is of course a branch of the US Department of Defense. So the Pentagon literally did the “we investigated ourselves and cleared ourselves of any wrongdoing” meme, and the mainstream press is passing that off as a real thing in much the same manner as the famous 1997 New York Times headline “C.I.A. Says It Has Found No Link Between Itself and Crack Trade“.

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When mob rule dictates that we must all cheer a male homecoming queen, it’s clear that society is close to collapse

The unchallenged compliance afforded by many in endorsing previously unthinkable scenarios – like teenage boys being crowned homecoming queens – should set the alarm bells ringing as to where our civilization is headed.

Zachary Willmore of Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Missouri hit the headlines last week by becoming the first male student to be crowed homecoming queen during a homecoming game.

In a video shared widely on Twitter, the crowd appears to cheer wildly as the young gentleman receives his tiara while dressed in a “beautiful gold gown and homecoming sash” on the busy football field.

While it’s possible the volume of the cheering is from genuine exultation, we might assume that a healthy percentage is borne from a ‘fearful compliance’. While it is all very well that a man should put on a dress and reverse the notion of a ‘homecoming queen’ (as a badge of progressivism) one might still ask, in the most hidden corners of the consciousness, to what end?

While this is not written in any way as an attack on Mr. Willmore, there is a greater cultural phenomenon at work of which he is undoubtedly taking advantage. You can make the case that it is nothing more than a superficial act of kindness to give a young man this bizarre accolade, without any wider ramifications, but we all know that isn’t true.

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Is it fair to the female homecoming queen hopefuls? Is it fair to the football team whose game is now overshadowed by social justice politics? Is it fair to the crowd, who find themselves in a public situation of forced moral conformity (obedience)? There are still many people who don’t see gender norms as a disposable nuisance, who realise their essentiality.

These purposeless showboating acts often get shoehorned unexpectedly into public events of which they play no real part. They are manufactured detraction from an actual occasion (in Willmore’s case, a football game) – a chance for the needy to garner attention.

I am recalled once more of the wedding I attended where the bride’s lesbian sister – a bridesmaid – spent the greater part of her speech not talking about the bride, but about her own struggles to be accepted as gay, culminating in crying about herself.

Despite the narcissism, the LGBTQ+ context forces a ‘standing ovation’ of applause, as the crowd senses the Pavlovian trigger-sentiment for ‘disadvantaged heroism’. Everyone nervously clapping as long and hard as they can, eyes darting from the corner of faces – frozen in false smiles – trying to detect any lack of enthusiasm from anyone else. Inwardly thinking: Am I going mad?

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CDC Changed Definition of ‘Vaccine’ Because of COVID-19 Vaccines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) altered the definition of “vaccine” because of concern that its definition did not apply to COVID-19 vaccines, according to newly released internal emails.

The agency updated its definition on Sept. 1.

The definition was formerly, “a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease.” It is now, “A preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases.”

One CDC employee in August, shortly before the definition was changed, said that the definition was being used by “right-wing COVID-19 pandemic deniers … to argue that mRNA vaccines are not vaccines,” according to the newly published emails.

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines utilize messenger RNA technology. All three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States have plummeted in effectiveness against infection in recent months after initially being promoted as protecting against infection and severe disease.

The definition “was twisted to claim that the existing COVID-19 vaccines were not vaccines because they only prevented severe illness,” the CDC employee said.

Alycia Downs, listed on LinkedIn as the lead health communication specialist for the agency, messaged a colleague on Aug. 19, saying she needed to update the definition and others like it “since these definitions are outdated and being used by some to say COVID-19 vaccines are not vaccines per CDC’s own definition.”

Downs didn’t receive a response so she messaged again the following week, writing, “The definition of vaccine we have posted is problematic and people are using it to claim the COVID-19 vaccine is not a vaccine based on our own definition.”

Valerie Morelli, another CDC official, approved the change on Sept. 1, even though it seems to differ greatly from a definition she laid out in an earlier document (pdf).

“If this is for the general public, I am good with the change,” Morelli wrote.

The emails were obtained by lawyer Travis Miller through a Freedom of Information Act request. The CDC did not dispute their authenticity.

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FBI Sat On Bombshell Footage From Kyle Rittenhouse Shooting

On Tuesday, opening statements in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, an18-year-old aspiring police officer accused of fatally shooting two men and wounding a third on the night of Aug. 25, 2020, as BLM riots raged in the streets of Kenosha in response to a white-on-black police shooting.

While prosecutors have slapped the teen with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide, Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming self-defense.

Now, new footage has emerged which bolsters his case.

Before the shooting began, Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, was had arrived in Kenosha in order to help keep order and protect businesses from looting and arson.

“People are getting inured, and our job is to protect this business, and part of my job is also to help people. If there’s somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my rifle, because I need to protect myself obviously. But I also have my med kit,” Rittenhouse said in footage recorded before the incident.

During the course of the evening, protesters became increasingly violent against Rittenhouse and the group he was with – eventually chasing the teen down the street when protester Joseph Rosenbaum was shot dead in the parking lot of a used car dealership. Shortly thereafter, Rittenhouse could be seen defending himself on the ground from multiple attackers – when he fatally wounded another, and shot the bicep of protester Gaige Grosskreutz who had drawn a pistol and was in the process of aiming it at the teen.

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