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Commentary from Jeff Childers 'Coffee & Covid'

New readers probably don’t know that I completed a year of journalism school in college, back when professors would give you an “F” at the drop of a hat for getting a fact wrong or mischaracterizing something. One of my favorite pastimes is ripping up corporate media’s political press releases dressed up in journalism costumes.

So let’s do another one! In the wake of news of the Florida Supreme Court’s approval of the Governor’s petition for a Covid Grand Jury, the Hill ran a stale cold-take yesterday headlined, “DeSantis’s Request for COVID Vaccine Probe Denounced by Health Experts.”

Denounced!

Well, not exactly. The halfhearted story rounded up a rogue’s gallery of compliant “experts” to criticize the Governor. One omission in particular would’ve earned the writer an “F”: they failed to mention a single one of DeSantis’ own experts who spoke eloquently at his roundtable justifying the Grand Jury. They did mention the roundtable, and I give them props for linking it on Rumble. (Sorry, YouTube!)

Here’s the Hill’s entire description of the Governor’s RoundTable:

The request was first made known during a roundtable discussion the Florida governor held last week, in which he condemned what he viewed as the linking of morality to pandemic mitigation methods such as staying at home in the early parts of the outbreak and getting vaccinated once the shots became available later on, and criticized federal COVID-19 guidance as being a “huge political farce.”
That is all true, he did make those points. But overall, the Governor actually spoke very little at the roundtable. He mainly asked questions and let his public health and infectious disease experts answer. But oddly, the Hill omitted ALL reference to ANYTHING the Governor’s experts said. For all its readers know, nobody else attended the roundtable. It was a roundtable with one big chair.

This is what is goes for “balance” these days. Maybe the Hill reporter was working at the speed of journalism?

Anyway, the Hill summarized the opinions of its crack squad of counter-experts like this:

"Public health experts and physicians, however, said DeSantis’s approach to scrutinizing the vaccines was flawed and counterproductive to promoting public health."

I bet they hated having to add the words “approach to.” To please their demanding pharma masters, the cowardly sycophant reporters really wanted say that “scrutinizing the vaccines” itself is “counterproductive.” But they knew it would give away the game, tipping a story that is practically a vaccine advertisement right into the marketing bin.

So they were left with this tepid argument: DeSantis “approach” to “scrutinizing” vaccines is supposedly flawed and counterproductive. How “flawed?” How “counterproductive?” The Hill doesn’t say, not exactly, nor does it suggest any less-flawed or more productive way to “scrutinize the vaccines.”
The Hill’s entire premise is wrong. DeSantis isn’t going to scrutinize the vaccines, that’s the Grand Jury’s job. Actually, even the Grand Jury won’t scrutinize the vaccines. They are what they are, and aren’t. The Grand Jury is going to scrutinize the PEOPLE who pushed the vaccines using false information, like the claim that you’d help end the pandemic by taking the vaccine, or that the mRNA would stick in the injection site instead of seeping into your heart, brain, testicles and ovaries.

Rather than explain its premise, the Hill mounted a weak defense of the jabs using the “previously stated” opinions of un-identified experts and un-named “studies”:

As has been previously stated by physicians and researchers, no vaccine is 100 percent effective, but studies have consistently shown the coronavirus vaccines offer strong enough protection for recipients to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death.
Really? The jabs have “strong enough protection” to “prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death?”

That’s weird, especially in light of the Washington Post’s “pandemic of the vaccinated” article last month, in which it said:

"For the first time, a majority of Americans dying from the coronavirus received at least the primary series of the vaccine. Fifty-eight percent of coronavirus deaths in August were people who were vaccinated or boosted… a continuation of a troubling trend that has emerged over the past year. As vaccination rates have increased and new variants appeared, the share of deaths of people who were vaccinated has been steadily rising. In September 2021, vaccinated people made up just 23 percent of coronavirus fatalities. In January and February this year, it was up to 42 percent."
Huh. If the jabs “prevent” death as the Hill claimed yesterday, how could almost 60% of Covid deaths be in VACCINATED people? Maybe I don’t understand what “prevent” means.
Next, the Hill’s roundup of cherry-picked experts criticized the Grand Jury as follows:

DeSantis “appears to be focused on creating fear around vaccines that have been shown to be safe and effective,” rather than protecting the lives of Floridians.

In other words, the Grand Jury might hurt vaccine sales, which are already on a ventilator. It also claimed to be able to look into the Governor’s mind, bypassing the reasons the Governor and his experts gave, and telling us the “real” reason for the Grand Jury: to create fear.

But, do you know who’s DEFINITELY been creating fear? That’s right, the media. Apparently it’s okay when the media does it, to sell vaccines, but it’s not okay for the Governor to do it, even assuming the Hill correctly imputed the Governor’s motive.
There are legitimate avenues for evaluating vaccine recommendations, but DeSantis’s investigation request was not one. “This is turning a matter of health and science into a political wedge issue, with the likely consequence that many people will be misled into placing themselves and their families at risk of serious illness and death.”

Are they really trying to get us to believe, at this point, that there weren’t any politics involved in vaccine recommendations? It was always only “health and science?”

“His understanding of the facts or at least his articulation of the facts are just wrong.”

Okay, but WHICH facts were articulated wrong? Hello?

The investigation is “a waste of taxpayer money and time and effort.”

You have got to be kidding me.
“No one has either inappropriately or purposely either overstated or understated the vaccine in any way. It’s a brand-new technology. Like any brand-new technology, you make some assumptions about what you think’s going to happen. It actually turned out to be a whole lot better than most people thought it would be.”

This guy should review one of those collections of clips showing officials overstating the vaccine before he gives statements to media. And claiming that the vaccines worked out better than most people thought is pure gaslighting. NOBODY thinks that. He just made it up.

"Myocarditis following vaccination is a “transient phenomenon” from which the vast majority of patients fully recovered."
The heart muscle NEVER HEALS; cardiac damage is always permanent. The Hill’s expert didn’t cite any studies for this, either (he generally cited to a CDC “survey&rdquo😉. And ask all the dead people about how transient their myocarditis was. Oh wait, you can’t.

“The message is not as credible when [public officials] get into the weeds and start arguing really technical details without having the background and training.”

But again, DESANTIS didn’t argue any technical details. He listened to the experts, who did have the background and training.

It’s obvious that none of the Hill’s experts actually watched the roundtable, and not one of them commented on what DeSantis’ experts said, even though the story was based on the roundtable. The truth is, all the Hill’s experts’ arguments were rebutted in the roundtable discussion.
Bottom line: DeSantis outplayed the media. Again!

BDair 8 Dec 27
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7 comments

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1

Word salad, TLDR!

Perhaps you have a lack of reading and comprehension aptitude.

Notice how he immediately resorts to ad hominem attack. A sure sign of weakness.

@BDair Do you know what TLDR means?

3

Kids are dying of Measles again.

Measles!

Because of anti- vac scum like you.

Do you have any data that supports this assertion?

3

What a stinking pile of 🐂💩. It's another in a long line of pathetic attempts to whip up fear of RNA vaccines. Fortunately, we don't have to concern ourselves with the Florida governor's opinion, or that of his round table of experts, or the media's coverage of them. None of that is relevant. It's just a distraction. What matters is that all the data show that the vaccines are safe and effective. People who are unvaccinated are much more likely to become seriously ill and die of SARS CoV-2 than people who have been vaccinated. And evidence that the vaccines have caused harm to many people is scant, notwithstanding a great volume of emotionally-charged, scientifically bankrupt anti-vax propaganda.

The vaccines are not 'safe and effective'.
This fact was borne out in the data from their own trials.
The vaccines did not achieve 2% efficacy, and even after
continuous booster shots the efficacy goes negative after a
short period of time.
You have been brain washed by Big Pharma propaganda.

@BDair Blah, blah, blah.

Have you always been susceptible to conspiracy theories? Or is it an affliction that suddenly came upon you in middle age?

I am not susceptible to theories. I follow the science and I am impervious to
governmental propaganda, which you are not. Everything I post is
supported by scientific literature and principles. All you have are opinions.

My response below expands upon what you said. Fear is a powerful emotion.

You must listen to CNN.

@Mickey Not really. I listen to the NIH, CDC, California Dept of Health, San Diego County Health Department, my doctor, all the doctors and nurses of the USA... they're all on the same page.

3

Did bias not get taught until the second year?

MizJ Level 8 Dec 27, 2022

Due to your bias, you believe the commentary is biased.

@BDair When one uses critical thinking and analyzes the words, sussing out the degree of bias is almost automatic. I have been doing it for decades and it is clear in ALL media to various degrees. I have even taught some of the skills to others.

Shall we begin with verbs? Generally they are the easiest way to color your intended reader's perception.

Rob. Steal. Abscond.

All three verbs can be used to describe the actions of a thief yet imply that thief using different methods to do so. Rob would be the verb of choice if the thief had a weapon, thus implies potential violence along with the change of possession of the item that is stolen. The other words do not have the same implication.

Shall I go on?

You can go on, until you actually make a point.

@BDair Another tactic used by media and others, often in a covert manner, is to generate emotional responses. That response happens in the lower, more primitive part of the brain . When that happens one does not engage brain regions responsible for higher reasoning. An example is Jan 6 and DJT telling the crowd that their country is about to be stolen. A dog will respond like that crowd and protect and defend against having its toy taken.

You are going off the trail into the bushes a bit.

@BDair Another thing that media does is to create an Us versus Them environment. Ask yourself if you have any physiological reactions in anticipation of reading responses to your posts and comments. That is your fight or flight response and how your brain helps to keep you safe. Opinions that differ from yours are from Them and therefore perceived as hostile. I notice that you didn't say anything about my words and is more of a personal slight. This happened as you perceive me as one of Them and likely said it due to emotions surrounding the belief that I am the enemy, if instead you were using the part of the brain that engages critical thinking your response might have been meaningful and mature.

I do not see how your psychobabble relates to the posted commentary.

1

Thank you, Bryan. I know you put a lot of time and effort into this article. But alas, my brain stalled out on me while I was reading it. I'm basically NOT a DeSantis supporter (for other reasons), and I'd like to be fair and even-handed about bashing his reputation--which I do repeatedly. It'd be nice if you could give me a couple of sentences as a "management summary." It's readily apparent the Hill screwed the pooch with its journalism. But what is my take-away about DeSantis?

As stated, this was penned by Jeff Childers.
He explains himself rather succinctly there in.
The salient points are that Gov. DeSantis convened
a panel of experts for a round table discussion about
his petition for a Grand jury to investigate harms
from vaccinations and mandates.

@BDair THANK YOU! Was the outcome of that panel truthful and useful? Or did it play into his anti-vax propaganda?

He doesn't use 'anti-vax' propaganda.
He is a literate and well read man that is
able to read the scientific literature and
understand the facts. They are utilizing
the actual data and science.

1

The heart muscle is too busy to heal.

Heart muscle can not regenerate after it is damaged.
Myocarditis is a permanent condition.
Young people are going to suffer lifelong disability
from vaccine reactions.

@BDair Wrong again, BDair! Jeez, you really are a font of misinformation! [hopkinsmedicine.org].

2

To acknowledge the value of this is to get painted as a right winger. I see it differently. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

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