Tag: entertainment

Biden Administration Tried to Place ‘Trusted Messenger’ on Joe Rogan Podcast to Promote Covid Vaccine

The Biden administration sought to place a “trusted messenger” on Joe Rogan’s podcast to promote Covid-19 vaccines, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.

The conservative watchdog group published 249 pages of records from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) outlining the agency’s plans to push the Covid-19 vaccine via various media sources.

A public education campaign plan dated April 19 to May 31, 2021 suggested the agency could “Place a trusted messenger on the Joe Rogan Show and Barstool Sports to promote vaccination (work with outside expert to identify who will be most effective).”

Asked about the documents and whether HHS has been successful in placing a messenger on Rogan’s show, a spokesperson for the agency said: “As has been reported previously, HHS, in both the Trump and Biden Administrations, has done regular engagements to ensure Americans know about COVID-19 and the resources that they have to protect themselves.”

The Trump administration launched its own $250 million Building Vaccine Confidence campaign to encourage Americans to get the Covid-19 vaccine, which also included the use of paid and earned media.

“The ‘We Can Do This’ public education campaign under the Biden Administration has worked hard when it comes to reaching communities across the U.S. where they are, and informing them about safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines through paid and digital media, influencer engagement, and partnership outreach,” the spokesperson added. “Through ‘We Can Do This’ and other efforts, HHS will continue to encourage people to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine and fight vaccine misinformation.”

Rogan’s pandemic-related conversations with guests on his podcast oftentimes diverged from medical and scientific consensus, causing him to become a prominent voice of vaccine skepticism.

Rogan’s podcasts on Covid-19 and vaccination led to a campaign by several celebrity singers to have him deplatformed by Spotify in January 2022 over his spreading of alleged disinformation. Rogan has a licensing deal with Spotify worth more than $100 million.

Neil Young told Spotify it must deplatform Rogan or he would pull his music. Joni Mitchell later made a similar threat but Spotify did not cave.

Spotify responded to the criticism by agreeing to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that involved discussion about Covid-19, directing listeners to Covid-19 hub that links out to “trusted sources.”

In April 2021, HHS publicly announced it was launching a “nationwide, grassroots network of local voices and trusted community leaders to encourage vaccinations, with more than 275 founding member organizations that have the ability to reach millions of Americans.”

“This effort will mobilize health professionals, scientists, community organizations, faith leaders, businesses, rural stakeholders, civil rights organizations, sports leagues and athletes, and Americans from all walks of life to become leaders within their own communities to help get friends, family, and neighbors vaccinated,” the agency said in a press release at the time.

The HHS documents obtained by Judicial Watch included a number of paths the agency could potentially use to promote the vaccine, including to request a vaccination special on Christian Broadcast Network featuring Evangelic leaders, to request that major TV entertainment feature hosts get vaccinated on air, and to convene an editorial meeting with the publishers of Catholic newspaper and newsletters across the country, including America Magazine, Florida Catholic, The Catholic Spirit, and The Tablet.

Other objectives on the list included requesting that “the TV morning and daytime talk shows feature special vaccination reunion moments with everyday Americans talking about what this means to them (ex: hugging grandma for the first time)” and requesting vaccination specials with BET, The Undefeated, Desus & Mero, and Hot Ones.

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Amazon plots to turn surveillance network into reality TV series

Comedian Wanda Sykes will host a new show, called “Ring Nation,” that will feature videos captured by Amazon Ring cameras, according to a report on Deadline. Amazon-owned MGM Television and Big Fish Entertainment will produce the show.

The show will feature funny and viral content captured by Ring cameras, like “neighbors saving neighbors, marriage proposals, military reunions and silly animals.”

Such videos can be entertaining and often go viral. However, they pull people’s attention from the mass surveillance Ring cameras conduct. Videos from Ring cameras have been used in investigations by law enforcement in the US and abroad, even pulling video from people’s doorbell cameras without a warrant.

By cultivating fears about crime in the suburbs and partnering with police departments, Amazon has aggressively rolled out Ring home surveillance cameras.

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98-Year-Old Who Donated Body to Science Ends Up Dissected in Front of Audience at Expensive ‘Freak Show’ in Portland

A 98-year-old man who donated his body to science ended up being dissected before a paying audience at a “freak show” event in Oregon.

The family of the man is outraged over how his body was desecrated without their consent.

The audience paid $500 per ticket to watch the body of David Saunders be dissected, live and in person.

“Event organizers sold tickets for up to $500 to the public to view in-person the autopsy and dissection of a human body. The event is part of the Oddities and Curiosities Expo, which travels across the country,” local station KING 5 reports.

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Nickelodeon to Parents: Teach Your Kids to Be Left-Wing Activists so They Won’t Turn Out Racist Like You

In 2021, there are few places one can turn to avoid hearing about the need for “social justice,” “equity” and “anti-racism.”

Apparently, not even Nickelodeon can offer refuge from these far-left ideas.

On Nickelodeon Parents, a website designed to provide the parents of Nickelodeon viewers with educational resources involving the channel’s shows, there just so happens to be a page titled “How Kids Can Be Allies.”

What does this page say?

That American parents are racist and, in order to account for that racism, must teach their kids various left-wing values in order to account for that bigotry.

The page offers a “list of actions” that parents can take to help their children “continue the fight against racism and bias.”

The sixth entry on the list reads as follows: “Acknowledge your own racism and racial bias. Because you live in a racist society, you hold racist ideas and beliefs. You cannot choose to not be privileged. The more aware you are of the ways in which your ideas and behaviors are shaped by race, the more effective you will be at reducing harm.”

Of course, the definition of “racism” chosen by Nickelodeon is of the “systemic” variety, with the page describing racism as “structural and a part of all aspects of our lives, including laws, public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms.”

This highly controversial theory of racism has its roots in the academic philosophy of critical race theory.

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