Tag Archives: US Department of Defense

Did Trump mock dead US soldiers as ‘Suckers’ and ‘Losers’?!

Did Donald Trump mock dead US soldiers, referring to them as “suckers” and “losers” to his inner circle?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Trump Mocked Dead US Soldiers As “Suckers”, “Losers”!

People are sharing a video by The Daily Show, which claimed that Donald Trump mocked dead US soldiers, and referred to them as “suckers” and “losers” to his inner circle!

On X (formerly Twitter), some Community Notes referred to a Snopes fact check as “evidence” that Donald Trump never mocked fallen American soldiers as “suckers” and “losers”.

So who is correct? Did Donald Trump really mock dead US soldiers as “suckers” and “losers”, or is that yet another example of fake news circulating on social media?

Never forget how much Trump respects the troops pic.twitter.com/23KNFHhA3b

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) May 27, 2024

Trump Likely Mocked Dead US Soldiers As “Suckers”, “Losers”!

Let’s take a closer look, and find out why Donald Trump likely mocked dead US soldiers as “suckers” and “losers” to his inner circles…

Fact #1 : Snopes Did Not Debunk It As Fake News

Let me start by pointing out that Snopes did not actually debunk the claim as “fake news”, as some X Community Notes have suggested.

The Snopes article merely pointed out that it was “unable to independently verify the claim“.

In short – Snopes neither confirmed, nor debunked, the claim that Donald Trump mocked fallen US soldiers as “suckers” and/or “losers” to his inner circle.

Fact #2 : Trump Cancelled WW1 Memorial Visit

The controversy stem from then President Donald Trump’s visit to Paris in 2018, where he and First Lady Melania Trump were supposed to pay their respects at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau, France.

At the last minute, the White House said that the planned visit had been “canceled due to scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather“. President Trump spent that Saturday afternoon watching television in the US ambassador’s residence instead, while his Chief of Staff, General John F. Kelly visited the cemetery on his behalf.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic then famously reported that Trump declined to visit the cemetery because of how his hair would look, and because “it’s filled with losers”. He allegedly referred to dead Marines as “suckers” for getting killed.

When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris, in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

Trump vehemently denied The Atlantic‘s account, but what is indisputable is that Donald Trump did not attend the planned trip to the World War 1 memorial, and was replaced by John Kelly.

John F. Kelly (L) and General Joseph F. Dunford Jr. paying respects at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, November 2018. Photo credit : Francois Mori, Associated Press

Fact #3 : Trump Claimed He Called Melania At Home…

Bizarrely, when Donald Trump denied The Atlantic‘s account, he claimed that he “called home” to tell Melania Trump how upset he was for not being able to visit the cemetery.

I called home, I spoke to my wife and I said ‘I hate this. I came here to go to that ceremony.’ And to the one that was the following day which I did go to. I said I feel terribly. And that was the end of it.

That would be quite a feat since Melania Trump was not at “home” in the United States. She was not only in France with Trump, she was in fact scheduled to visit the cemetery with him that afternoon!

In addition, both Donald and Melania Trump attended a state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron later that evening. Did he forget that as well?

Instead of calling home, Donald Trump would have been able to directly express his deep sadness to Melania at not being able to pay his respects to the men who sacrificed their lives in World War I. If he actually called home – who was he speaking to???

Fact #4 : The Atlantic Story Was Corroborated

I should point out that The Atlantic sourced the story from “four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day“.

In addition, the Associated Press independently corroborated the 2018 cemetery comments with “a senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments”, with our emphasis in bold.

The defense officials said Trump made the comments as he begged off visiting the cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of Nov. 10, 2018.

Staffers from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there.

Trump responded by saying he didn’t want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Perhaps that’s why the famously litigious Donald Trump did not sue The Atlantic, or Jeffrey Goldberg? He also did not sue the Associated Press for confirming what The Atlantic posted!

Fact #5 : John Kelly Confirmed The Atlantic’s Account

On 3 October 2023, Trump’s former Chief of Staff John, John F. Kelly, confirmed a number of damning stories about his former boss, including calling dead US soldiers “suckers” and “losers”.

When CNN asked John Kelly to give his opinions on Donald Trump, in light of comments made by other former Trump officials, this was what he said (our emphasis in bold):

What can I add that has not already been said?

A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’

A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’

A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.

A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women.

A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about.

A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action.

A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.

There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.

While John F. Kelly never actually said that he directly heard then President Donald Trump make those comments, he appears to confirm the Atlantic’s account that Trump mocked dead US soldiers, and called them “suckers” and “losers”.

Fact #6 : Trump Has Long Scorned Soldiers

I should point out that there is no known audio or video recording of Donald Trump calling dead US soldiers “suckers” or “losers”. However, Trump has a long history of disparaging military veterans, especially those who served in Vietnam.

For example, numerous Trump officials confirmed that the then-President resisted an official funeral and lowering the flags after the death of Senator John McCain of Arizona, a Vietnam War hero whose military service he had disparaged.

When Donald Trump later claimed that he never called John McCain “a loser”, and would swear on that, his own Twitter post, and a video recording, showed him doing exactly that.

On Memorial Day 2017, President Donald Trump visited the Arlington National Cemetery with John Kelly, whose son, Robert Kelly, is buried there. While standing by Robert Kelly’s grave, Trump turned to his Kelly and remarked, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”

Based on his long history of lying, and disparaging military veterans, it seems more likely than not, that Donald Trump did indeed mock US soldiers, and more likely than not called them “suckers” and “losers”.

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Leaked AstraZeneca audio show pandemic was preplanned?!

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Did leaked AstraZeneca audio show that the COVID-19 pandemic was preplanned years in advance?! Let’s take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Leaked AstraZeneca Audio Show Pandemic Was Preplanned!

People are sharing a video which shows Sasha Latypova and Clayton Morris discussing how leaked audio of an AstraZeneca meeting show that the COVID-19 pandemic was preplanned years in advance!

Chief Nerd : 👀 Sasha Latypova Has New Evidence Showing the COVID Countermeasures Were ‘Preset Years Before’ the Pandemic Occurred

“The audio is from an internal meeting in AstraZeneca…VP Mark Esser says we started working with the Dept. of Defense Pandemic Preparedness Program in 2017. He also mentions that they were approached by Dept. of Defense…with a proposal that they would be working on something like this with the DoD to develop vaccines and therapeutics within 60 days of the DoD identifying a pathogenic virus that can cause global pandemics.”

Redacted : BREAKING! They PLANNED the whole thing years in advance. | Redacted w Natali and Clayton Morris

Here is an abridged transcript of the video between Clayton Morris (CM) and Sasha Latypova (SL):

CM : What really happened here?

SL : Well, the truth turns out this [COVID-19 pandemic] was all preset way… years before. From this leaked audio, but it’s not the only source, this is just the confirmatory evidence that I obtained.

Claim : Leaked AstraZeneca Audio Show Pandemic Was Preplanned!

This is yet another example of fake news about the COVID-19 pandemic, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Sasha Latypova Did Not Work For Big Pharma

In the video, Clayton Morris referred to Sasha Latypova’s years of work in the pharmaceutical industry:

Before we get to the tape, you’ve worked, obviously, in the pharmaceutical industry with a lot of clients for many, many years, so you know this intimately.

However, there is no indication that Sasha Latypova ever worked in the pharmaceutical industry, never mind Big Pharma. According to her own LinkedIn profile, she only appears to have worked in the medical device industry, and then only in the management capacity:

1997 – 1999 : Graduated with MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

March 2006 – October 2016 : Co-Founder and Executive VP of iCardiac Technologies, Inc.

December 2014 to present : Co-Founder, Executive VP and Director of Clerio Vision, Inc.

As far as I can tell – Sasha Latypova does not have any medical training, or experience with viruses or vaccines. It also looks like she never worked for any of the Big Pharma companies. How does that translate into working in the pharmaceutical industry for “many, many years”???

Fact #2 : 2017 Pandemic Prevention Program Did Not Target COVID-19

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the US Department of Defense initiated its Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) in 2017 (archive), aiming to develop “an integrated technology platform” to “halt the spread of any viral disease outbreak within 60 days“.

Its initial program outline specifically pointed out that the goal of the P3 platform was to cut the time to develop countermeasures to a viral outbreak from years to just “weeks”, using DNA- and RNA-based technologies.

Nowhere in its program description did it once refer to COVID-19, or the SARS-CoV-2. That’s because the novel coronavirus would not appear until the end of 2019, and the world informed on 31 December 2019.

In other words – the DARPA P3 program is not evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic was preplanned years in advance. It is called “being prepared for a future disaster”. Just because you build a bomb shelter does not mean you are planning to launch a war!

Fact #3 : AstraZeneca Audio Does Not Show Pandemic Was Preplanned

Sasha Latypova actually shared the leaked AstraZeneca audio on 7 February 2024, but it didn’t go viral… because it was a “nothingburger”.

Anyone who listens to the leaked audio, or reads the transcript below will quickly realise that it does not show that the COVID-19 pandemic was pre-planned years in advance by the US Department of Defense, or Big Pharma companies like AstraZeneca.

https://www.techarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sasha-Latypova-Clayton-Morris-evidence-DOD-AstraZeneca-vaccine.mp3?_=1

Here is a transcript of the audio, which is very long:

Mark (the introducer) : … [Mark] Esser who has been the architect of the long-acting antibody against Covid-19. Mark, back to you.

Mark Esser : Excellent! So, thank you for the introduction, Mark [the introducer], and it’s really a pleasure to share with all of you a little bit of the journey that the “long-acting antibody” team has taken in 2020, but actually our story begins back in 2017 in the basement of a Quality Inn in Tysons Corner VA at the Defense Department Industry Day.

There, I met Col. Matt Hepburn, who is actually the architect of the Pandemic Prevention Program or P3, and the goal of P3 was going from the discovering a novel virus to producing drugs in less than 60 days – something that would normally take 6 years at best.

To me that sounded more like science fiction than science, but we signed up in a small and committed team of virologists and molecular biologists and engineers and started working in 2018 on new technologies to discover and manufacture antibodies against viruses. The team has actually been pretty successful on the early discovery engine piece and had won a biopharma R&D award about this time last year.

So, in January we were all anxiously following the emerging news from China about the new disease. It wasn’t a surprise to me when I got a call on February 4th from the Defense Department here in the US saying that the newly discovered SARS-2 virus posed a national security threat. We needed to stop everything we were doing on our model system influenza, and put everything onto SARS-2.

Fortunately, our top 2 virologists, Patrick and ??? were already a step ahead, having cloned and expressed the virus protein soon after the virus sequence was published on January 21st. Of course, the task was formidable: we had to learn everything we could about the new virus, the immune response to the virus, and the disease called “COVID-19”.

What we and others quickly learned was that the critical protein on the virus is called the “spike protein” and this is the protein on the virus that allows the virus to infect cells by binding to the ACE-2 receptor, and what we also learned was that it could exist in active and an inactive form.

In the active form, it expressed a special domain called a Receptor Binding Domain, or the RBD, and what we quickly figured out was that RBD was going to be the “Achilles’ heel” of the virus. So, we decided that our best strategy was to come up with two antibodies against this Receptor Binding Domain, and we set out with a three-pronged approach to discover those antibodies.

First, we tried to isolate these B-cells from the blood taken from Covid-19 patients. Second, we immunized humanized mice with different constructs of spike protein to elicit those magical B-cells, and third, we ran a huge screen using our traditional Cambridge antibody technology phage display library.

All in all, we screened tens of thousands of antibodies, and then discovered about 1500 that bound the spike protein and whittled it down to our top 100 by the end of March. The team worked late into the night, weekends – their commitment was inspiring, and they surprised me with their “top 12” neutralizing antibodies on my birthday, April 10th.

The next challenge was to down-select from these 12 neutralizing antibodies to our “top 2”. The best way I can describe this is like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle while blindfolded, but at the end the team selected two very distinct, two very potent antibodies that showed synergistic activity. When I say, “synergistic activity”, it was 1% + 1% actually equaled 93% neutralization.

At the same time, our protein engineers, who are in my mind are some of the best in the world, made key enhancements to the antibodies to extend their half-lives so that a single dose could afford up to 6 to 12 months of protection, ensure high yield production in 15,000 liter bioreactors, and be stable up to 1 year in a refrigerator.

So, all in all, all this was done in just 99 days – 1 day ahead of schedule. So, our last hurdle to overcome was to accelerate that normal kind of 2 to 3 year early development timeline into 2 months, and we basically did that by running everything in parallel, and making significant investments at risk. Two notable examples were manufacturing of the Cho-cell pools and starting out tech transfer to our tech transfers to our manufacturing partners before we had even selected our top clones.

Our clinical and regulatory teams worked around the clock, and we dosed our first patient on August 21st [2020], and I am happy to report that we started our two Phase 3 studies: PROVENT last week, and yesterday we dosed first patient in my favorite study, “Storm Chaser” yesterday.

It’s really been astonishing to see how everyone in the company has pulled together and risen to the challenge, and I’ve had the good fortune working with everyone in Biopharma R&D, Precision Medicine, Legal, Business Development, Procurement, Project Management, Ops [Operations], IT [Information Technology], Commercial and the all-important Government Affairs, and I’d like to take this moment to thank everyone.

So, clearly, fighting a virus like SARS-2 in a worldwide pandemic is not for the faint of heart, but clearly, we are all in this fight to the finish. Also, very grateful to Pascal [Soriot, AstraZeneca CEO], Mene (Sir Menelaus Pangalos, an AstraZeneca board member) and Nesset (sp) for their leadership, and I am very proud to be part of the company that not only follow the science but is putting patients first and doing what is right thing for the whole world.

Just like the antibody we are “better together” and I look forward to being with many of you in a healthier and happier 2021. So, thank you and over to you, Pascal.

Pascal Soriot : Thank you, Mark, and congratulations again to you and the team. This long-acting antibodies are quite unique because this is the only combination that potentially will last more than 6 months, up to potentially 12 months and protect people for a long period of time.

And for those of you who may not be totally familiar with antibodies, you know, you have to know a number of people cannot be vaccinated, like if you have an immune disease, lupus or some other immune condition… or multiple sclerosis, you cannot be vaccinated. So, there are millions of people in the world that will need the protection that cannot be coming from a vaccine, so the long-acting antibody has the enormous potential.

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In short, the leaked AstraZeneca audio does not show any pre-planning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It only gives us an inside look at how pharmaceutical teams can now quickly develop products like neutralising antibodies, and vaccines, against a novel (new) virus.

Fact #4 : AstraZeneca Audio Showed How It Developed Evusheld

The truth is – the leaked audio actually detailed how AstraZeneca quickly developed Evusheld (AZD7442) – its combination of tixagevimab and cilgavimab – two long-acting antibodies (LAAB) against COVID-19.

Even so, it did not take AstraZeneca 60 days to develop and ship Evusheld, as envisioned by the P3 project. In the end, it took AstraZeneca almost two years to get Evusheld approved by the FDA. Its development started in February 2020, and Evusheld only received its FDA EUA on 8 December 2021.

To be clear – that’s still very fast, and demonstrates the effectiveness of DARPA’s Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3). Again, it does not show that DARPA or AstraZeneca planned the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2017.

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Did JAG Execute Assistant Defense Secretary Tanya Skeen?!

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Did US Navy JAG just hang Assistant Defense Secretary Tanya Skeen for bribing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : JAG Executed Assistant Defense Secretary Tanya Skeen!

On 3 February 2024, Real Raw News posted an article (archive) claiming that US Navy JAG just hanged Assistant Defense Secretary Tanya Skeen for bribing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy!

As usual, the article is long, rambling and confusing, so here is an excerpt. Please feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!

JAG Hangs Asst. Defense Sec. Tanya Skeen

The United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps on Wednesday executed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Tanya M. Skeen, the culmination of a military tribunal that took place January 24 and which RRN has opted not to play-by-play because it was procedurally identical to a half-dozen other tribunals that saw Vice Admiral Darse E. Crandall prosecute Deep Staters with a penchant for thriftily giving American tax dollars to Ukrainian officials.

As reported on December 19, U.S. Marines arrested Skeen and a “male companion” in Charlottesville, Virginia, on December 16 based on evidence she had surreptitiously wired $35 million to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s personal bank account. The amount was a pittance compared to what other Deep Staters had sent Ukrainian officials, but JAG nonetheless indicted her for treason, defrauding the U.S., and aiding and abetting the enemy. The charges earned her a one-way ticket to GITMO, where she’d been held in pre-trial detainment until her tribunal and subsequent execution.

The three officers weighing the case quickly found her guilty and, somewhat surprisingly, recommended she get the noose. The lead panelist, a Navy captain, opined: “The crime itself is an act of treason and the deciding factor in our judgment. We agreed the punishment fits the crime even if it was $10,000 or $10.”

Admiral Crandall had accepted their recommendation and sentenced Skeen to death. She was escorted to the gallows Wednesday morning. Peculiar for a Deep State stooge, Skeen accepted Last Rites but stopped short of redressing her crimes. “I’ve only ever tried to serve my country as I understood how to serve it. Apparently, some authority thinks I’ve engaged in improprieties. What more can be said?”

Show more

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Truth : JAG Did Not Execute Assistant Defense Secretary Tanya Skeen!

The truth is – this is just another fake story created by Real Raw News, just to generate page views and money.

Fact #1 : Tanya Skeen Is No Longer Assistant Defense Secretary

Real Raw News claimed that the United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps arrested and then executed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Tanya M. Skeen.

That’s quite impossible since she left the US Department of Defense, and joined CACI International as its Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development on 13 November 2023.

CACI Names Tanya M. Skeen as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development

Company Release – 11/13/2023

RESTON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today that Tanya M. Skeen, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition (Acting), has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development. In this role, she will have a pivotal impact on the company’s growth by providing guidance and recommendations on investments to further advance CACI’s capabilities aimed at satisfying our customers’ future mission needs.

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition is Cara Abercrombie, who was nominated to the post on 20 April 2023.

Fact #2 : JAG Has No Powers Over Civilians

Real Raw News claimed that Tanya Skeen was executed after being found guilty of wiring $35 million to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s personal bank account. That’s just daft.

The Judge Advocate General’s Corps is the military justice branch of the American military. It has no powers or jurisdiction over civilians like Tanya Skeen. The civilian justice system is separate from the military justice system. JAG officers can only prosecute US military service members.

Only in rare exceptions are JAG officers allowed to prosecute civilians. For example, if the civilian committed a crime on a military base, or while working in a foreign country and the local laws allow it. They can also prosecute civilians with special authority from the President, or Congress.

Recommended : Did US Special Forces Just Arrest Merrick Garland?!

Fact #3 : JAG Officers Cannot Arrest Anyone

JAG officers are not law enforcement officers. They are really military lawyers, and have no powers to arrest anyone – not even military personnel.

They can investigate crimes, defend or prosecute service members accused of those crimes. But JAG officers cannot actually arrest anyone.

Fact #4 : Death Sentences Take Years To Execute

It is also hilarious that Real Raw News readers actually believe the bullshit that someone sentenced to death would be executed just days later.

That may be possible in a country like North Korea, but certainly not in the United States, where death row inmates wait an average of 178 months – about 15 years after their sentencing, before they are executed.

In fact, none of the six Gitmo inmates charged with capital crime in the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and the attack on USS Cole in 2000, have actually been trialled to date, never mind convicted and sentenced to death.

Fact #5 : US Military Has Not Executed Anyone Since 1961

Even though the US military has killed many combatants intentionally, and civilians as collateral damage, they have not executed prisoners since 1961.

There are four US military inmates on death row, but none of them have been executed so far.

Fact #6 : Real Raw News Is A Fake News Website

Real Raw News is a fake news website that capitalises on making shocking but fake stories to generate page views and money.

To protect himself from legal repercussions, the owner and writer, Michael Baxter (real name – Michael Tuffin), claims that his articles are “humour, parody, and satire“.

That disclaimer, which is not clearly mentioned in his articles, lets him keep creating fake news to go viral, and generate money.

Recommended : Was Lloyd Austin Just Killed In Ukraine?!

A March 2018 screenshot of Michael Tuffin, who goes by the pseudonym Michael Baxter

His articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should NEVER share anything from his website. Here are some of his fake stories that I debunked earlier:

Everything posted by Real Raw News should be regarded as FAKE NEWS, until proven otherwise.

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Did FDA + CDC Hide Data On Failing COVID Vaccines?!

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Did the FDA and CDC hide data that show the COVID-19 vaccines failing as early as January 2021?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : FDA + CDC Hid Data On Failing COVID-19 Vaccines!

People are sharing an article by The Epoch Times which claim or suggest that FDA and/or CDC hid data that show the COVID-19 vaccines failing as early as January 2021!

Here is an excerpt of The Epoch Times article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts:

FDA, CDC Hid Data on Spike in COVID Cases Among the Vaccinated: Documents

COVID-19 cases among vaccinated seniors soared in 2021, according to newly disclosed data that was acquired by U.S. health agencies but not presented to the public.

Humetrix Cloud Services was contracted by the U.S. military to analyze vaccine data. The company performed a fresh analysis as authorities considered in 2021 whether COVID-19 vaccine boosters were necessary amid studies finding waning vaccine effectiveness.

Humetrix researchers found that the proportion of total COVID-19 cases among the seniors was increasingly comprised of vaccinated people, according to the newly disclosed documents.

For the week ending on July 31, 2021, post-vaccination COVID-19 cases represented 73 percent of the cases among people 65 and older, the company found. The elderly were 80 percent fully vaccinated at the time.

Breakthrough infection rates were higher among those who were vaccinated early, the researchers found. They estimated that the rates were twice as high in those who had been vaccinated five to six months prior, when compared to people vaccinated three to four months before.

The breakthrough cases started in January 2021, according to the data. Protection against hospitalization was also fading, researchers discovered.

In the week ending on July 31, 2021, 63 percent of the COVID-19 hospitalizations in seniors were among the fully vaccinated, according to the documents. The same pattern of weaker protection among people who were vaccinated early was found.

Researchers calculated that the vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infection was just 33 percent while the effectiveness against hospitalization had dropped to 57 percent.

Seniors who previously had COVID-19 and recovered were more likely to avoid hospitalization, the researchers also found. Risk factors included serious underlying conditions such as obesity and being in the oldest age group, or older than 85.

“Our observational study VE findings show a very significant decrease in VE against infection and hospitalization in the Delta phase of the pandemic for individuals vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for those 5–6 months post vaccination vs. those 3–4 months post vaccination,” Dr. Bettina Experton, Humetrix’s president and CEO, said in a Sept. 15, 2021, email to top U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials.

Humetrix also found that among the beneficiaries, there had been 133,000 cases, 27,000 hospitalizations, and 8,300 intensive care admissions among the fully vaccinated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Experton disclosed that Humetrix shared the data with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in August 2021.

Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health at the time, wrote in a separate email obtained through FOIA that the results of the study provided “pretty compelling evidence that VE is falling 5–6 months post vaccination for both infection and hospitalization for those over 65.”

He added, “Even for those 3–4 months out there is a trend toward worsening VE.”

The CDC, FDA, and National Institutes of Health did not share the data with the public as they considered whether to clear and recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

The CDC held a meeting with its vaccine advisers on Aug. 30, 2021. During the meeting, CDC officials went over emerging data on waning vaccine effectiveness. But the military study was not included.

The FDA held a similar meeting on Sept. 17, 2021. The CDC participated. The Humetrix analysis was also not presented during that meeting.

Both agencies have aggressively promoted COVID-19 vaccines throughout the pandemic, including hyping them as strongly protective against severe disease even after their own data have suggested that is not the case.

The CDC did present data from COVID-NET, one of its systems, that showed effectiveness against COVID-19-associated hospitalization was falling among the elderly since the emergence of the Delta variant but that data still showed 80 percent effectiveness.

The presentation also included data from outside researchers and Israel that estimated the protection during the Delta era against infection ranged from 39 percent to 84 percent and that the effectiveness against hospitalization ranged from 75 to 95 percent.

The FDA ended up clearing a Pfizer booster for many Americans. The CDC advised most people to receive it. The agencies later expanded booster clearance and recommendations to virtually all Americans aged 5 and older, with Moderna’s shot as another option. Authorities have since replaced the old shots due to their lack of durability, and are preparing to roll out another slate of shots this fall.

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No Evidence FDA + CDC Hid Data On Failing COVID-19 Vaccines!

In this article, I will go through some of their claims, and show you what the facts really are!

Fact #1 : Humetrix Study Was Commissioned By US DOD

First, let’s start by pointing out that the Humetrix study in question was commissioned by JAIC – the US Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. This was stated explicitly in an email by Humetrix President and CEO, Bettina Experton, to the FDA:

This study has been conducted by my company under contract with the DoD JAIC (Joint Artificial Intelligence Center) since March 2020, when we were t asked to analyze Medicare claim data to monitor, map and conduct Covid-19 predictive analytics for the military.

What this means is – the data belonged to the US Department of Defense, not Humetrix, the FDA, or the CDC.

Fact #2 : Humetrix Published Study Results In December 2022

It seems odd to accuse the US FDA and CDC of hiding data from the Humetrix study, when Humetrix publicly published its results in the open-access journal, Biology in December 2022.

The study is called “Enhanced Vaccine Effectiveness during the Delta Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Medicare Population Supports a Multilayered Prevention Approach“.

Fact #3 : No Evidence CDC / FDA Hid Humetrix Study

There is no evidence that the FDA or CDC hid the Humetrix study or its data. The Epoch Times article did not offer any evidence, beyond pointing out that the Humetrix analysis was “not presented” during a meeting to approve the booster dose.

Ironically, the same article pointed out that the CDC presented data from its COVID-NET data that showed falling vaccine effectiveness in the elderly against the Delta variant. So why should the CDC / FDA try to “hide” the Humetrix data?

Is it not possible that the CDC preferred to rely on its own data? Or perhaps, the CDC decided that the COVID-NET data was compelling enough, it did not need to supplement with the similar data from the Humetrix study?

Fact #4 : Vaccines Were Not Meant To Prevent Infection

While many anti-vaccine activists harp on the fact that COVID-19 vaccines fail to prevent transmission or breakthrough infections, the truth is – the vaccines were designed to prevent severe disease and deaths from COVID-19.

It would be nice if they can significantly block transmission, or breakthrough infections, but those were never the endpoints in any COVID-19 vaccine trial. If you look back at the vaccine trial results, they were only looking at protection against “symptomatic infection“, “severe disease“, and “death“.

COVID-19 Vaccine	Protection Against
COVID-19 Vaccine	Symptomatic Infection	Severe Disease	Death
Pfizer Comirnaty	95.0%	100%	100%
Gamaleya Sputnik V	91.6%	100%	100%
Moderna mRNA-1273	94.1%	100%	100%
AstraZeneca AZD1222	62% ~ 90%	100%	100%
Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV	79% ~ 86%	90%	100%
Sinovac Biotech	50.65%	83.7%	100%
J&J Janssen COVID-19	66.0%	85%	100%
CanSino Biologics	65.7%	90.98%	100%

Therefore, their constant harping of the “inability” or “failure” of COVID-19 vaccines to block transmission, or completely prevent infections, is a red herring. That was never the goal of these vaccines.

Even if you are fully-vaccinated, you can continue to get breakthrough infections, and that’s fine. The key thing is vaccines help to prevent severe disease and death COVID-19 infections.

Fact #5 : Humetrix Study Looked At Delta Variant

It is also important to note that the Humerix study looked at the Delta variant, as its title stated clearly – Effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Against the Delta Variant Among 6M Medicare Beneficiaries 65 Years and Older.

The original COVID-19 vaccines were designed to target the original (ancestral) SARS-CoVo-2 virus. The Delta variant did not exist at that time.

The Humerix study did not address or disparage the effectiveness of the vaccines against the original SARS-CoV-2 virus that they were originally meant to target. It was looking to see if the original mRNA vaccine could also protect against the Delta variant.

Fact #5 : Reduced Protection vs. Delta Variant Spurs Need For Booster Dose

The Humerix study, at that time, was presented to the FDA for its use in the consideration whether to approve the booster dose looked at the effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines against the new (at that time) Delta variant.

Because it showed reduced vaccine effectiveness against infections and hospitalisations, that would actually support the approval of a booster dose to boost protection against COVID-19.

If the Humetrix study actually showed the original mRNA vaccines’ strong protection against the Delta variant, the FDA and/or CDC might not feel the need to approve or support a booster dose at that time.

This was actually mentioned in the Executive Summary of the Humetrix presentation on Page 2:

Salus breakthrough hospitalization risk model can be applied to prioritize the over 65 population for booster vaccine

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Eugene Kaspersky Interview Exclusive : No Kremlin Ties!

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At the end of the Kaspersky Lab Palaeontology of Cybersecurity conference, members of the press were allowed to question the panel of speakers, including Kaspersky Lab Chairman and CEO, Eugene Kaspersky himself.

I took the opportunity to grill Mr. Kaspersky on his run-in with the US Senate over accusations of personal ties to the Kremlin and close affiliation with Russian intelligence agencies. Check out this exclusive video of our exchange!

Don’t forget to check out the Kaspersky Palaeontology of Cybersecurity presentations!

Eugene Kaspersky On His Alleged Kremlin Ties

On 27 June 2017, FBI agents visited the homes of some Kaspersky Lab employees in the US. The very next day, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced an amendment to a Pentagon spending bill that prohibits the US Department of Defense from “using software platforms developed by Kaspersky Lab“.

In response, Eugene Kaspersky (also known as Yevgeny Kaspersky) said that he would be willing to appear before the US Senate. He also offered to show Kaspersky’s source codes to the US government, if that will help assure them that there is nothing malicious in them.

The Eugene Kaspersky Interview Transcript

Here is a transcript of the exchange, with some paraphrasing. The Kaspersky APAC Director of GReAT, Vitaly Kamluk, also chipped in his 2 cents, as did Stephan Neumeier, the Managing Director of Kaspersky Lab Asia Pacific.

Tech ARP : You said that you would testify before the US Congress and share your source codes. Have they requested you to testify or share your source codes?

Eugene Kaspersky : We are under strange pressure from the United States. They point a finger at us, and say that we are a danger to the United States, without evidence.

They suspect that we have very strong ties with the Russian government. I’m very curious what’s [the evidence]? If not the names of the people, then at least the names of the agencies involved. Silence. So they don’t have any facts.

Okay, ask me to testify before the Senate, please.[adrotate group=”2″]

Tech ARP : Have they done so?

Eugene Kaspersky : No! No, no, no.

Tech ARP : What about your offer to release the source codes to them? Have they accepted the offer?

Eugene Kaspersky : No! They speak a lot about us, but when we say “Let’s do some real investigation. We can open anything you want.“… Silence.

Tech ARP : What about your offer to release the source codes also extend to other countries, like China, for example?

Eugene Kaspersky : No! Not like this in any other country.

Tech ARP : So [the offer to release the source codes] is only for the United States?

Eugene Kaspersky : Actually we disclose some technologies in some other countries, but I’m not going to name those countries. We did it to comply with government contract requirements.

We are a transparent company. If you have any questions, just ask us. It’s not a problem at all. So we don’t have this kind of problem in any other country but the United States.

Tech ARP : Beyond the source code, there is also the concern about data collection on US DOD employees by Kaspersky Lab, which is a Russian company. Do you have a comment on this?

Eugene Kaspersky : We only collect suspicious pieces of data, that might be malware samples. We do not collect the user’s data.

Well, we collect the user’s data if the user is a cybercriminal. If he’s developing malicious code on a computer, we will take it (the malicious code) because it looks suspicious. But the rest of the data – we do not touch, and we don’t collect any user-identifiable data.

Actually, it’s very strange when the United States say that I can cooperate with the (Russian) secret services and disclose data, but I don’t have this data.

The most confidential information that we have in our company are the cyberattack incidence reports involving our customers. We help our customers to investigate these cyberattacks but we don’t share this data with anyone. There could be information about ongoing investigations, but we don’t share this information with anyone but the law enforcement agencies that are handling the case. That’s it.

We don’t have any user-identifiable data or enterprise data, unless it’s for an investigation of a cyberattack.

Vitaly Kamluk : I also want to add that the control of whether to share data (or not) is always in the user’s hands. We never force the collection of user’s data. You can switch it on or off.

We do not hard-code the collection of data. There is a control and it’s in the user’s hands. So if certain organisations or individuals are concerned about the collection of data, they can switch it off.

Eugene Kaspersky : Yes, they can switch it off.

Tech ARP : What about telemetry, statistics, etc?

Vitaly Kamluk : You can switch it off – malware detection statistics and even malware samples. This is in the user’s control – to share or not to share.

Eugene Kaspersky : In most of the cases, we don’t know who our users are. We see their product ID when their Kaspersky product connects to the cloud for updates, but we don’t know the name of their user.

Tech ARP : There are claims that you have connections or links to the Kremlin. Can you deny or acknowledge these claims?

Eugene Kaspersky : They are my customers. We cooperate with the cyber police forces in Russia.

Tech ARP : Are you Vladimir Putin’s friend?[adrotate group=”2″]

Eugene Kaspersky : No. Is Putin my friend? No.

Mark (Moderator) : Is Donald Trump your friend?

Eugene Kaspersky : <Laughs> No. In my office, there is only one picture – my handshake with Angela Merkel. No more.

Stephan Neumeier : True.

Eugene Kaspersky : Did you see it?

Stephan Neumeier : Yes.

Eugene Kaspersky : Once I had a handshake with Lee Kuan Yew (former Prime Minister of Singapore), but unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of that.

Don’t forget to check out the Kaspersky Palaeontology of Cybersecurity presentations!

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