Tag: coronavirus

Reckoning for Newsom: GOP Rep. Introduces Bill to Force CA to Repay Past Due COVID-Era Unemployment Loans

On Tuesday, Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA) introduced the California Accountability and Loan Repayment Act (the CAL Repayment Act), which requires California to repay its outstanding $21 billion loan to the federal government before spending federal money on other programs.

Gavin Newsom’s state is the only state that has yet to repay its COVID-era unemployment loans (UI).

The bill would require California to prioritize repayment of its federal UI debt before spending any eligible federal funds on other programs and would require the state to direct available federal funds toward the loan within 5 business days of receipt.

Additionally, if the state diverts funds, it must repay the full misused amount to the federal government.

Newsom’s failure to repay the loans has placed the burden directly on the backs of employers in the state. The debt has led to automatic federal tax penalties on California employers via reduced FUTA tax credits, costing businesses roughly $84 per worker in 2025, with costs expected to rise.

In January, Rep. Fong shared details about the “hidden jobs tax” that Newsom pushed onto the backs of the business owners.

California employers are about to get hit with a massive tax increase — one they never voted on, one lawmakers and the governor never debated, but one Sacramento knew was coming.

At the very moment families and employers should be seeing relief from the Working Families Tax Cuts, which are in effect this year, California is moving in the opposite direction by raising taxes on employees and worsening the cost-of-living crisis already plaguing the state.

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UK data shows vaccinated died more during COVID waves. Whoops!

Dr. Daniel Ninio started a Grok thread to discredit my work.

So I continued the conversation and asked Grok for the data and methods showing the COVID shots have saved “millions” of lives.

It first suggested the CDC data. I pointed out that the CDC data doesn’t allow us to measure the harm/benefit. Grok agreed.

It also suggested the UK data. So I had ChatGPT analyze the UK data and it showed the vaccinated died more during COVID waves than the unvaccinated.

So Grok said it’s because of selection bias.

Whoa! A selection bias that turns a supposed >5X COVID mortality advantage to a 45% disadvantage in just a few months?!?!? Color me skeptical. I asked Grok for the methodology and Grok agreed that there was none. All hand-waving.

In a 2021 trough-to-wave comparison, age-standardised all-cause mortality rose by 17.6% in the ever-vaccinated status group versus 12.1% in the unvaccinated group, a roughly 45% larger wave-period increase among the ever-vaccinated. That directional pattern is inconsistent with a simple strongly protective all-cause interpretation.

In other words, the data isn’t fitting the narrative at all.

This is probably why the UK office of national statistics refuses to release the record level data at any finer granularity than the very crude buckets they release now.

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CIA Whistleblower Fears Retaliation, as Rand Paul Promises More COVID Cover-Up News Next Week

A CIA whistleblower who testified under subpoena that Dr. Anthony Fauci led a multi-agency cover-up of evidence that COVID-19 leaked from a lab is afraid the agency will retaliate against him, his attorney told The Defender today.

James E. Erdman III, a CIA senior operations officer, testified Wednesday that “Dr. Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional” and resulted in the Biden administration releasing an August 2021 report that was inconclusive about the virus’s origins — even though intelligence agencies by then had evidence of a lab leak.

Erdman’s attorney, Carol Thompson, told The Defender that Erdman is “concerned that the CIA will use bureaucratic processes and alleged secrecy requirements to undermine his testimony and obfuscate the truth.”

Thompson’s comments echo those she made to reporters after Wednesday’s hearing, in the presence of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who convened the hearing as part of his ongoing investigation into COVID-19’s origins.

Paul told reporters his team is continuing its review of evidence — and that more conflict-of-interest revelations are coming “next week.”

He also addressed the May 11 deadline to indict Fauci for perjury for allegedly lying to Congress, saying that Fauci may still face indictment.

In May 2021, Fauci told Congress the National Institutes of Health and the agency he led, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), never funded gain-of-function research. The five-year statute of limitations for indicting Fauci for his May 2021 testimony expired on Monday.

However, Fauci provided similar testimony in July 2021 — the deadline for indicting him for lies told during that testimony is July 2026.

“There are a lot of questions and I’ve sent several criminal referrals … on Anthony Fauci, and I hope they will be pursued,” Paul said.

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BOMBSHELL CIA Testimony: Fauci Accused of INTENTIONALLY Burying COVID Lab Leak Evidence

A CIA operations officer provided explosive sworn testimony Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci of directly intervening in the intelligence community’s review of COVID-19’s origins.

James Erdman III, a veteran CIA special operations officer, told senators that in August 2021 the intelligence community was on the verge of concluding the virus most likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Days later, that position reversed with no clear explanation.

Erdman stated under oath: “Dr. Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional. Dr. Fauci influenced the analytical process and findings by leveraging his position to ensure the IC consulted with a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials, and scientists.”

He added that intelligence leaders “purposefully downplayed the lab origin” and “knew the virus came from Wuhan but pushed the natural origin narrative anyway.” Erdman testified that CIA scientists had circulated papers noting “all the conditions were present for a lab leak,” yet senior analysts ultimately buried or softened those assessments.

Senator Rand Paul pressed Erdman on the timeline. Paul described the Biden administration’s final moves as a “clean-up operation,” noting: “Scientific analysts concluded multiple times between 2021 and 2023 that a lab leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19. Yet those conclusions never shaped the official narrative… It was not until after the 2024 election that the outgoing Biden administration directed the CIA to issue an assessment not because of new intelligence, but so officials could walk out of the door claiming there was nothing left to find.”

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SCOTX Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock Torches Rogue Dallas Judge’s Insane COVID Mask Mandate in Courtroom – Demands She Scrap It by Friday or Else

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice James “Jimmy” Blacklock has demanded answers from a Dallas County judge accused of requiring masks and intrusive health disclosures as a condition of entering her courtroom.

In a sharply worded May 13 letter, Chief Justice Blacklock warned Dallas County Court at Law No. 1 Judge D’Metria Benson that he is “aware of no legitimate basis” under Texas law for conditioning access to a public courtroom on a mask mandate or heightened health screening.

The letter, obtained Tuesday, gives Benson until 5 p.m. Friday, May 15, to either clarify that no such policy exists, explain the legal basis for the restrictions, or withdraw them entirely.

“It has come to my attention that you may be requiring people entering your courtroom to wear facemasks and to divulge intimate information about their health,” Blacklock wrote.

He added:

“If this is true, please carefully reconsider whether you have legal authority for these actions.”

Blacklock pointed directly to the Texas Constitution, citing Article I, Section 13, which guarantees that “all courts shall be open.”

“I am aware of no legitimate basis on which a Texas judge may condition a person’s presence in a courtroom on a mask requirement or on a heightened health screening,” the Chief Justice wrote.

That is a stunning statement from the state’s highest judicial officer—and one that signals Texas’ judicial leadership may be increasingly unwilling to tolerate lingering COVID-style mandates years after the pandemic emergency ended.

Blacklock also invoked Rule 10(f) of the Rules of Judicial Administration, which gives the Texas Supreme Court authority to direct lower courts to amend or withdraw local rules, standing orders, or policies deemed unfair or unduly burdensome.

The Chief Justice’s letter was prompted by reports that Benson’s courtroom may be enforcing mask requirements and requiring visitors to disclose private health information before entry. Blacklock cited reporting by The Texas Lawbook regarding attorney Mark Curriden’s challenge to the policy.

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Whistleblower: CIA suppressed ‘Lab Leak’ evidence to protect official federal narrative

Appearing before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday, CIA whistleblower James Erdman III alleged that federal agents orchestrated a cover-up to suppress scientists who questioned the origins of COVID-19 during the initial 2020 outbreak.

Notably, no Democrats showed up for Wednesday’s committee hearing.

Erdman, a former intelligence officer and military veteran, provided his testimony just two days after the expiration of the statute of limitations for potential charges against Dr. Anthony Fauci regarding allegations that he lied to Congress in 2021.

In addition to his intelligence background, Erdman is known as the co-founder of Feds For Freedom, a grassroots organization established to challenge federal vaccine mandates and address claims of religious exemption discrimination.

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Parents Sent To Prison After Isolating Kids For FOUR YEARS Over Covid Fears

A court in northern Spain has sentenced a couple to prison after they kept their three children confined indoors for nearly four years due to intense fears of Covid.

The isolation, which began in December 2021 and continued until the children were rescued in April 2025, left the youngsters with significant mental and physical conditions, including difficulties walking, bowel and bladder control issues, and delayed development.

The case, underscores the profound and lasting effects that pandemic-related anxiety had, and continues to have, on some individuals.

Christian Steffen, 53, a German freelance tech recruiter, and his wife Melissa Ann Steffen, 48, an American-born naturalised German, lived in a rented home in Oviedo, Spain. 

Prosecutors stated that the parents “locked the minors up inside their home and isolated them completely from the rest of the world, denying them contact with other people both physically and through other forms of communication.”

They added that “The children didn’t even know their relatives or any other people that weren’t their parents. They never went outside, not even to the garden of their home, for almost four years because of the unfounded fear the accused had, and they had instilled in their children, that they might be infected with something.”

The children — a boy aged ten and eight-year-old twins — were not enrolled in school. They received homeschooling from their parents, had not seen a doctor since 2019, and lived in conditions described as squalid, with soiled nappies, rubbish, and inadequate sleeping arrangements including broken cots for the twins. 

Physical examinations revealed bowed legs, hunched posture, irritated skin, and other issues stemming from prolonged confinement and lack of medical care. After rescue, one child was reported to have knelt on the grass outside and touched it with amazement.

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Active CIA Whistleblower Set to Blow Lid Off Deep State COVID-19 Cover-Up in Explosive Senate Testimony Tomorrow – Sen. Rand Paul Reveals Intel Community Knew Lab Leak Origins for Years While American Taxpayers Funded Wuhan Research

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has confirmed to Fox News’ Bill Melugin that an active CIA employee will testify publicly and in person before his Senate Homeland Security Committee tomorrow morning, and this brave whistleblower is ready to expose how the Deep State has been lying to the American people about the origins of COVID-19 for years.

This bombshell revelation comes just days after The Gateway Pundit reported on Sen. Paul’s announcement of the May 13 hearing, where he vowed “the truth is coming” about the COVID cover-up, even as the statute of limitations expires on potential charges against Anthony Fauci and despite Joe Biden’s desperate preemptive pardon of his favorite bureaucrat on his way out the door in January 2025.

According to Melugin’s exclusive report on X:

“Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) tells me that the COVID-19 whistleblower who will testify publicly & in person before his committee tomorrow morning is an active CIA employee who will testify that the intelligence community has covered up the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic for years.

“I think this whistleblower will help to confirm that this was known, has been known for a long time, and that when the scientists at the CIA looked at this, they discovered or they concluded that the virus had come from the lab,” Sen. Paul tells me.

“What we’re going to find is that the cover up is a real thing, that there are members of the community, the intelligence community, that still don’t want the truth to come out. I’ve said the government was involved not only in funding this research, but then in trying to obscure the truth. And the truth is the US government funded research in Wuhan, China, and that research led to a virus that escaped, escaped the lab, in all likelihood accidentally.”

I asked Senator Paul for any more details on who this CIA whistleblower is ahead of tomorrow’s hearing?

“This is a brave person who’s spent a career in the CIA,” Sen. Paul said. “I don’t know how much can be revealed, but is actually famous within the community for being someone who, behind the scenes, has really helped our country.””

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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in COVID ‘Misinformation’ Case, but Doctors Say They Still Won

The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear a key medical free speech case involving basketball hall-of-famer John Stockton and several doctors who alleged that the Washington Medical Commission’s (WMC) COVID-19 “misinformation” policies violated their First Amendment free speech rights.

The court declined, without comment, to review Stockton v. Brown — but only after the WMC lifted the disciplinary charges it had filed against two of the doctors in the case.

Plaintiffs included Drs. Richard Eggleston and Thomas T. Siler, who were sanctioned by the WMC for their pandemic-related speech, and Dr. Daniel Moynihan, who alleged the WMC’s threats “chilled” his speech on pandemic-related topics.

Stockton, co-host of “The Ultimate Assist Podcast,” and Children’s Health Defense (CHD) were also plaintiffs. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and WMC Executive Director Kyle S. Karinen, a lawyer, were the defendants.

In May 2024, a federal court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the First Amendment doesn’t protect physicians’ public speech because it is part of medical conduct.

In November 2024 and again in January 2025, the Supreme Court rejected emergency requests for a stay.

In September 2025, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal but did not consider the First Amendment questions in the case. The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court.

Attorney Rick Jaffe, who represented the plaintiffs, called the Supreme Court’s choice not to hear the case “outrageous.”

But Jaffe said the unreported part of the story is what happened the month before, when the WMC withdrew its statement of charges against Eggleston and Siler, which he called a victory.

“Withdrawal of those charges was the main practical goal of the state litigation concerning these doctors and this federal case … once the Commission rescinded the charges, that was the win,” Jaffe said.

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If the COVID vaccine benefit was so large, why can’t we detect it in the Czech record level data?

Executive summary

In a fixed-cohort analysis anchored to ISO week 2021-24 (baseline window 2021-24 to 2021-40), vaccinated all-cause mortality rose from 23.297 to 31.190 deaths per 100,000 person-weeks (RR 1.3388, +33.9%), while unvaccinated mortality rose from 13.017 to 17.625 (RR 1.3541, +35.4%). The unvaccinated-to-vaccinated ratio of rate ratios was 1.011 (95% interval 0.985 to 1.039), with male (1.003) and female (1.021) values also close to parity. The two groups did not have equal baseline risk: in many birth-year bands, unvaccinated baseline ACM rates were more than twice vaccinated rates. Nonetheless, the wave-period rise, expressed relative to each cohort’s own baseline, remained near parity, so a stable vaccinated all-cause mortality advantage is not observed in this fixed-cohort specification. This is an observational comparison and should not be interpreted as a causal effect estimate.

In other words, it didn’t work.

My open offer

If you think my analysis methodology of the Czech data using ACM differential cohort mortality during COVID v non-COVID is wrong, then please post the correct method and what it shows. The Czech data has been publicly available for nearly 2 years. If I’m wrong, why hasn’t anyone posted the proper analysis of the data showing a benefit?

I even applied the method used in Palinkas to the Czech data and the results were virtually identical to the method I used.

  • Pálinkás used regression-adjusted epidemic-vs-nonepidemic HR ratios.
  • We used fixed cohorts, person-weeks, and all-cause wave/baseline mortality ratio

So two completely different methods, same result. No discernable benefit.

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