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COVID Vaccine Injury Reports Jump by 27,000 in One Week, FDA Pulls ‘Bait and Switch’ With Pfizer Vaccine Approval

VAERS data released Friday by the CDC showed a total of 623,343 reports of adverse events from all age groups following COVID vaccines, including 13,627 deaths and 84,466 serious injuries between Dec. 14, 2020 and Aug. 20, 2021.

Data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that between Dec. 14, 2020 and Aug. 20, 2021, a total of 623,343 total adverse events were reported to VAERS, including 13,627 deaths — an increase of 559 over the data released last week.

There were 84,466 reports of serious injuries, including deaths, during the same time period — up 3,416 compared with the previous week.

Excluding “foreign reports” filed in VAERS, 488,318 adverse events, including 6,128 deaths and 38,765 serious injuries, were reported in the U.S. between Dec. 14, 2020 and Aug. 20, 2021.between Dec. 14, 2020 and Aug. 20, 2021.

Of the 6,128 U.S. deaths reported as of Aug. 20, 13% occurred within 24 hours of vaccination, 18% occurred within 48 hours of vaccination and 32% occurred in people who experienced an onset of symptoms within 48 hours of being vaccinated.

In the U.S., 360.3 million COVID vaccine doses had been administered as of Aug. 20. This includes: 203 million doses of Pfizer, 143 million doses of Moderna and 14 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

From the 8/20/2021 release of VAERS data

The data come directly from reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S.

Every Friday, VAERS makes public all vaccine injury reports received as of a specified date, usually about a week prior to the release date. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed.

This week’s U.S. data for 12- to 17-year-olds show:

The most recent reported deaths include a 15-year-old boy (VAERS I.D. 1498080) who previously had COVID, was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy in May 2021 and died four days after receiving his second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine on June 18, when he collapsed on the soccer field and went into ventricular tachycardia; and a 13-year-old girl (VAERS I.D. 1505250) who died after suffering a heart condition after receiving her first dose of Pfizer.

This week’s total U.S. VAERS data, from Dec. 14, 2020 to Aug. 20, 2021, for all age groups combined, show:

BBC radio host died of COVID vaccine complications, coroner confirms

An award-winning BBC radio host died as a result of complications from her first dose of AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine, coroner Karen Dilks concluded.

Lisa Shaw, 44, received her first dose of AstraZeneca on April 29. On May 13, she was taken by ambulance to University Hospital of North Durham after having a headache for several days. She was transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where she received a number of treatments, which included cutting away part of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain. She died May 21.

According to the BBC, Tuomo Polvikoski, a pathologist, told the coroner Shaw was fit and healthy before receiving the vaccine. When asked about the underlying cause of the fatal clotting on her brain, Polvikoski said the clinical evidence “strongly supports the idea that it was, indeed, vaccine-induced.”

FDA grants full approval of Pfizer vaccine, critics blast agency for lack of data, scientific debate

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Aug. 23 granted full approval to Pfizer’s “Comirnaty” COVID vaccine for people 16 years and older — without allowing public discussion or holding a formal advisory committee meeting to discuss data.

This is the first COVID vaccine approved by the FDA, and is expected to open the door to more vaccine mandates by employers and universities.

According to The Washington Post, Pfizer’s vaccine approval was the fastest in the agency’s history, coming less than four months after Pfizer/BioNTech filed for licensing on May 7.

According to an article published Aug. 20 in the BMJ, transparency advocates criticized the FDA decision not to hold a formal advisory committee meeting to discuss Pfizer’s application for full approval — an important mechanism used to scrutinize data.

Last year the FDA said it was “committed to use an advisory committee composed of independent experts to ensure deliberations about authorization or licensure are transparent for the public.”

But in a statement to The BMJ, the FDA said it did not believe a meeting was necessary ahead of the expected full FDA approval.

Kim Witczak, a drug safety advocate who serves as a consumer representative on the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee, said it’s concerning that full approval is based on only six months’ worth of data — despite clinical trials designed for two years — and there’s no control group after Pfizer offered the product to placebo participants before the trials were completed.

FDA approval letter causes confusion, raises questions

Buried in the fine print of Monday’s approval of the Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine are two critical facts that affect whether the vaccine can be mandated, and whether Pfizer can be held liable for injuries, according to Children’s Health Defense Chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Dr. Meryl Nass.

Kennedy and Nass, who accused the FDA of pulling a “bait and switch” on the public, said the FDA acknowledged that while Pfizer has “insufficient stocks” of the newly licensed Comirnaty vaccine available, there is “a significant amount” of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine — produced under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) — still available for use.

The FDA decreed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine under the EUA should remain unlicensed — but that it can be used “interchangeably” (page 2, footnote 8) with the newly licensed Comirnaty product.

Second, the FDA said the licensed Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine and the existing EUA Pfizer vaccine are “legally distinct,” but said their differences do not “impact safety or effectiveness.”

Kennedy and Nass said EUA products are experimental under U.S. law. Both the Nuremberg Code and federal regulations provide that no one can force a human being to participate in this experiment.

Under 21 U.S. Code Sec.360bbb-3(e)(1)(A)(ii)(III), “authorization for medical products for use in emergencies,” it is unlawful to deny someone a job or an education because they refuse to be an experimental subject, they wrote.

At least for the moment, the Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine has no liability shield. Vials of the branded product, which say “Comirnaty” on the label, are subject to the same product liability laws as other U.S. products, Kennedy and Nass said, adding that “Pfizer is therefore unlikely to allow any American to take a Comirnaty vaccine until it can somehow arrange immunity for this product.”

On Thursday, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) wrote the FDA raising similar concerns and questions about the agency’s approval of the Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine.

In his letter, Johnson asked FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodruff why the FDA didn’t grant full licensure for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that is already in use and available in the U.S., and how the agency will ensure that those being vaccinated under mandates will receive the FDA-approved version.

As COVID surges among fully vaccinated, CDC fails to properly track breakthrough cases

As The Defender reported Aug. 24, the most recent data from the CDC shows 9,716 breakthrough cases resulting in hospitalization or death as of Aug. 16. However, the agency states those numbers are underreported.

On May 1, the CDC made a decision to stop tracking all breakthrough cases and instead only track cases in the fully vaccinated that resulted in hospitalization or death. That leaves public health officials without the full data that can answer questions as the new Delta variant spreads.

In an interview with PBS News Hour, Jessica Malaty Rivera, an infectious disease epidemiologist and research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital and former science communications lead at the COVID Tracking Project, said not tracking breakthrough data with as much granularity as we would hope is “basically creating blind spots in our understanding of the true impact of the virus, especially the variants that are circulating so widely in the United States.”

The New York Times recently published data from seven states — California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, Vermont  and Virginia — that keeps particularly detailed records on breakthrough cases.

Analysis showed that in six of the states, breakthrough infections made up 18% to 28% of all newly diagnosed cases of COVID in the past several weeks, and 12% to 24% of all COVID-related hospitalizations, with reported deaths higher than the CDC’s original estimate of .5%.

Pfizer scheme to churn out ‘variant-specific’ vaccines will lead to more variants, experts warn

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Tuesday told Fox News the company has a system in place to turn around a variant-specific jab within 95 days in the likelihood a vaccine-resistant COVID strain emerges, but experts warn that strategy will backfire.

Bourla said Pfizer hasn’t identified any variants that could escape the vaccine yet. However, that statement contradicts the findings of numerous studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which show waning immunity against the Delta variant.

Dr. Peter McCullough, board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases and clinical lipidology, said in a recent podcast: “There are clearly sources of information to suggest that once we start vaccination and we get more than 25% of the population vaccinated, we will allow one of the variants that’s in the background to emerge because it’s resistant to the vaccine.”

“That [theory] makes sense,” McCullough said. “Just like an antibiotic, once we get to a certain percentage of coverage with an antibiotic, we’ll allow a resistant bacteria to move forward.”

According to Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of mRNA and DNA vaccines, worldwide expert in RNA technologies and Harvard-trained physician, continued mass vaccination campaigns will enable new, more infectious viral variants.

Even if we had complete uptake in vaccines and complete masking, Malone said, CDC data makes it clear that at best we can slow the spread of Delta but we can’t stop it.

New CDC studies show waning vaccine immunity to Delta variant

Two studies released Aug. 24 by the CDC showed fully vaccinated Americans’ immunity to COVID is waning as the Delta variant now makes up 98.8% of U.S. COVID cases.

One study found vaccine effectiveness among frontline healthcare workers declined by nearly 30 percentage points since the Delta variant became the dominant strain in the U.S.

The analysis also concluded COVID vaccines were only 80% effective in preventing infection among the frontline healthcare workers.

The second study examined 43,000 Los Angeles residents 16 and older. Between May 1 and July 25, 25.3% of COVID infections occurred in fully vaccinated persons and 3.3% were in partially vaccinated persons.

The CDC cautioned in its report that vaccine effectiveness “might also be declining as time since vaccination increases and because of poor precision in estimates due to limited number of weeks of observation.”

The publication of the new studies followed a week after the CDC released its first three reports on vaccine efficacy — which also showed waning vaccine protection against the Delta variant.

172 days and counting, CDC ignores The Defender’s inquiries

According to the CDC website, “the CDC follows up on any report of death to request additional information and learn more about what occurred and to determine whether the death was a result of the vaccine or unrelated.”

On March 8, The Defender contacted the CDC with a written list of questions about reported deaths and injuries related to COVID vaccines. We have made repeated attempts, by phone and email, to obtain a response to our questions.

Despite multiple phone and email communications with many people at the CDC, and despite being told that our request was in the system and that someone would respond, we have not yet received answers to any of the questions we submitted. It has been 172 days since we sent our first email to the CDC requesting information.

Children’s Health Defense asks anyone who has experienced an adverse reaction, to any vaccine, to file a report following these three steps.

Over 1,000 Church Leaders Send Letter To Australian PM Morrison Opposing Vaccine Mandates

Over 1,000 church leaders, as well as over 7,000 church members and participants, voiced their objection to the implementation of a “vaccine passport” scheme in Australia in an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The letter, called The Ezekiel Declaration, was written by three pastors from Queensland who pledged to fiercely oppose any “vaxx certificate system” that was imposed on the church, reports the Caldron Pool.

The letter was written by Timothy Grant of Mount Isa Baptist Church, Matthew Littlefield of New Beith Baptist Church, and Warren McKenzie of Biota Baptist Church when it became apparent that there were few citizens opposing the growing “medical two-tiered society.”

“For many Christian leaders and Christians, this is an untenable proposal that would inflict terrible consequences on our nation,” reads the letter in part.

Listing five reasons for their objection, the letter notes that the current generation is not the first to be confronted with the issue of “vaccine passports.”

It quoted Christian theologian Abraham Kuyper– who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1901 to 1905– who wrote in 1880 the necessity to forgo vaccination certificates.

“Vaccination certificates will therefore have to go… The form of tyranny hidden in these vaccination certificates is just as real a threat to the nation’s spiritual resources as a smallpox epidemic itself,” wrote Kuyper.

Thus, the letter argued that “free citizens” should have the opportunity to give their permission, particularly when the vaccination deployment is being referred to as a “clinical trial.”

A “vaccine passport,” the group said, would only symbolize a hazardous abyss of tyranny that would not foster freedom and wellbeing, but would rather dehumanize and subjugate its people under the guise of “personal health and safety.”

The second argument given was that a sizable part of the population is already overburdened and on the brink of hopelessness. It says that, unsurprisingly, government leaders were obliged to declare a state of emergency in March 2020. The danger was unknown at the time, and the world’s capacity to deal with it had not been tried.

However, the negative consequences of permanent lockdowns were exposed in 2021, including an increase in suicide, since long-term seclusion has psychological effects on many.

Aside from psychological consequences, the letter highlighted missed diagnoses of other diseases by physicians or patients remaining at home, the impact on delayed and incoherent education of children, young people graduating into a closed economy, finding it impossible to find employment, and poverty.

Their third point of contention was that one’s conscience should never be forced.

“A government should never coerce conscience, but rather respect the important function that it carries in aiding a person to worship God freely and live obediently before the state,” said the letter. “As we have noted, Jesus commands Christians to count the cost, and many believers do not feel that we have all the information necessary to make a decision on this vaccine at this point in time.”

Consequently, they call on the Australian government to refrain from using a “vaccine passport” which would force many people in the country to violate their conscience.

Fourth, making vaccination a requirement so people can get back to their normal lives would be counterproductive to safeguarding others.

As an example, the letter cited a CDC research that found that “74% of people infected in Massachusetts Covid outbreak were fully vaccinated,” emphasizing in particular that the four who were vaccinated were hospitalized.

“As it is evident that vaccines do not prevent infection, to restrict a person’s access to society based on a medical choice is questionable,” states the letter.

The fifth objection came from Christian leaders, who said that they “find it untenable that we would be expected to refuse entry into our churches to a subgroup of society based on their medical choice.”

They claim that only Jesus Christ has the right to set the rules of corporate worship, which instruct them not to discriminate based on race or medical preference.

“I knew many Christians were confused by this,” Pastor Littlefield told Caldron Pool in a statement.

“They want to know what pastors are thinking. So many people have heard Christians argue in apologetics that the Church has done much good for society, and now when so much is happening, the Church appears silent,” he added.

Those who want to read and even sign the letter can do so here.

‘You Killed My Son’: Grieving Mom Calls Radio Show Just Hours After Learning Her Son Died in Kabul Attack

“My son was one of the Marines who died yesterday… I woke up at 4:00 this morning to Marines at my door telling me my son is dead.”

Those were the words of Kathy McCollum, mother of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, who went on to direct most of her grief and anger towards President Biden and what she says was a complete and total mismanagement of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“She (Jen Psaki) said my son didn’t die in vein. But guess what, my son did die in vein. This was an unnecessary debacle that could have been handled properly,” the Gold Star mom explained. “They had months and months to remove everyone from Afghanistan, and they chose not to. And so they sent in . . . 6,000 troops, and my son, through the laws of statistics, my son was one of the ones who just got blown up in a freaking terrorist bomb yesterday.”

Listen to the call here:

“I couldn’t just sit by idly because I think I need to process through anger instead of tears.”

McCollum explained her son had just gotten married in February and he and his wife were expecting a child in September. She also fondly remembered her son as extremely intelligent, who could’ve pursued any option in life he wanted.

He decided, selflessly, to serve his country in the military.

His mother had harsh words for President Biden, repeatedly calling him “feckless” and “dementia ridden” as she admittedly was “processing her grief” through anger. “Instead of grieving or crying, I’m getting mad.”

She also blamed her son’s death on not only President Biden, but anyone who voted for Biden in the first place.

The call went viral over the weekend. McCollum isn’t the only family member of the victims of the Kabul attack. The father of Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui also vented his frustration with how the withdrawal was poorly executed and attributed that to his son’s death.

The Kabul Airport “looked like a turkey shoot” Steve Nikoui said, referring to the crowds being funneled through a couple of narrow entry points. “It was just basically so chaotic and not really planned out.”

He also said he believed this all could’ve been avoided if they chose to conduct the evacuations through Bagram Airbase rather than abandoning it in July.

Continue lifting up the grieving families who lost loved ones in the Kabul Airport attack in your prayers.

Chase Bank Cancels General Mike Flynn’s Credit Cards

Company claims Flynn represents ‘possible reputational risk to our company.’

Chase Bank has canceled General Mike Flynn’s personal credit card, citing “possible reputational risk to our company.”

National Security Adviser, was notably set up by the FBI in an unauthorized ‘perjury trap’ over his conversations with the former Russian ambassador over sanctions related to alleged interference in the 2016 US election.

Flynn pleaded in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about contacts with the former Russian ambassador during the 2016 presidential transition – only to have the Justice Department drop the case after Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, fought for the release of information suggesting that the FBI laid the ‘perjury trap‘ to try and get him to lie. In January 2020, however, Flynn withdrew his guilty plea in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. – stating that he was “innocent of this crime” and was coerced by the FBI and prosecutors under threats that would charge his son with a crime.

According to documents uncovered by Flynn attorney Sidney Powell, the FBI had already come to the conclusion that Flynn was guilty prior to their unauthorized interview with him in January, 2017 – and that agents were working together to see how best to corner the 33-year military veteran and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The bureau deliberately chose not to show him the evidence of his phone conversation to help him in his recollection of events, which is standard procedure. Even stranger, the agents that interviewed Flynn later admitted that they didn’t believe he lied during the interview with them.

What’s more, the entire FBI investigation of Flynn appeared to have been instigated by Russiagate operative Stephan Halper, who lied about Flynn’s relationship with a Russian academic.

After the FBI’s malfeasance was uncovered, the Trump Justice Department dropped all charges against Flynn – conceding that the FBI had no basis to interview him on January 24, 2017.

The judge, Emmet Sullivan, refused to drop the case,and has instead asked a federal appeals court – twice – whether he can ignore the DOJ, after asking a government-paid private lawyer to argue against Flynn – only to eventually relent after Trump pardoned his former NatSec adviser.

Fury Erupts Over ‘Cargo’ Put on a Plane Escaping Afghanistan

There is a time and a place for animal rescue. That time and place isn’t Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021.

In the capital of a failed state, citizens of Western countries — as well as the Afghans who worked with them and likely face severe retribution at the hands of the Taliban — are trying to flee the country the only way they can: through Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The airport has seen one terror attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 169 Afghans, according to The Associated Press. A drone strike that U.S. authorities say prevented another suicide bombing at the airport on Sunday has claimed the lives of numerous innocent civilians in Kabul, CNN reported, including at least six children.

Amid all this, a former British Royal Marine who ran an animal shelter in Afghanistan organized an effort to have his animals airlifted out of the country with the assistance of the U.K. military, which got the rescued pets through the airport in Kabul on Friday, according to the BBC.

Paul “Pen” Farthing, the Royal Marine behind the effort, arrived back at London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday with 90 to 100 dogs and 60 to 70 cats. The effort was dubbed “Operation Ark” and was initially intended to airlift the shelter’s staff and their families — along with 140 dogs and 60 cats — out of Kabul.

Farthing called Operation Ark a “partial success” in a tweet.

That “partial success” didn’t include airlifting the staff out of Kabul; Farthing’s charity confirmed it had to leave Afghanistan without them. Dr. Iain McGill, a veterinarian who traveled back on the plane chartered by Farthing, said the former Royal Marine was “very concerned for his staff and for all the other people suffering in Afghanistan.”

Farthing’s charity said it was a “devastating blow” their “wonderful team” was forced to remain in Afghanistan.

Yes, one might say so.

Farthing’s defenders, including comedian Ricky Gervais, argued the animals traveled in the plane’s cargo hold and therefore didn’t take up any space that would have been used to transport those fleeing the Taliban, according to Bloomberg Quint.

However, the controversy isn’t so much where Farthing’s rescue animals were carried so much as it is one of British resource usage.

According to The Guardian, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace told members of Parliament during a Wednesday conference call that Operation Ark had “diverted” the military’s focus somewhat from saving human lives, adding that the affair was “not something I would be proud of.”

While supporters of Farthing’s charity privately chartered an Airbus A330 to make the flight, Wallace said this wasn’t a “magic wand,” given the logistical difficulties involved with getting people into and through Hamid Karzai International Airport. This call, mind you, took place two days before the suicide bomb attack on the airport complicated things significantly.

Instead, Wallace said the A330 would “block the airfield” and “sit there empty” as the evacuation of people was prioritized.

“What I was not prepared to do is prioritize pets over people. I’m afraid you may dislike me for that but that’s my view. There are some very, very desperate people under threat,” he said.

The BBC also reported Wallace had complained Farthing’s supporters had “taken up too much time of my senior commanders dealing with this issue when they should be focused on dealing with the humanitarian crisis.”

Early on Wednesday, Wallace tweeted that “if [Farthing] arrives with his animals we will seek a slot for his plane … I have been consistent all along, ensuring those most at risk are processed first and that the limiting factor has been flow THROUGH to airside NOT airplane capacity. No one has the right in this humanitarian crisis to jump the queue.”

British Army head Maj. Gen. Nick Carter also didn’t express unalloyed support for the mission to airlift animals out of Afghanistan when grilled about it on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday morning.

“Our priority has been to evacuate human beings,” Carter said, according to Bloomberg Quint. “We obviously worry about everything that needs to be evacuated, but of course these are very difficult times, and there are very difficult judgments to be made.”

However, in an interview with LBC Radio on Saturday, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the U.K. Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee, was a bit more blunt.

“The difficulty is getting people into and out of the airport, and we’ve just used a lot of troops to bring in 200 dogs, meanwhile my interpreter’s family are likely to be killed,” said Tugendhat, according to the BBC.

“As one interpreter asked me a few days ago, ‘Why is my 5-year-old worth less than your dog?’”

However, is Farthing the one to blame? Sam Ashworth-Hayes, writing in the conservative British publication The Spectator, doesn’t think so. Instead, in a piece published Sunday, he said the issue was a government too willing to give into Farthing’s cause instead of focusing on evacuating Britons.

“We can try to spin this as a heart-warming effort as much as we like. I’m sure some politicians will. But the job of government is to make difficult decisions, and ours caved in under pressure from an animal-loving mob,” he wrote.

“If you asked the public tomorrow if the government should set up a National Veterinary Service with a budget equal to the NHS, you would be laughed out of town. Basing policy on what people say in the heat of the moment rather than trying to understand their long-term preferences is a terrible idea. But weak leadership means that we spend far too much time worrying about cute animals on the front pages.

“We’ve left behind 150 Britons and a thousand Afghan support staff. Now consider that for some paratroopers ‘the last thing they do before leaving themselves is putting Pen Farthing’s cats and dogs on a plane,’ and tell me this was still a heroic and noble act.”

But at least there’s a happy ending for the dogs and cats, right? “As you can imagine they’re not short of homes for these animals,” McGill told the BBC.

Cal Berkeley theatre class will explore ‘Indigeneity and Whiteness’

(The College Fix) A theatre class at Cal Berkeley will help students understand how white supremacy has been advanced through the use of plays and acting.

“For the purposes of this class, I am interested in collaborating with my students to trace the ways in which the structures of colonial, American white supremacy often rely on theatrical fantasies of Indigeneity,” instructor Max Abner told The College Fix via email about his course “Performance: Writing and Research Indigeneity and Whiteness.”

“The texts we are working with are also meant to make us question strict identity terms and investigate those places where various identities bleed together or falter, (here I am specifically thinking of white males who perform Indigeneity to invent a unique and violent kind of American-ness).” Abner said. He said he does not have “a strict definition of whiteness.”

The course instructor’s background is in Indigenous studies and performance studies. He has an undergraduate degree in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is current in graduate school.

“Max’s work lies at the intersection of Indigenous studies, thing theory, and literary Frontier studies,” according to his bio. His research draws on “aesthetic theory, theories of Ideology, and the posthumanities” with the goal of understanding how their limits and “role in the construction and contestation of Colonial and Indigenous identities as well as postmodern-Anthropocene concepts of the wild, the frontier, and the country.”

His background informs his learning goals for the class.

“It is my hope that by the end of the class, the students will recognize the fact that as long as they absorb the world around them (texts, art objects, etc.) and are reflective about their feelings about the world, they will have plenty to write about,” Abner said. “Moreover, I hope that the students leave the class with the belief that the writings that they read and the writings that they produce have a hand in shaping our perceptions of the world and ourselves.”

Students in the course will utilize “critical tools from the fields of performance studies” and “Indigenous critical theory,” according to the description.

Calls America a ‘colonialist’ project

While the course includes a standard mix of reading, discussion and essays, students need to understand the basis of America, according to Abner’s description.

“The colonial, Imperialist project that is ‘America’ has historically developed itself out of the drama of ‘Cowboys and Indians’—or, less euphemistically, Indigeneity and Whiteness,” the course overview explained.

Students will learn how to engage with texts and enter into “dialogue” with them, in a way that will help reduce their fear of writing.

“I suggest that by focusing on dialogue we might ease our apprehensions, and the concept of dialogue could shift our understanding of writing from one of isolated production to one of engaged response,” the course overview said. “We need not create something out of nothing when we write; we only need to begin talking back to the readings that we have critically engaged.”

“Dialogue is not only the space in which various parties meet and vie for power,” the description said, “it is also the space in which culture shifts.”

Nation abandons Biden on Afghanistan, fears 500-plus will be left behind

The nation has “turned sharply” against President Joe Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan and fears his mistakes will leave hundreds of Americans behind.

Biden’s decision to withdraw, while initially endorsed by the nation, is now seen as a big mistake by a majority, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey.

“A majority of all voters have turned sharply against President Joe Biden on his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, and most believe that hundreds of Americans will be left behind after the August 31 deadline,” said the polling outfit.

Data shared by Rasmussen show just how far Biden has fallen in the eyes of likely voters since suicide blasts killed 13 American service personnel last week.

  • 66% rate Biden’s handling of the crisis fair to poor, with 52% calling it “poor.”
  • By a wide 50%-34% margin, likely voters called tomorrow’s withdrawal “a bad decision.”
  • 51% said the policy will leave at least 100 and maybe over 500 Americans behind after troops withdraw.

Polling has slowly caught up to the concerns over the president’s handling of the crisis. Even his friends in the Senate, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, have suggested he be impeached over the disaster.

Biden, however, is set to make good on his promise to withdraw by midnight tomorrow, though he has indicated that some troops could remain to find Americans.

Military members speak out against vaccine mandates: ‘I wanted to serve my country, now I am looking at a result in which I am lumped in with felons’

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a memo last week calling for the mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations of American troops. Austin ordered United States military leaders to “impose ambitious timelines for implementation.”

More than 800,000 service members have yet to get their COVID-19 vaccines, according to Pentagon data.

In June, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced HR 3860, which would prohibit any mandatory requirement that a member of the Armed Forces receive a COVID-19 vaccination.

“This bill prohibits the use of federal funds to require a member of the Armed Forces to receive a COVID-19 vaccination,” the bill states, which has 31 cosponsors. “The bill also prohibits adverse action (e.g., punishment) being taken against a member of the Armed Forces because the member refuses to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.”

On Friday, Massie hosted a roundtable discussion with a dozen members of the U.S. military to hear their concerns about the imminent vaccine mandate. The military members remained anonymous to avoid any backlash or retribution for their opinions on the COVID-19 vaccine. Massie’s office did vet each service member for authenticity for the conference call.

One soldier, a six-year veteran of the Air National Guard as a front-line health care worker, said, “The science is ignored in favor of a vax everyone at all costs position. Superiors are aware of the fact that soldiers with prior exposure to COVID have a better immunity response than could be achieved with a vaccine, yet it simply does not matter.”

Another anonymous service member who has been part of the military’s COVID-19 response team for the past six months claimed, “The pressure from commanders to get people vaxxed is intense.” The individual is in the process of obtaining an exemption, but alleges there is daily harassment from commanders who urge him to abandon his exemption request, according to the New American.

A Christian, who joined the military out of a sheer love of country, said his religious accommodation request was denied by the Surgeon General of the Army “without any reason given.” The Army veteran proclaimed, “I am going to fight this in Federal Court if I need to.”

A major with 17 years of active service revealed that he contracted COVID-19 and recovered. The officer suffers from a heart condition, which is under control. Still a few years away from retirement, the major revealed, “Privately I’ve been told that I qualify for a medical exemption, but the pressure put on the medical staff is such that none of the doctors are willing to officially sign off.”

“This is total nonsense; we have thousands of soldiers deployed in combat zones overseas and none of them have received the COVID vaccine,” the incensed major declared. “They are still accomplishing the mission.”

An enlisted Navy man alleged that an officer told him, “You are the reason your mom and dad is going to die.” However, the reason why the Air Force E4 is vaccine hesitant is because a close family member recently died from a blood clot immediately after getting the vaccine.

“I wanted to serve my country and now I am looking at a result in which I am lumped in with felons and rapists, I won’t even be able to own a firearm,” the Navy man, who is still under contract, said.

Two of the service members say they have been threatened with a court-martial or a dishonorable discharge.

Taliban Offered Biden Control of Kabul, but He Declined

The chaos in Afghanistan could have reportedly been avoided altogether if President Joe Biden had accepted the Taliban’s initial offer for the U.S. to have full control of Kabul and the airport.

According to a report from the Washington Post, as the Taliban began taking control of Afghanistan, senior U.S. military leaders met with Taliban political leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Doha, Qatar, where an offer was made for the United States to have control of Kabul until all U.S. troops had withdrawn; the offer was declined. From the report:

In a hastily arranged in-person meeting, senior U.S. military leaders in Doha – including McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command – spoke with Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political wing.

“We have a problem,” Baradar said, according to the U.S. official. “We have two options to deal with it: You [the United States military] take responsibility for securing Kabul or you have to allow us to do it.”

Throughout the day, Biden had remained resolute in his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan. The collapse of the Afghan government hadn’t changed his mind.

McKenzie, aware of those orders, told Baradar that the U.S. mission was only to evacuate American citizens, Afghan allies and others at risk. The United States, he told Baradar, needed the airport to do that.

On the spot, an understanding was reached, according to two other U.S. officials: The United States could have the airport until Aug. 31. But the Taliban would control the city.

As the days unfolded, the security in Kabul became increasingly hostile, culminating in the terrorist attack last week that killed 13 American servicemembers and 160 Afghans. According to a report from Politico last week, the Biden administration entrusted the Taliban so intensely with securing the city that they were allegedly given a list of names of American citizens, green card holders, and Afghan allies in the region.

When pressed about this list, Biden did not deny its existence:

There have been occasions where our military has contacted their military counterparts in the Taliban and said, for example, “This bus is coming through with X number of people on it made up of the following group of people. We want you to let that bus or that group through.”

So yes there have been occasions like that, and to the best of my knowledge, in those cases, when the bulk of that has occurred,  they have been let through. But I can’t tell you with any servitude that there has actually been a list of names. There may have been, but I know of no circumstance. That doesn’t mean it didn’t exist.

Republicans on Twitter ceased on the Washington Post’s report and put the Biden administration on blast for not taking the Taliban’s initial offer:

Biden Checks His Watch While Receiving Bodies Of Slain Marines At Dover Air Force Base

Joe Biden checked his watch in the middle of receiving the bodies of fallen US Marines killed in Afghanistan.

During an event in which Joe Biden presided over the bodies of fallen US Marines during the dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, the President appeared to check his watch, drawing national outrage as many viewed the move as inconsiderate and selfish given the circumstance and setting.

In the middle of a dignified transfer ceremony for the fallen US Marines that were recently killed in Afghanistan, Joe Biden appeared to check the time on his wristwatch, drawing outrage from many who viewed the move as incentive, inconsiderate, and selfish.

“Biden checking his watch at the ceremony of our fallen heroes is the most disrespectful thing I have ever seen. Are they an inconvenience to you POTUS? I want an explanation,” tweeted one Twitter user. “Joe Biden checking his watch after removing his hand over his heart so disgusting…our government hates us,” tweeted another. “Utter disrespect. He looks at his watch during the ceremony of 13 fallen American heroes killed in Afghanistan. Their ages were less than half of Biden’s time in politics! Biden voters will call this “edited video” because they are brainless. #BidenMustGo,” tweeted third Twitter user.

This would not be the first time Americans slammed Biden over his apparent lack of sympathy with regards to his Afghanistan Disaster. Just one day before the 13 Marines were killed, Biden smirked when reporters asked him about the situation in Afghanistan. The smirk outraged the heartbroken mother of Rylee McCollum, a fallen US Marine who tragically died as a result of the bombing in Afghanistan, who ultimately condemned Biden and Democrat voters over the death of her son on a radio show hosted by Andrew Wilkow, as National File previously reported.

“My son is gone, and I just want all you Democrats who cheated in the election, or who voted for [Biden] legitimately, you just killed my son…with a dementia-ridden piece of crap who doesn’t even know he’s in the White House, he still thinks he’s a Senator,” said McCollum, who later noted that “I wanted my son to represent our country, to fight for my country, but I never thought that a feckless piece of crap would send him to his death and smirk on television while he’s talking about people dying, with his nasty smirk. The dementia-ridden piece of crap needs to be removed from office. It never would have happened under Trump.”

(VIDEO: Joe Biden Slumps Over, Appears To Fall Asleep During Meeting With Israeli PM)

In related news, the US military has relieved Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller from duty after he released a heartfelt video critiquing the tragic Afghanistan withdrawal following the Kabul bombings that killed up to 13 American service members. “My chain of command is doing exactly what I would do…if I were in their shoes. I appreciate the opportunities AITB command provided. To all the news agencies asking for interviews…I will not be making any statements other than what’s on my social platforms until I exit the Marine Corps,” explained Scheller. However, Scheller appears to be optimistic about his future aspirations, despite being relieved of duty.

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