Too Many Notes — Reader Poll Edition (07/20/26)
POLL! Day Brighteners, Boise and Eagle Idaho & Beyond, Elections, FDA, MAHA, COVID & RSV Vaccine News, Unbekoming Essays + more
READER POLL
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🙏 Dear Readers
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In this issue…
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Day Brighteners (or not)
Day Brighteners section is a thank you for brightening our day by reading Big E’s Big Mouth Substack (always free to keep all free).
For more day brighteners, check out Malone News substack. Dr. Robert Malone and Jill Malone assemble collections of politically incorrect comic videos and memes and related commentary twice weekly. To find them, click this link and type in Friday Funnies or Sunday Strip. Or subscribe to the Substack.
🙏 We thank our long-suffering spouse for finding most of these. Thank you, spouse!
Animals & Nature
Doctors Baffled Again!
Funny & Punny
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Idaho & Beyond
Eagle, Idaho Public Hearing Results
‘Simply isn’t Eagle.’ City Council shoots down planned storage facility. Idaho Statesman. By Noah Daly (Fri, July 17, 2026 at 4:00 AM MDT)
Follow-up to Substack note and article originally posted 07/09/25. Good news! The Eagle, Idaho, Stor-It Self Storage project was shot down by unanimous vote of Eagle City Council.
Gem State Chronicle & Substack
Brian Almon produces two publications — Gem State Chronicle & Gem State Substack — designed to “be a one-stop authoritative source for information on Idaho politics, especially the Legislature.” The Substack often provides breaking news, articles, and videos, with links to in-depth coverage in the Chronicle. We encourage you to subscribe to these publications and won’t even attempt to duplicate Brian’s excellent work.
Election Reminder
November 3, 2026 is coming sooner than you think…please do think…
Idaho Proposition 1 — Are you Pro-Life or Pro-Death?
“Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act” (Prop1) will be on the November 3, 2026 ballot in Idaho. This deceptively named ballot initiative is widely opposed by most Idahoans of conscience and the Idaho Republican Party (IDGOP). It is a pro-abortion and, yes, even a pro-transitioning measure.
You’ll see much written about this life-destroying initiative in coming months. Good resources include News and dedicated Prop 1 pages on Idaho Republican Party website and Idaho Chooses Life page on Boise County Republican Central Committee website.
Also, see our Voting Guide section on Prop 1, which provides a human-readable, searchable PDF, relevant links, the same video below, plus Grok summaries and Q&A about the measure
In the meantime, please share Abortion Procedures: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Trimesters video below (11:30 | link)
Idaho GOP Press Release
Idaho Republican Party issued a press release about what’s at stake now that virtually unlimited abortion is on the November 2026 ballot. Idaho GOP urges voters to read the FULL TEXT of Proposition 1 before casting their ballots. More details here.
Key points from press release about Proposition 1:
Idaho protected unborn children before statehood, with the territorial legislature doing so in 1864. Prop 1 directly attacks Idaho’s pro-life pro-family values by legalizing abortion.
Has no time limit for abortion (no reference to weeks such as six, fifteen, or twenty-four).
Roe v. Wade (overturned by US Supreme Court in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022)) allowed states to require a physician. Prop 1 only specifies “a licensed person or an entity.” (Grok query: Roe v. Wade and Dobbs v Jackson Supreme Court decisions.)
Legalizes abortion at nine months if a provider “deems it necessary,” even if a healthy baby could otherwise be delivered. A provider’s opinion is the whole test.
Current Idaho law requires doctors to try to save a baby who can survive; Proposition 1 removes that entirely and does not reference the unborn baby.
Threatens mothers’ lives: Maternal mortality improved after Idaho’s Defense of Life Act. Unsupervised abortion endangers women’s lives.
Voters should read Proposition 1 for themselves and vote no.
Related
Op-Ed: Nine Month Abortion is Too Radical for Idaho. By Dorothy Moon, IDGOP Chairwoman
Brian Lenney
Guest commentary: Prop 1 has a hidden agenda. By State Senator Brian Lenney (07/18/26)
Idaho State Sen. Brian Lenney explains that the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act (Proposition 1) goes beyond legalizing abortion by containing language that could undermine protections for minors against certain medical mutilation procedures colloquially known as “transing.”
Read the entire article. It’s short. It’s sharp. And it’s on the money. Key quotes from Sen. Brian Lenney below:
This is a Democrat-backed Trojan horse and anyone who wants to protect children should see this initiative for exactly what it is.
....
Here’s how it works: if passed, the initiative grants a right to “reproductive health care that directly impact the person’s own body,” then lists a bunch of pregnancy/abortion-related stuff. But five little words sit in front of that list: “including but not limited to.” For a lawyer, that’s an open door.
...One more phrase sits at the front: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary.” Translation? Whatever a court says this right covers beats every statute already on the books (e.g. our child protection law). So it’s whatever a black robe says it is, until a higher court reverses it, or you go back to the ballot and fight the whole thing over again.
Vote no in November and the child protection law stays put. Easy. Replacing a leftist judge, though? That could take a decade.
Idaho currently has strong anti-abortion, anti-trans statutes, listed below:
Vulnerable Child Protection Act (2023): Prohibits puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and trans surgeries on Idaho children.
Idaho Code § 18-622 (Defense of Life Act / Trigger Ban): Criminalizes abortion (felony, 2-5 years prison for providers). Exceptions: life of mother; rape/incest (first trimester only, with police report). Statute | Bill: S1385 (2020).
Idaho Code §§ 18-8804 to 18-8807 (6-week ban / heartbeat law): Bans abortion after ~6 weeks via private civil lawsuits. Statute | Bill: S1309 (2022).
Abortion Trafficking (H242, 2023): Criminalizes transporting/recruiting minors for abortion without parental consent (2-5 years). Statute | Bill: H0242.
Prop 1 does not name or reference these laws at all; the carefully lawyered omissions are intentional.
Passing this leftist act would establish “reproductive freedom” as state law, which would legalize abortion. However, passing the act also creates a sneakier, less-discussed element: Broad “reproductive healthcare” and “privacy” language that could shield puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for minors from future restrictions. Yes, Idaho, they could “trans” your kids.
Prop 1 is broadly and vaguely written to mislead voters. Sen. Lenney urges you not to be fooled.
VOTE NO to prevent abortion (up to the point of viability) and prevent opening the door to medical interventions that would mutilate and forever alter the reproductive organs and bodies of minors. VOTE NO to preserve current law in Idaho.
Glenneda Zuiderveld — Your Vote Can Save a Life
Your Vote Can Save a Life. The Future of Idaho and the Unborn is on Your November Ballot. By Glenneda Zuiderveld (07/14/26)
Glenneda Zuiderveld calls on Idaho voters, especially churches, to oppose the proposed “Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act” on the November ballot, warning that it threatens unborn lives and the state’s conservative values.
This misleadingly titled initiative would:
Significantly expand access to abortion, including after fetal viability under certain circumstances.
Weaken parental involvement protections for minors seeking abortions.
Create broader legal challenges to state regulations involving reproductive health.
Potentially affect Medicaid-funded services.
Impact future litigation involving gender-related medical procedures.
Call to Churches and Scriptural Responsibility: Churches of Idaho must use their voice, involvement, and votes on the issue of life. Idaho has approximately 2,392 congregations per the 2020 U.S. Religion Census. Pastors, elders, deacons, and leaders should encourage registration, information, and voting to protect the vulnerable as God’s image bearers. James 4:17 (ESV): “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
Ballot Initiative Process: Zuiderveld asks whether Idaho’s ballot initiative process serves the state’s long-term interests, noting California’s heavy use (14 measures expected this year versus 45 in 1990). In Idaho, the ballot initiative process enabled successful and egregiously expensive Medicaid expansion and continuing marijuana legalization efforts.
We strongly oppose the ballot initiative process in general. It leads to costly, misleading measures that should be debated in the legislature, not by fooling voters who rarely pay attention to nuance and often believe whatever petitioners tell them.
Call to Action: Zuiderveld is partnering with with Honor Idaho to oppose this measure and asks for your donations to the group.
Crime and Non-Enforcement in Boise
Our Take
Horrific murders, rapes, and other attacks are exactly what happens under leftist policies that do not enforce existing law.
And it gets worse and worse the longer the left is in control. People who want to see what these policies have done in true-blue Portland, OR (for example) should check out Truth on the Streets Substack by Kevin Dahlgren
Voters who elected Mayor McLean and her cohorts are to blame. They knew what they were getting. Those who didn’t vote at all hold equal blame.
We ask Idaho’s citizens, especially those living in Boise, to insist that the Governor and Attorney General compel Mayor McLean to enforce state law in the City of Boise. See details below.
Sen. Brian Lenney — Boise isn’t Safe Anymore
Boise isn’t safe anymore… Because the people in charge of protecting the city (Mayor Lauren McLean and the Boise Police Department), won’t. By Brian Lenney (07/14/26)
Idaho Senator Brian Lenney explains that Boise, Idaho, is no longer safe due to failures by local leadership, especially leftist Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, to address homelessness and enforce existing laws. He highlights a recent fatal stabbing on the Greenbelt, described below.
What happened?
25-year-old Jordan Harbst was riding his scooter home along the Greenbelt when he was ambushed and stabbed to death. The homeless man who killed him, identified as 41-year-old Ross Wardlaw, sleeps on that same Greenbelt, according to statements made by the prosecutor in open court. Authorities and others knew about the suspect beforehand, but no action was taken to remove him or address the situation.
S1141 (2025) should be enforced, but isn’t
(4) The attorney general shall have the power to bring a civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction against any city or single county-wide highway district to enjoin the city or countywide highway district from knowingly violating the provisions of this section. The attorney general may recover reasonable expenses incurred in any civil action brought under this section, including court costs, reasonable attorney’s fees, investigative costs, witness fees, and deposition costs. Any city or single county-wide highway district that violates the provisions of this section may be assessed a civil penalty of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each violation. Cities or single countywide highway districts against whom civil penalties are assessed are liable for reasonable attorney’s fees. — Page 1-2, Section 4, S1141
Senate Bill S1141 (2025) bars cities the size of Boise from allowing people to camp on public land, and authorizes the attorney general to take the city to court if it does not comply.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean opposed S1141 throughout its process. She stated that it was “not the solution” and that “Criminalizing homelessness has never, and will never, solve the problems associated with homelessness.”
Result: Homeless camps remained in place, Boise took only minimal actions to comply, and the fatal incident occurred.
Governor Little previously deployed (with cameras and publicity) the Idaho National Guard to the Texas border. Sen. Lenney calls on Gov. Little to now send the Guard to Boise—his own backyard—which is “overrun with homeless vagrants.” Governor Little should:
Enforce the 2025 camping law.
Clear the Greenbelt.
Protect Idahoans.
Citizen action items and links:
Call Governor Little’s office at 208-334-2100 and request that the state enforce S1141 and protect people on the Greenbelt. Alternatively, use the contact form at gov.idaho.gov/contact-us.
Call Attorney General Labrador's office at 208-334-2400 and ask that he initiate proceedings against Mayor McLean for not enforcing S1141. Alternatively, email the AG at AGLabrador@ag.idaho.gov.
Full news report: Boise Greenbelt murder suspect held without bond; prosecutors reveal new details in court. By: KIVI Staff (07/10/26). Boise police arrested Ross Wardlaw in connection with the killing of Jordan Harbst, who was found dead along the Greenbelt. Suspect being held without bond.
Related
Portland’s Sweep Machine (see Homelessness & Street Sweeps below)
Kevin Dahlgren — Homelessness & Street Sweeps
In light of the problems previously described in Boise, how can a city best handle street camping? Are periodic sweeps the answer? Are we just sweeping the problem temporarily under the proverbial rug or to a new place, only to return shortly after sweeps complete? What acceptable and long-lasting solutions exist? How are Portland street sweeps — and those in other cities — succeeding or failing, and what can we learn from that city’s policies?
Portland’s Sweep Machine. Taxpayers are funding a cycle of cleanup, displacement, and failure while the homeless service system avoids the outcomes that matter. By Kevin Dahlgren (07/14/26)
A typical street homeless person in Portland can be swept dozens of times a year. In some cases, close to a hundred. A small sweep can involve police officers, city staff, cleanup crews, nonprofit outreach workers, trucks, storage, disposal fees, and contractors. By the time it is over, the city can spend thousands of dollars clearing one camp. Multiply that by thousands of sweeps a year, and taxpayers are spending millions to move the same people from one block to the next. This is not how it is supposed to work. The city is supposed to enforce public space laws, but the homeless service system is supposed to do its job too. The goal should be to break the cycle of homelessness, not simply move the same person to a different sidewalk, park, trail, or doorway. — Kevin Dahlgren
Portland’s approach to street homelessness relies heavily on repeated cleanups (”sweeps”) that displace people without effectively connecting them to services or resolving underlying issues, resulting in high taxpayer costs and little long-term progress.
Problems & Limitations of Street Sweeps
— High costs and repeated displacement with minimal results: A typical homeless street person can be swept dozens of times a year (sometimes nearly a hundred), with each sweep involving police, city staff, cleanup crews, nonprofits, trucks, storage, disposal, and contractors costing thousands of dollars per camp. Sweeps cost taxpayers millions annually while simply moving the same people from place to place without breaking the cycle of homelessness.
— Inadequate or nonexistent real help: In well over 90% of more than a thousand sweeps Dahlgren observed, people are displaced but remain homeless. Offers are often unrealistic (e.g., a one-day distant shelter stay with strict limits) or superficial (yelling announcements amid chaos, flyers, or logged contacts). Examples include delayed or camera-prompted responses and failure to provide detox, treatment, shelter, recovery housing, medical care, or long-term support.
— Focus on optics over outcomes and accountability: Sweeps create appearances of action (clean sidewalks, operations completed, trash removed, contacts made) but stop short of tracking results or providing lasting change. Displaced homeless often return to the same places shortly after sweeps are complete.
— Resistance to meaningful metrics. Nonprofits often resist providing meaningful metrics and oversight, sometimes under privacy claims, but often simply protecting ineffective approaches. The system emphasizes motion (posting, sweeping, reappearance, repeated cleanups and funding) rather than progress.
ED: Could resistance to accountability be the homelessness industrial complex’s way of protecting and feeding itself? Why do city leaders and citizens tolerate such lack of accountability? Doesn’t that make them part of the problem? Who benefits financially from homeless-industrial complex partnerships between government and non-government agencies?
— Unbalanced approaches from both sides: Leaving dangerous encampments — with violence, drug dealing, exploitation, fires, stolen property, and health hazards — in place abandons both residents and the public. However, sweeps without exit plans are mere displacement. Activists may ignore real risks inside camps, while politicians treat sweeps as a complete solution despite inability to resolve addiction, mental illness, trauma, or fentanyl dependency through cleanup alone.
Proposed Solutions
— Individualized assessment and tailored immediate plans: Before any sweep, assess every person by name (not as tents or statistics), covering duration on streets, addiction, mental illness, medical fragility, violence history, family connections, desires for treatment/shelter, transport needs, or existing lists.
Avoid vague referrals like phone numbers or waiting lists. Instead, provide matching pathways:
Shelter for those who can use it.
Detox for those ready.
Recovery housing for those committed.
Medical care, civil commitment/secure treatment for severe mental illness.
Family reunification where safe.
— Persistent, comprehensive outreach: Deliver real help before, during, and after sweeps through trust-building, follow-through, and persistence despite initial refusals, addressing full needs including detox, treatment, housing, medical care, transportation, IDs, and long-term support.
— Accountability through outcome tracking and reporting: Currently, little public data exists on shelter acceptance, treatment entry, family reunifications, medical care, refusals, 30-day status, six-month survival, or one-year stability.
Judge sweeps by measurable results, with public city/county reports on each contacted person detailing shelter acceptance, treatment entry, reunifications, medical care, refusals, ongoing street presence, and survival. Prioritize ending homelessness over managing visibility.
— Balanced enforcement with compassion: Conduct necessary sweeps for unsafe encampments while ensuring real exit plans and accountability for refusals, rejecting permanent lawlessness in public spaces without surrendering neighborhoods to hazards.
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Medical & Health Resources
Some of our favorites. Find many more here.
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) & The Defender: Children’s Health Defense, CHD TV, and “The Defender” do a great job covering current health news. Please sign up for daily updates sent right to your inbox (you can choose how much or how little they send). Some of our favorites are below.
Video summaries of weekly news with Polly Tommey and Mary Holland, search CHD, select Videos, and enter “This Week” in the search box.
Vaccine and hospital injury, see The People’s Study.
Covid Essential Links:
COVID Justice Resolution | Get Help | Drug Adverse Events | Vaccine Adverse Events | Medication and Patient Guides Including Vaccine Injury | Provider Networks | Independent Medical Resources | Get Facts (including Nuremberg Code of Ethics & PREP Act and Key Websites) | Videos, Movies, Books, Substacks | Legal Resources, Politician Pledges, Covid Origins | Bird Flu, Measles, & More | Vaccine Facts & Coverups, China / Pharma / Globalist Involvement, Informed Consent | Testimonies from Vaccine & Hospital Protocol Injured | Mask Myths | Information Packages for Presentations | Scientific Studies on Vaccine Injuries | COVID-19 FACTS, PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS | Get Creative .. and moreFlashlights Productions: Substack and Podcasts
Highwire / Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) / ICANDecide.org:
The Highwire and Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) do a superb job covering news dedicated to Informed Consent and the Eradication of Man-made Disease. ICAN Legal Updates
Independent Medical Alliance:
Independent Medical Alliance (IMA) Website | Subscribe to IMA Substack
Prevention and treatment strategies: Brain Health | Cancer Care | Depression & Mental Health | Fasting & Healthy Eating | Insulin Resistance | Sepsis | Find an Independent Medical Provider | more
Midwestern Doctor: Substack | Index to Articles
Resources > Independent Medical Resources and Resources > Independent Medical Resources > Holistic Health (pets & humans)
Sasha Latypova: Due Diligence and Art Substack
Search for FDA drug information: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm
Unbekoming: Lies are Unbekoming Substack
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Health News & Views
Children’s Health Defense News of the Week
Most read news from The Defender for the week ending 07/19/26.
Judge Revokes Bail for Mother Charged With Murdering Twins Who Died 8 Days After Vaccines
What a Landmark Case in Britain Could Mean for Mother Charged in Idaho Twins’ Deaths
Reuters Ran a Hit Piece on RFK Jr. — and Revealed How Hard He’s Worked to Reform Vaccine Policy
Bipartisan Bill Would Move COVID Vaccine Injury Claims Into VICP in Biggest Reform Push in Decades
‘Better Late than Not At All’: Germany Ends COVID Vaccine Recommendation for Healthy People
Lawmakers Urge CDC to Track Vitamin K Shot Refusals as More Parents Say No
Could Exposure to Mold Play a Role in Autism? More Research Needed, Experts Say
Got a Minute? Please Take Our Survey (deadline July 24, 2026)
FDA News
To advance the Trump administration’s actions to safeguard American agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Ivermectin Liquid for Horses (ivermectin oral solution) for the short-term prevention of New World screwworm (NWS) infestations (myiasis) in horses. The product is authorized for use when administered within 24 hours of birth or at the time of initial wound care. Ivermectin Liquid for Horses is not for use in species other than horses. — opening paragraph of FDA announcement
We’re not surprised that ivermectin could be effective against New World Screwworm. Ivermectin is a widely used animal anti-parasitic — 40 years and counting.
The abovementioned EUA is specific for horses only. So while it could work in other livestock species, we in no way recommend using the horse product on other species (we don’t want to get into trouble with FDA).
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Sidebar Please…
Despite FDA telling us ivermectin was for horses only during COVID era, FDA already has approved ivermectin for human use for intestinal strongyloidiasis (roundworm), onchocerciasis (river blindness), head lice, and rosacea; many use it off-label for other purposes.
For example, ivermectin helped humans fight COVID-19 and avoid hospitalization and death. A 2024 legal settlement with doctors who sued over the agency’s statements on ivermectin required FDA to remove its tweet stating “You are not a horse,” it said. “You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” See Mary Talley Bowden, M.D. post showing X’d out full tweet (scroll down in the post).
Today, ivermectin is available for human use over the counter or behind the counter in states such as Tennessee, Arkansas, Idaho, and Louisiana, though it’s often difficult to obtain due to pharmacy regulations. Other states are working on over the counter or behind the counter legislation.
Ivermectin is a broad-spectrum antiparasitic (anthelmintic and acaricide) widely approved for veterinary use in various animals. It targets nematodes (roundworms) and certain arthropods (mites, lice, grubs, etc.), but it is not effective against tapeworms, flukes, fleas, or ticks in general.
FDA first approved ivermectin for animal use in 1984. The original veterinary product was a 1% injectable ivermectin antiparasitic for livestock. (Ivomec® received FDA approval for cattle and swine under NADA 128-409 | label information). Additional animal ivermectin products and species approvals followed later.
To learn more about ivermectin approved for animals, search for ivermectin in FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine | FDA Approved Animal Drug Products. For information about human ivermectin, see Resources > Ivermectin on our Substack.
Related
Ivermectin Prescriptions Soaring In England. The latest on this little old medicine with a variety of uses. By Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD (07/14/26). From Independent Medical Alliance cross-post introduction:
“In 2020, NHS doctors in England wrote an average of 33 ivermectin prescriptions a month. Today it’s more than 11,000. Dr. Tess Lawrie pulled the official numbers from openprescribing.net and mapped the 300-fold climb from the “horse paste” smear of 2021 to the quiet normalization happening in clinics right now.”
Hospital Costs ↑
Hospital costs are outrageous, many procedures undertaken are misdiagnosed, unnecessary, or dangerous, and fees are opaque and convoluted. Research carefully and get multiple opinions before submitting to non-emergency surgery or other procedures.
The Blank Check You Sign
Hospitals Want You to Sign a Blank Check Before Treatment—Here’s How to Avoid Surprise Bills. Patients are asked to accept a bill for untold costs. It’s not entirely legal and there are ways to fight back. The Smart Patient’s Playbook • Part 16. By By Sheramy Tsai (08/12/26, may require subscription to view)
Quote from Epoch Times article summary:
Days before Theresa Schmotzer’s outpatient surgery, the hospital called, demanding roughly $3,700 upfront.
She had waited months for the procedure. The caller was insistent, Schmotzer recalled, and she feared the surgery would be canceled if she didn’t pay. But the number couldn’t be right. Her maximum out-of-pocket for the year was only $3,500.
While Schmotzer, an occupational therapist in Arizona, was preparing for surgery, she was also becoming a billing investigator.
_____At the moment patients are most vulnerable—sick, in pain, anxious, or facing a scary diagnosis—they are handed a digital pen and asked to accept full financial responsibility for costs no one has disclosed.
_____In almost any other part of life, that would be unthinkable. In American medicine, it is routine.
For planned procedures, knowing the price is part of informed consent. Patients have more power than they realize to insist on it before they sign.
Hospitals are increasingly demanding prepayments for planned non-emergency care without disclosing full costs, forcing patients to sign a “blank check” for unknown bills that often exceed estimates.
No One Had an Answer: Theresa Schmotzer, Arizona occupational therapist, received $3,700 prepayment demand days before outpatient surgery meant to remove a fibroid her doctors had seen on imaging; her yearly out-of-pocket max was $3,500. Hospital estimated nearly $29,000. She obtained CPT code from her doctor’s office, contacted Cigna and hospital—neither gave a price. Actual explanation of benefits received later showed $751 owed.
Why No Number Tells the Whole Story: Bills are split among hospital (facility fees for room/equipment/staff), surgeon, anesthesiologist, lab, pathologist—each billing separately. In-network hospital may have an out-of-network unit (example: $30,000 twin delivery surprise from an out-of-neonatal unit in an in-network hospital). Prices vary widely; facility fees are higher at hospitals vs. independent centers. Depends on plan, deductible met, coinsurance, procedure changes. Estimators provide only rough information.
The Blank Check: Cynthia Fisher, PatientRightsAdvocate.org, notes patients sign digital forms committing to pay whatever charged, often without a readable hard copy. Prepayments range from $250 (dermatology) to $30,000 (brain surgery). Hospitals bank on patients not pursuing refunds. (Though Richard Gundling from Healthcare Financial Management Association says overpayments are refunded promptly via processes and audits.)
Washington Is Starting to Notice: June 9, 2026, Trump administration sent warning letters to >500 hospitals for price posting failures, the first step to up to $2M/year fines. Only 28 hospitals were fined since 2021 rule took effect. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said: “Post your real prices.” 2026 rule requires hospitals to report actual dollar amounts paid for services. Bipartisan Patients Deserve Price Tags Act would be stricter. An Advanced Explanation of Benefits solution still is pending.
How to Push Back Before You Pay: For planned nonemergency (article advises never to delay urgent care).
Get CPT codes from surgeon.
Call insurer for exact payment.
Use Medicare rate benchmark (commercial plans often pay ~2x Medicare rate).
Get everything in writing, including name of person contacted and reference number.
Ask what is…
Cash price?
Insurer negotiated price?
Prepayment required?
Overpay refund timing/method?
Tools (links below) include: Medicare Procedure Price Lookup, insurer estimator, hospital shoppable services, PatientRightsAdvocate.org, FAIR Health Consumer.
Compare but confirm specifics with insurer/facility.
It Wasn’t Even Necessary! Schmotzer spent days researching, despite her knowledge of CPT codes. She finally used PatientRightsAdvocate.org for a $751 estimate the morning of surgery. She then underwent the procedure to remove the fibroid found on imaging. But once inside, the surgeon found nothing! The procedure proved completely unnecessary, but still cost Schmotzer $751.
Related links
RFK Jr./Oz video (requires X account to view)
Related Substacks & Articles
What Is Defensive Medicine? An Essay on Why Your Doctor’s Recommendation May Have Nothing to Do with You. By Unbekoming (06/15/26)
The 12 Screenings That Manufacture the Patients They Claim to Find. An Essay on Threshold Manipulation, Overdiagnosis, Cascades, and the Markers That Aren’t What They Claim. By Unbekoming (06/10/26)
Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health (2011). By H. Gilbert Welch, Lisa Schwartz and Steve Woloshin - 30 Q&As - Unbekoming Book Summary (10/30/25)
MAHA Alliance, RFK Jr., Del Bigtree & More: Point / Counterpoint
Sasha Latypova’s take on MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Alliance does not pull punches. She follows the money. Dr. Robert Malone, MD PhD, also follows the money and inside baseball politics, offers differing facts in some respects while presenting complementary views.
Decide for yourself. You may not agree with all conclusions from either writer, but the money trail and inside look into governmental swamp creatures are interesting.
We’re still making up our own minds and may never come to grips with the muck and obfuscation that is Washington, DC. Way above OUR pay grade, that’s for sure.
Sasha Latypova
Who owns Bobby? Review of MAHA Alliance financials for 2024-2025. Elon Musk’s owners and Epstein/Diddy friends financed MAHA Alliance. By Sasha Latypova (07/16/26)
Sasha Latypova reviews MAHA Alliance financial records from 2024-2025 to explain why Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not revoked PREP Act declarations or assisted COVID victims. The post performs a mini-audit of MAHA Alliance financials. Form 990 lists Del Bigtree as principal officer. Total donations reached $7.8 million in 2024 during Kennedy’s presidential run.
Summaries below correspond with main headings in the article.
Who are the Major Financial Donors to MAHA Alliance?: Federal Election Commission filings show $6 million of ~$8 million raised came from Elon Musk. Patricia (Trish) Duggan donated $1 million (from Pharmacyclics shares acquired by AbbVie for ~$21 billion, generating ~$3.5 billion pre-tax for the Duggans). Timothy Mellon, via American Values 2024, contributed $2.1 million. The Rockefellers gave $400,000.
Where is the money going?: Contractors included Aaron Siri paid $289,000; $200,000 at Amaryllis flower shop in Maryland; Bridget Rasmussen at ~$270,000 for fundraising management. Rasmussen founded Whisper & Roar consulting, served as Kennedy campaign Chief of Staff, co-founded MAHA Alliance and MAHA Action as COO, and managed legislative strategy and partnerships raising over $15 million.
What is “Big Truth Inc.”?: Big Truth Inc. received $310,000 from MAHA Alliance in 2024 for media production, digital media production, travel, and food & beverage. It operates from the same address as Del Bigtree’s residence, with multiple additional payments listed.
Itemized expenses and notable disbursements: No spending went to MAHA causes such as helping COVID victims or achieving accountability. Allocations included $2.5 million on conferences and conventions; ~$2 million “other” to PACs like Turning Point PAC and to political, media, and legal consultants; ~$1 million for travel; ~$600,000 for legal expenses (political consultants only).
2025 Financials (9 months, through Sep 2025): Receipts totaled $73,211.15; disbursements $839,390.33; beginning cash $766,179.18; ending cash $0.00. ~$260,000 went to operating expenses for consultants and MAHA Action; ~$500,000 was donated to MAHA Action. No funds supported victims or health freedom activities.
Who owns Bobby?: Musk funded the majority of 2024-2025 activities. He is presented as a front man for political, deep state, corporate, and foreign interests with ties to transhumanism, technocracy, and Epstein networks, plus X acquisition investors including Ackman, Ellison, Combs/P. Diddy, Saudi Prince Alwaleed, and venture firms. Latypova concludes that MAHA organizations function as money-siphoning grifts capturing donations, attention, and compliance for elite agendas rather than genuine health freedom.
Dr. Robert Malone
MAHA Inc.: The Machine, the Figurehead, and the Base. A view from inside the Washington Beltway. Who actually runs the health department, and whether the movement’s founder can win back the people he has lost. By Dr. Robert W. Malone (07/20/26)
Executive summary (quoted below)
Make America Healthy Again has become a corporation. A super PAC, three nonprofits, a trademark, and a holding company now carry the brand, built by the publisher Tony Lyons and the financier Mark Gorton, with the secretary’s son on the commercial board. Inside the health department, operational power has passed from Kennedy’s original circle to the cost-control wing that Mehmet Oz built at Medicare. Chris Klomp, Oz’s former deputy, runs daily operations and is now nominated as the department’s second in command. Kennedy keeps the brand and his signature health fights. He has lost the machinery, and he sits most of the way to a figurehead.
His base has turned on him. Glyphosate, the food loophole, and the mRNA platform each ended with the movement’s demands unmet, because governing inside the MAGA coalition forced the compromises. That leaves a hard problem for a 2028 run he keeps denying. He cannot easily win back a base he alienated while serving, and every recovery path carries a cost. The anti-war lane is the most tempting and the most dangerous, because the version circulating in the movement rests on an unproven and antisemitic claim that a foreign lobby controls the president.
Two findings cut against the loudest stories. A recent claim that Elon Musk funded the movement is overstated. The documented figure is three million dollars to a pro-Trump PAC, not the six million alleged, and not seed capital for the health agenda. Winning may also miss the point. Under super PAC law a presidential campaign pays its operators whether or not it succeeds, and the MAHA apparatus is already a candidacy held in escrow. This is the view from inside Washington. The movement reads it differently, and the capital has misjudged Kennedy before.
Summaries below correspond with main headings in the article.
MAHA Inc.: The Machine, the Figurehead, and the Base
Tony Lyons and financier Mark Gorton built the entities, rebranding a prior super PAC into MAHA PAC and adding MAHA Action (advocacy/trademark), MAHA Institute (policy), MAHA Center (donations), and opaque MAHA Holdings (commercial, with Finn Kennedy on the board to drive industry adoption).
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.) earned prior licensing fees before transferring the trademark.
Latypova’s Musk funding narrative is corrected to three million dollars for Trump-support ads, not core movement capital.
Initially, Stefanie Spear and Matt Buckham controlled access and staffing.
Later, Chris Klomp and the Mehmet Oz wing took operational dominance, with Kennedy keeping symbolic influence and wins such as mRNA contract cancellations.
The view from inside Washington.
Who actually runs the health department, and can the movement’s founder can win back the people he has lost?
Klomp and White House priorities now handle day-to-day operations, personnel, and policies. This leaves Kennedy with the platform and targeted actions but he’s close to figurehead status.
Base discontent arose over glyphosate protections, pesticide and food loophole failures, and limited mRNA action, fueled by activist letters and ally criticisms.
Potential recovery paths for RFK Jr. 2028 presidential run: Securing wins, blaming external captors (including risky anti-war narratives), exiting office, or using the machine. Each path carries trade-offs due to prior compromises.
The apparatus may sustain itself financially regardless of electoral success under super PAC rules.
Unbekoming Essays
We always like bringing you articles by Unbekoming, a prolific author and researcher whose work turns the traditional medical and health paradigm on its head. To avoid overwhelming readers with digital overflow, our summaries are designed to make you want to read the original articles. We often quote Unbekoming’s “Explain it to a Six-Year-Old” segments (when available), which are both entertaining and enlightening.
If you haven’t subscribed to Lies are Unbekoming substack yet, we hope you will. Many articles are free, but a paid subscription gives you the full scoop that may be hidden behind the $5/month paywall, including brilliant analogies, one-minute elevator explanations, and Explain it a Six-Year Old sections. (NOTE: We are subscribers, but receive no financial benefit from recommending Unbekoming’s substack).
Angelman Syndrome (Vaccine Injury, not Bad Genes)
What Is Angelman Syndrome? An Essay on the Diagnostic Label That Rewrites Vaccine Injury as Chromosomal Fate. By Unbekoming (07/15/26)
Angelman Syndrome is yet another case of a collection of symptoms attributed to anything but vaccines. Treatments include expensive gene therapies that do not target root causes.
Explaining It to a Six-Year-Old
A house burns down. A fire marshal arrives, walks the property, and finds a broken window at the back. He announces that the broken window is why the house burned.
But something broke the window. And a man was seen at the front of the house earlier that day carrying a gas can. The fire marshal does not ask about either. He points at the window and closes his notebook.
That is what a cover story is. You point at one thing so no one looks at the other.
Now imagine the house is a child. The broken window is a spot on a chromosome. The gas can is a schedule of injections. The fire marshal is a doctor pointing at the chromosome.
That is what a diagnosis of Angelman syndrome is.
Angelman syndrome is a diagnostic label for children who develop normally at birth but later show severe developmental delay, seizures, absent speech, ataxia, microcephaly, and frequent laughter, with symptoms typically emerging between six and twelve months during routine vaccination periods. Mainstream medicine attributes the syndrome to a chromosomal mutation, but the more likely cause is vaccination injury; the genetic issue typically is “discovered” after post-vaccination symptoms emerge.
The article reviews Angelman Syndrome’s naming history, genetic explanations, clinical overlap with vaccine injury, timing issues, and de novo* chromosomal findings.
*De novo mutation: Genetic mutation that occurs for the first time in a family member.
The article is long with many details, which we won’t include here. However, key take home points include:
The Two Lists Are the Same List: Angelman features (delay 6–12 months, seizures 1–3 years, ataxia, microcephaly, absent speech, feeding issues) match Vaccine Injury Compensation Program compensable conditions (encephalopathy, seizures, ataxia) with similar timing of onset.
The Timing Problem: Conception-time chromosomal events should not delay symptoms to 6–12 months. Down syndrome is evident at birth whereas Angelman children have normal birth history with delays emerging later (coincident with vaccine schedules).
The Filter as Business Model: Genetic view supports high-revenue therapies (tens of billions potential) while shielding environmental inquiry. Industry funds gene-correction trials, not environmental ones; serves as a filter while exonerating injurers.
Birth Control (8 Devices) & Abortion
Idaho Connection…
Abortion is the ultimate form of birth control, and some political persuasions are pushing it like benign candy (except for the baby of course, but for the Mom too).
Idaho citizens must vote in the Nov. 3 2026 election on a radical ballot initiative (Prop 1) that would allow abortion even late in the term.
We ask people to watch the video below and review the “More information” links before making up their minds on any abortion measure in any state.
More information:
The Truth About the Radical Abortion Initiative (Idaho Republican Party)
Idaho Chooses Life – Vote NO on Prop 1 on Nov. 3, 2026 (Boise County Republican Central Committee)
The Birth Control Files: Eight Devices, What They Promised, What They Delivered. Sixty years, eight devices, one pattern of corporate concealment. By Unbekoming (07/12/26)
Unbekoming examines eight contraceptive devices over sixty years, contrasting manufacturer marketing claims with prescribing information, internal documents, litigation records, and studies revealing risks such as clots, cancer, depression, bone loss, and device failures. Truth in marketing? No, not much truth at all.
How You Would Explain This to a Six-Year-Old
A woman’s body has a rhythm. Every month, her body prepares for a baby. If no baby comes, the rhythm starts over. This is how her body is made to work.
Some people make products that stop the rhythm. Pills. Rings. Shots. Rods that go under the skin. Small devices that sit inside her where a baby would grow.
Every product comes with a folded piece of paper. The paper says what can go wrong. Blood clots. Broken bones. Cancer. Sadness that will not lift. Not being able to have a baby later, even when she wants one. Sometimes, dying.
The companies that sell the products wrote the paper. They filed it with the government. They know what it says.
The women who take the products almost never see the paper. The doctor does not read it to them. The pharmacy does not open it. The paper stays folded inside the box.
For sixty years, that has been the arrangement.
There is another way to prevent a baby. A woman can learn to read her own body and know when she can get pregnant and when she cannot. It works nearly as well as any product on the list, and better than most.
Almost no doctor teaches this. No company sells it. No one profits from a woman who reads her own body.
That is the whole story.
Below is a summary of each main heading in the article.
The One That Was Withdrawn: Ortho Evra patch (Johnson & Johnson), approved 2001; weekly transdermal ethinyl estradiol and norelgestromin for convenience. Delivered ~60% higher estrogen levels than comparable pills, roughly doubling venous thromboembolism risk; led to deaths, thousands of suits, hundreds of millions in settlements. Discontinued 2014 due to litigation and sales, not full recall.
How You Would Explain This to a Six-Year-Old: See text above.
The Pill: Combined oral contraceptives suppress ovulation via synthetic estrogen/ progestin mimicking pregnancy; causes withdrawal bleeding, not true menses. Boxed warnings for clots, stroke, heart attack; unknown breast cancer causation per labels; higher antidepressant/suicide risks in studies (23% overall, 80% in teens); long-term low-dose data undetermined. Remains on market.
NuvaRing: Monthly vaginal ring (Merck) releases etonogestrel/ethinyl estradiol; approved on 16-woman trial with omitted estrogen spikes. Higher clot risk (56-90% vs. pills); temperature-sensitive release untested in real conditions; internal memos deflected deep vein thrombosis (DVT) concerns; >230 FDA deaths reported; thousands of suits settled. Remains on market.
Depo-Provera: Injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate every 3 months (Pfizer); FDA rejected multiple times over animal tumors/diabetes; approved 1992 after changing test standards. Black-box for irreversible bone density loss (osteopenia 68%, osteoporosis 30% in young women); 2.4-fold meningioma risk; targets low-income/black women disproportionately. Remains on market.
Nexplanon: 3-year arm implant (Merck) releasing etonogestrel; migration to lungs/arteries possible, hard/impossible removal; no studies in <18s despite adolescent approval; less effective in obese; high discontinuation for bleeding (11%), headaches (25%), depression/emotional issues; continuous hormone until surgically removed. Remains on market.
The Copper IUD (Paragard): 380mg copper device (CooperSurgical) up to 10 years; no long-term animal carcinogenicity/genotoxicity studies since 1984. Releases ions toxic to sperm/embryos; risks include heavy bleeding, perforation, expulsion, pelvic inflammatory disease, copper toxicity symptoms (anxiety, fatigue); free radicals, mineral depletion. Remains on market.
The Hormonal IUD (Mirena, Skyla, etc.): Levonorgestrel-releasing (Bayer) up to 8 years; systemic absorption despite “local” claims (measurable blood levels). 40% higher breast cancer risk (JAMA); depression/suicide links; high adverse events (cysts, pain, acne, libido loss); underreporting shown by media effect; perforations led to settlements. Remains on market.
The Dalkon Shield: IUD (A.H. Robins, 1970s) with wicking multifilament string drawing bacteria; known pre-sale but unaddressed; false low pregnancy claims; caused septic abortions, deaths, PID; delayed warnings/removals; 14k+ US suits, bankruptcy; set concealment template. Off market due to bankruptcy.
The Method That Has No Manufacturer: Symptothermal fertility awareness (cervical fluid, temperature, position); 0.4% method failure in studies, comparable/ superior to many devices; no hormones/devices; effective but untaught in medical schools, unprescribed due to lack of profit. Resources:
Statins
The Second Opinion Guide to Statins. Guide No. 2 in the series. By Unbekoming (07/12/26). Download is for paid subscribers. But here’s what you’ll find.
Unbekoming wrote a detailed 30,000-word resource examining statin drugs such as Lipitor using primary sources such as package inserts, trials, patents, and records. He highlights limited life extension benefits, hidden mechanisms, and data access issues. He also provides a tear-out sheet (between Chapters 9 and 10), listing exactly what to bring to an appointment with a doctor who wants to put you on statins.
The chapters:
What Your Doctor Told You: Physicians’ standard recommendation for statins.
What You Were Not Told: Information the medical profession omitted regarding risks and evidence.
What the Drug Does to You, and What It Gives You in Return: How statin biochemistry inhibits cholesterol and coenzyme Q10 pathways. Minimal absolute benefits including less than one day added life expectancy per year post-heart attack and zero in primary prevention.
Heart Disease: What Actually Causes It: Primary drivers of cardiovascular disease, excluding cholesterol as a key factor.
What the Package Insert Actually Says: Analyzes five statin labels using Lipitor as reference; only Zocor and Pravachol approved for total mortality reduction.
The Injury Pattern: Side effects from cognitive issues such as Duane Graveline’s amnesia to immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy.
The Manufacturers: Reviews Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca conduct, including Merck’s 1990 patents for statin plus coenzyme Q10.
Who Is Recommending This, and Why: Examines Cholesterol Treatment Trialists Collaboration, guidelines, and incentives, with unreleased raw trial data.
Questions to Ask: Fourteen questions for medical appointments.
Where You Are in the Decision: Four positions in the statin choice.
If You Decide to Proceed: Guidance to minimize risks if continuing use.
If You Decide to Stop: Practical steps for declining or discontinuing.
Appendices cover package comparisons, risk arithmetic, alternative protocols, directories, and reading.
FDA statin labels (latest available; some discontinued):
Vaccine News
The FDA, CDC, and other public health alphabet agencies continue to exhibit blind eyes and deaf ears regarding vaccine harms. We’re on our own, folks. Please do your own research, including non-government sources.
COVID-19 — Military Operation, Doctors Complied
Sasha Latypova cross-posted an excellent interview between Alix Mayer (host) and Dr. James Miller (guest) with the following introduction:
_____
Dr. Miller’s story is fundamental to understanding that “covid” was an operation that had nothing to do with health. Dr. Miller worked in the hospital where the 1st “covid case” in the US was allegedly treated. It is very likely that person did not exist at all. This is a fascinating discussion, heartbreaking, but highly necessary. Dr. Miller is one of the true American heroes. Please share his story.
_____
This fascinating interview shows how low hospitals and doctors sank during COVID and lockdowns. Unfortunately, the sinking hasn’t finished yet. Thus, we non-doctor Substack writers encourage you to take responsibility for your own health and medical care (see usual disclaimer):
Do not farm out personal decision making about your health and that of loved one to others. Educate yourself.
Avoid traditional hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical products, and insurance systems if possible (exercising judicious judgement, of course, especially in case of trauma emergency).
Pay cash if you can. It’s less expensive and medical providers who accept direct cash pay may give you better care at a lower price.
Recognize that the system won’t be fixed anytime soon — even under the current administration in which we placed so much hope.
Where can you go? What can you do? Find tips in Resources > Health — especially General Resources, Holistic Health, and Independent Medical Resources on our Substack.
Did COVID Patient Zero Actually Exist? | Dr. James Miller | Ep 18. If you think you’ve heard it all about COVID and lockdowns, this episode will shock you. By Alix Mayer (07/08/26, video 01:10:20).
Summary (edited from show notes):
Former trauma surgeon and surgical ICU physician Dr. James Miller worked at the Washington state hospital that supposedly treated America’s first reported COVID-19 patient.
Turns out, the public narrative differed significantly from what Dr. Miller observed first-hand inside the facility, including:
Empty ICU beds when media headlines claimed hospitals were overwhelmed.
Hospital administrators pressuring physicians to “play ball” and adhere to official protocols rather than exercising clinical judgment.
Gap between media coverage and on-the-ground reality. Hospital management colluding with media to amplify public fear.
Harmful protocols.
Dr. Miller faced retaliation for refusing to remain silent and questioning leadership. He then opened a free clinic to treat patients who could not access care due to their vaccination status, noting differences in how vaccinated and unvaccinated patients were treated in hospital.
Dr. Miller explains how the COVID era exposed systemic issues in modern healthcare, including financial incentives, bureaucracy, ethical concerns, censorship, and institutional pressure. These experiences ultimately led him to leave his career in trauma surgery. Changes are needed to restore trust in medicine.
COVID-19 Shots — Citizen Petition Update
This response from FDA is exactly as expected from the moment we learned about, and signed, the petition. Government has shown in no uncertain terms that “we the people” (and in many cases, “we the sheeple”) are nothing more than gnats to be swatted away or treated with condescension when we become inconvenient. Sorry to be so negative, but our government-directed cynicism appears warranted. You might agree after reading FDA’s response to the Citizen Petition described below.
Update: an interim FDA response on the Citizen Petition to revoke Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines Biologics Licensing Approval (BLA). The FDA sends a non-response response, stating they need more [indefinite] time to think about this issue. By Sasha Latypova (07/15/26)
In December 2025, Sasha Latypova and Children’s Health Defense co-authored a Citizen Petition to the FDA asking that Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA shots be found misbranded and their Biologics Licensing Approvals (BLA) revoked.
The petition generated over 104,000 individual comments submitted, with approximately 4,800 processed and posted on the docket, all in support. Typical FDA Citizen Petitions receive 0–50 comments. Signature aggregation tools are prohibited.
On June 8, 2026, Children’s Health Defense received a non-response response letter from the FDA stating it needs more time but providing no deadline. In a May 2026 conversation between Latypova and HHS Secretary RFK Jr., he predicted FDA would issue no substantive response and suggested suing the HHS.
“So sue me!” (our words).
Updates will follow if action occurs.
Related
Sign the COVID Justice Resolution — the resolution we’ve waited for since 2020 COVID “pandemic” was officially announced. Resolution website | Substack Note (Posted 02/25/26)
COVID Shots — Legislators are Vaccine Injured but Hiding It
About these COVID Shots…
Taxpayers are being forced to pay to harm their fellow citizens. Injuries are hidden and go uncompensated for the masses who suffer them (see VSAFE dashboard and OpenVAERS charts created from the US government’s own data).
Politicians and government officials must DO THEIR JOBS and protect citizens from lies, misinformation, and disinformation that could cost their lives, health, and financial futures. Vaccines are a religion that has deep roots in history.
It’s high time to STOP the dangerous COVID shots! Admit their harms. DEFUND and STOP administering them at the federal and state levels. And never again approve and/or mandate similar medical interventions without many more years of research into true safety, not manipulated data.
What The US Senate Showed America About COVID-19 Vaccine Toxicity. COVID-19 vaccine injures are so common many of the legislators who pushed them have also been severely injured—but still won’t admit it. This culture of silence around these injuries must end. By A Midwestern Doctor (07/16/26)
Be sure to read the comments on this article. They are shocking, heartbreaking, factual, and eye opening.
A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) explains…
The US Congress (Senate and House) illnesses and sudden deaths offer a public dataset on the frequency and nature of COVID-19 shot injuries. Such harms have affected even those who promoted the shots, all while a broader culture of silence persists.
The Absence of Evidence is Not the Evidence of Absence
AMD observed many “moderate” reactions to COVID-19 shots in patients shortly after rollout, including reactions NOT reported in the trials. Patterns of more severe outcomes such as sudden deaths and accelerated dementia are consistent with a bell curve distribution of injury susceptibility.
Widespread censorship prevented open discussion, with observations dismissed as anecdotal despite data such as spikes in disability.
VAERS reports and safety signals from systems such as V-Safe were suppressed.
Polls revealed 9–34% of recipients experienced side effects, 7–13% serious ones, with many knowing individuals severely injured or believed deceased from the vaccines.
No comprehensive pre- and post-vaccination assessment dataset was created, allowing absence of acknowledged evidence to be used as proof of safety while injuries continued to surface.
High-Profile Injuries
High rates of significant injuries make it plausible that public officials also were affected, would cover them up, and not speak out — especially if they supported mandates or actively pushed the shots.
One early example includes the sudden death of US Representative Sean Casten’s vaccinated 17-year-old daughter Gwen in June 2022. Such a death in an adolescent was an extraordinarily rare event pre-vaccines. Her family promoted the shots. Following her death, Casten offered no details to address concerns.
Similar suspicious incidents and prolonged absences occurred in government leadership, often with apparent cover-ups. These events, including rare stroke types and ages, align with known vaccine complications and represent an approximately 8.3% rate of severe reactions, which are consistent with polling data.
Democrat Senators
Among roughly 48 Democratic Senators, several experienced severe health events post-vaccine rollout, including:
Ben Ray Luján (age 49) suffered a cerebellar stroke in January 2022 requiring decompressive craniectomy shortly after promoting vaccines.
John Fetterman (age 52) had a stroke in May 2022 soon after endorsing them, followed by syncope, severe depression requiring extended Walter Reed hospitalization, and ongoing cognitive issues.
Chris Van Hollen had an unusual hemorrhagic stroke while speaking.
Dianne Feinstein was hospitalized for shingles, developing rare complications including Ramsay Hunt syndrome and encephalitis causing neurological injury, partial facial paralysis, confusion, and wheelchair use; she continued serving despite disability until her death in September 2023.
Republican Senators
The following cases parallel vaccine injury patterns among strong vaccine advocates:
Lindsey Graham died suddenly from a rare aortic dissection; AMD links this to observed post-vaccine cases involving vascular damage and blood clots.
Mitch McConnell experienced rapid cognitive decline from 2023, with public freezing episodes, wheelchair use, and a recent cardiac event, mirroring patterns seen in elderly patients after vaccination often misattributed to other causes.
Ben Sasse resigned and later received a stage four pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
Denial or Coverup?
Influential figures privately sought help for vaccine injuries but insisted on secrecy due to professional risks and peer pressure. Senators privately acknowledged adverse effects or attributed issues to long COVID (which overlaps with vaccine injury symptoms), but few have spoken publicly.
Representative Nancy Mace is a notable exception (see 05:11 video clip February 8, 2023). The culture discourages disclosure, especially among those who supported the shots.
The Culture of Silence
Vaccine-injured individuals in certain circles describe hiding their conditions due to stigma, akin to being “in the closet,” fearing social and career repercussions. Personal accounts highlight isolation, such as a marathoner friend concealing myocarditis and reduced physical capacity from AMD and other friends. This self-censorship prevents recognition of the issue’s scale.
Conclusion
Our Take…
We previously supported vaccines — all vaccines — too, until our eyes were opened following the COVID-19 shot rollout. Then we started investigating, with help from A Midwestern Doctor, Unbekoming, Independent Medical Alliance, Sasha Latypova, The Highwire, Children’s Health Defense, REACT19, and many other organizations and authors.
Now we understand that NO vaccine is safe and most aren’t even necessary or effective. But that realization came after following a long road of research, questioning, and observation.
Find more resources in Covid Essential Links.
Excerpts from A Midwestern Doctor’s Conclusion
… a profound loss of trust has occurred in medicine I never expected to see in my lifetime—surveys show in just a few years, trust in doctors and hospitals has declined from 71.5% to 40.1%, along with a significant loss of trust in the pharmaceutical industry, government health authorities and support for childhood vaccinations (e.g., almost half of the population no longer fully trusts the CDC vaccine schedule now).
As such, the industry appears to be scrambling to get as many of these lucrative products to market as they can (with minimal regards for their toxicity) while the goldmine is still there and in parallel, since the system has no way to address the increasing disability emerging in our society, we are now seeing a (previously unimaginable) widespread push beginning for medically assisted dying (which is particularly tragic as many of these “incurable cases” could easily be addressed with affordable solutions like DMSO).
Widespread belief in vaccines as safe and effective — sustained by propaganda — historically has overridden evidence of risks. However, issues with COVID-19 shots finally put a spotlight on the propaganda, eroding public trust in medicine, doctors, hospitals, and authorities.
Surveys show sharp declines in confidence and childhood vaccine support. AMD anticipates further shifts toward acknowledging harms, with some political momentum for recognition and compensation, hoping wider publicity will encourage injured legislators to break the silence and take action.
RSV Vaccine for Pregnant Women — Houston, We Have a Problem!
As ICAN Warned, RSV Vaccine for Pregnant Women May Pose Risks. By ICAN Legal Update (07/15/26)
Three years ago ICAN raised concerns about Pfizer’s Abrysvo RSV vaccine for pregnant women asking Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) and FDA to delay approval until clinical trial safety signals were investigated further. ICAN’s concerns were ignored and the vaccine was approved anyway. Now, a new Pfizer-sponsored study indicates many of the problems ICAN warned about.
ICAN’s May 2023 Letter to FDA Committee: Urged VRBPAC to delay Abrysvo approval until clinical trial safety signals were investigated further. The committee ignored the warning and the FDA approved the vaccine shortly after.
Safety Concerns from Clinical Trials: ICAN highlighted serious adverse events in mothers including prolonged labor, premature delivery, postpartum hemorrhage, arrested labor, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and fetal distress.
April 2026 Post-Marketing Study Findings: Pfizer-sponsored study found safety signals for pregnancy-associated hypertensive disorders (including gestational hypertension), premature rupture of membranes (PROM), and preterm PROM after Abrysvo vaccination. Authors stated further epidemiological studies are needed to refine risk estimates. Hmmm, isn’t that pretty much what ICAN worried about in May 2023?
ICAN will continue raising alarms about vaccines for pregnancy and infancy and demand proper safety studies. Authorities must require robust safety data before approving vaccines for pregnant women and unborn children.
Related
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I read the first part (animals and nature), skip the Idaho part, then check the other items - most of them I already read in their own site as I subscribe to all of these. This year though, I am going to give up a few since I got way too many. You know the problem, according to the title of your stack!
I scroll through what you've written but usually can't go into depth of anything you've linked to.
Regarding Unbekoming, I have been getting Bitdefender red flags from this Substack, to the point in which I've unsubscribed. It doesn't matter if I go on the email link or open it within Substack. I trust Bitdefender that there's something going on with this author's posts. I read somewhere that some people are thinking that Unbekoming is AI-generated. IDK. But I won't risk my computer getting corrupted to subscribe or read it.