Author: HP McLovincraft

Seeker of rabbit holes. Pessimist. Libertine. Contrarian. Your huckleberry. Possibly true tales of sanity-blasting horror also known as abject reality. Prepare yourself. Veteran of a thousand psychic wars. I have seen the fnords. Deplatformed on Tumblr and Twitter.

Ohio’s Vaccine Lottery Didn’t Increase COVID-19 Vaccination Rate, Study Says. Governor Disputes.

Many states offered incentives for residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it became available to anyone over the age of 16. One of the most well-known incentives was found in Ohio, which created a Vax-A-Million lottery that would enter people who obtained the COVID-19 vaccine into a lottery for $1 million. Children who were vaccinated would be entered into a drawing for a full-ride scholarship to attend one of Ohio’s state universities.

But a new study suggests the lottery didn’t increase the state’s vaccination rate any more than states that did not offer a similar lottery, Fox 8 reported. The study, conducted by Boston University’s School of Medicine, compared vaccination rates in Ohio with some states that offered no such incentive. It found that Ohio did see an increase in vaccinations after the lottery was announced – but other states saw a similar spike around the same time because the eligibility for the Pfizer vaccine was expanded to include those added 12 to 15.

Dan Tierney, spokesperson for Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH), suggested the study was flawed for focusing on the expanded age group. Tierney said the state had already removed the younger age group when it compiled data on the lottery in order to tout its success.

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HHS Secretary Becerra: ‘It Is Absolutely The Government’s Business’ To Know Who’s Been Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra fired back at critics of the Biden administration’s plan to go door-to-door promoting the COVID-19 vaccine by insisting that it is “absolutely the government’s business” to know who has gotten the shot.

The Biden administration announced, earlier this week, that they would be putting together “strike forces” charged with going “door-to-door” to convince vaccine-hesitant populations to get the jab. Speaking to a press conference, Biden touted the plan as a community-by-community public health push: “Now, we need to go to community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and oftentimes, door-to-door — literally knocking on doors — to get help to the remaining people protected from the virus.”

But the plan met with sharp, swift criticism on social media and from Republican legislators, who blasted the Biden administration for believing it is the government’s job to check up on people’s private healthcare decisions.

“How about don’t knock on my door,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) fired back at the president Tuesday night. “You’re not my parents. You’re the government. Make the vaccine available, and let people be free to choose. Why is that concept so hard for the left?”

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Nation’s largest teachers union mysteriously scrubs pro-critical race theory pledge from website

The National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the United States, mysteriously scrubbed from its website a recently adopted plan to combat opponents of critical race theory.

What is the background?

As TheBlaze reported, the NEA adopted a resolution at its annual meeting last week that pledged to “fight back” against groups working to stop critical race theory from being taught in schools.

Not only did the NEA’s resolution vow to “fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric,” but the resolution reaffirmed the NEA’s view that developing curriculum based on critical race theory and other similar ideologies is important “for understanding and interpreting the impact of the past on current society.”

The action plan is necessary, according to a separately adopted resolution, because “the attacks on anti-racist teachers are increasing.” That resolution was also removed.

What happened now?

The NEA removed its pro-CRT resolutions from the union website sometime this week after its plans generated attention, and predictable backlash, online.

Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action, an organization that NEA cited specifically as one group the union would “fight back” against, noted Tuesday, “[Three] days after their annual meeting concludes, @NEAToday, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, scrubs the agenda items announcing their nationwide campaign to push CRT from their website.”

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With a straight face, government argues Legos are evidence of a terror plot?

A Pennsylvania man arrested for the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol built a replica Capitol with Legos prior to the attack, federal prosecutors said. Feds seized the Lego set from his home in North Pittsburgh, Business Insider reported.

Prosecutors announced the ‘discovery’ on July 2 since they want to use it as evidence to keep him locked up.

In addition, he had plans to form a militia. It included steps on training. Militias are legal.

Morss is on video in the Capitol and prosecutors say he was involved in the attack on DC officer Daniel Hodges who can be seen in video crushed against a door as people pour through.

The FBI seized Morss’ Legos and his notebook. Not only were all the invading people in the Capitol unarmed, at least one has Legos at home, and he made a Lego Capitol. What more do you need?

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George Orwell made a prediction that came true…

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

George Orwell

Pelosi’s Husband Makes Big Tech Stock Moves Again, Places $6 Million Bet As Congress Looks To Rein In Silicon Valley

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband bet up to $6 million on Google’s parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and NVIDIA, just before a House committee moved forward with multiple bills looking to limit the power of Big Tech corporations.

On June 18, Paul Pelosi exercised his Alphabet call options, which give him the right to buy 4,000 shares at a price of $1,200 per share, amounting to a total of $4.8 million, according to disclosed transactions. On May 21, he spent up to $250,000 on 50 Apple calls with a strike price of $100, and spent up to $1 million on 20 Amazon calls with a strike price of $3,000, both of which expire on June 17, 2022.

Fox Business reported that Paul Pelosi “did not immediately respond” for comment, while a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi’s office said, “The speaker has no involvement or prior knowledge of these transactions,” adding that “The speaker does not own any stock.”

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Over 70 Percent of YouTube Videos Viewers Deemed Objectionable Were Recommended by YouTube’s Own Algorithm

A new study by software nonprofit Mozilla Foundation found that 71 percent of videos study participants deemed objectionable were suggested to them by YouTube’s own recommendation algorithm.

“Research volunteers encountered a range of regrettable videos, reporting everything from COVID fear-mongering to political misinformation to wildly inappropriate “children’s” cartoons,” Mozilla Foundation wrote in a post.

The largest-ever crowdsourced probe into YouTube’s controversial recommendation algorithm found that the automated software continues to recommend videos viewers considered “disturbing and hateful,” Mozilla said, including ones that violate YouTube’s own content policies.

The study involved nearly 38,000 YouTube users across 91 countries who volunteered data to Mozilla about the “regrettable experiences” they have had on the world’s most popular video content platform. Overall, participants flagged 3,362 regrettable videos between July 2020 and May 2021, with the most frequent “regret” categories being misinformation, violent or graphic content, hate speech, and spam/scams.

Mozilla said that almost 200 videos that YouTube’s algorithm recommended to volunteers have since been removed from the platform, including several that YouTube deemed violated their own policies.

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Facebook is banning anyone charged (not convicted) with participating in January 6 US Capitol riot

Facebook has revealed that it will ban anyone who’s charged in connection with the riot at the US Capitol on January 6 and may start “fact-checking” claims that the riot was staged.

In an article detailing how Alan Hostetter, a man who has been charged with obstructing official government proceedings and breaching restricted government property, was banned from Facebook and Instagram within hours of posting a video describing the January 6 riot as a “false flag” and a “fakesurrection” because he believed infiltrators were in the crowd, The Washington Post notes that:

“Facebook says that it does not allow people charged in the insurrection on the platform and that it may fact-check claims that the riot was staged.”

In the case of Hostetter, the prosecutors do not allege that he was violent or entered the Capitol building but claim that he “pushed through the area that the law enforcement officers had been blocking, moved up the stairs onto a structure erected for the Inauguration, and continued moving on to the Upper West Terrace.”

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