Sen. Blumenthal's Attacks on me are Illegal

Intimidation of a FACA committee member is illegal

So early this morning, I got a call from a friend, alerting me that Senator Richard Blumenthal went on the Morning Joe show on MSNBC and is calling for my removal from the ACIP board.

Have a listen to his tirade (or read the transcript below the video):

Moderator:

So Senator, before you go briefly on another subject, you've been calling for the dismissal of an appointee. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made an appointee to the advisory committee on immunization practices, and you've highlighted what you call some very disturbing rhetoric. Tell us about it:

Senator Richard Blumenthal:

Well, we've written to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -I have - demanding that he fire Robert Malone, who is a newly appointed member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. He is an extreme right-wing MAGA person. You'll remember that Robert Kennedy, Secretary, fired everyone, all 17 members of the ACIP, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

After the shooting at the CDC, Robert Malone put out posts that were absolutely abhorrent about gun violence, and I think they alone justify his firing. But he's also a strong ideological right-winger on vaccines, and I think in every way reflects what should not be on that advisory committee.

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The shooting at the CDC was horrific. I was shocked and felt horrible for the people who are working at the CDC. An hour before the shooting, I was on a zoom call with CDC employees. So, I was initially very worried for my colleagues, as the details hadn’t come in yet.

Over the last four years of my life, I have had death threats, menacing calls and emails, as well as one event where, a couple of years back, somehow, both front windows in the office building near the street on our farm had what looked like rocks or even pellet gun bullets put into them. I get what it feels like to be threatened.

My heart goes out to everyone who was there that day at the CDC and will have to deal with the aftereffects for who knows how long. It is terribly sad that a young police officer, in his prime - with a young family, lost his life.

That said, I was left scratching my head at Senator Blumenthal’s statement that “After the shooting at the CDC,” that I “put out posts that were absolutely abhorrent about gun violence.”

Well, I didn't make any such posts. Not here, not on Twitter, not on anywhere.

Now, earlier on Friday - before the shooting, I did post the memes for the Friday Funnies (about 20 in all, that morning) on Substack. As you all know, I collect memes, cartoons and funny video during the week - and put them out in one great big post. Some are controversial, some aren’t. It turns out there was one biting meme about Senator Blumenthal. The context of the meme was that Senator Blumenthal was accusing Jeanine Pirro of spreading damaging and offensive conspiracy theories, with the onlookers in the meme are asking whether “she lied” about serving in Vietnam.

This is what the Senator wrote about Jeanine Pirro - only a week before his attacks on me:

Sen. Blumenthal slandered US Attorney Pirro while he was in the Senate, just the week before attacking me. Anyone see a pattern here?

For reference, according to GROK and just about any news source out there- Senator Blumenthal lied many times throughout his career about serving in Vietnam. This is a true story:

Could it be that it was the meme exposing Senator Blumenthal as lying about serving in Vietnam that made him decide to attack me?

So, in that same exact set of memes that I posted last Friday morning, which had the one exposing Senator Blumenthal’s lies about Vietnam, there was also this meme:

Evidently, this one meme, posted in a set of 20 other memes, which included the one about the Senator’s lies was my pre-crime. But the content of this meme had nothing whatsoever to do with the CDC.

This, folks, is my big pre-crime. This is, according to Blumenthal, my “absolutely abhorrent” post about gun violence. This meme was posted in a Substack on Friday morning, posted well before the shooting at the CDC.

Has anyone watch any movies lately? Did you find one that didn’t have an extremely violent scene? Evidently, it is ok for almost all of our films to show crime, murder, violence, and mayhem. It is even ok for children to watch such films. But if a fragile flower sees the mere image of a gun in a meme, that is a major thought-crime in the woke-mind of Senator Blumenthal.

My big crime after the shooting, according to Sen. Blumenthal, can be found in this quote that is in a letter sent to Secretary Kennedy demanding that I be removed from the ACIP.

In the Sunday Strip, one of the 20 memes that I posted was the following meme, which the Senator asserts is an “ABSOLUTELY ABHORRENT” POST ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE.” Are you ready to see this horrific post:

Of course, my other big crime, according to the Senator, is that I am an “extreme right-wing MAGA person” and a “strong ideological right-winger on vaccines.” Which, according to Blumenthal’s logic, makes me unfit to serve on the ACIP. Then he stated that he had written to Senator Kennedy demanding that I be removed from the ACIP immediately.

THIS IS MORE WOKE CENSORSHIP TACTICS

Let me be very clear, I post many, many different memes because I want people to think deeper. Sometimes I post offensive stuff - because it will have some core element of truth that people need to think about. Sometimes I post things I don’t agree with - if it makes me think, if it makes me change my mind just a little bit, maybe it will have the same reaction for someone else. Humor is not to be censored. Humor opens our minds to new ideas, which is why so many government leaders fear it.

When as a society, did it become so wrong to explore the idea space through humor? When woke censorship took over our media, and advocacy journalism became the norm.

Hasn’t humor always been the place where controversial ideas are explored? With AI taking over the information domain space, humor and comic relief may be one of the last strongholds of the human mind. But the powers that be - want to shut down anything in media that isn’t PC or scientifically neutral or fact-checked by government sources. The thought police are everywhere. They particularly want to shut down people like me, who aren’t afraid to speak out. The “right-wingers”, the contrarians, and the deep thinkers are all targeted.

A copy of the Senator’s letter sent to Secretary Kennedy is linked below.

He alleges that I have to be fired immediately because of the above memes I posted on social media. Those are the “absolutely abhorrent posts about gun violence” that he accuses me of reposting.

Senator Blumenthal’s letter is nothing short of intimidation. It was released to the media - to harass me. It is meant to scare the entire committee into compliance. He is attempting to frighten the committee so that they won’t make controversial decisions. To play nice with the government officials.

Of course, Senator Blumenthal knows that Sec. Kennedy isn’t going to dismiss me. So why is he doing this? Writing such an offensive letter, releasing this letter to the media, and then going on a tirade on legacy media about how I am unfit. Truth be told, this is outlandish behavior and unbecoming of a Senator. A behavior that he uses repeatedly.

I believe that Senator Blumenthal is trying to intimidate me and the entire committee into submission and compliance ahead of the next ACIP committee meeting.

I recently dedicated a significant amount of time to training for my role on the ACIP committee. So, I got to learn all of the Federal regulations that guide the ACIP, which is considered a FACA committee. From what I learned, this looks a whole lot like intimidation on the part of Senator Blumenthal.

I have received two text messages now expressing concerns about my saying ANYTHING controversial in public. They want to silence me. This is another censorship tactic, and it is already working on the other members, who are fearful that the committee might not look professional.

But don’t take my word for it. So rather than try to distill pages and pages of Federal regulations for you all, I asked GROK: "Is it legal for a congressperson to try to intimidate a FACA committee member?”

According to GROK:

I can’t wait to see how legacy media turns Senator Blemunthal’s attacks on me into a wrap-up smear. It is defamation heaped upon defamation.

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In the meantime, I have also been told that the Senator has also stated publicly that I am unqualified and have no experience relevant to the committee. This morning, I sent my CV to Sen. Blumenthal’s office for them to share with the Senator.

Given that mainstream media has spent the last four months defaming me, writing and saying that I lack experience in immunology, virology, and vaccinology, I believe it is relevant to share my CV here. Because something tells me more than one person from mainstream media might be reading this:

In the meantime, I call for there to be an official investigation into Senator Blumenthal’s intimidation tactics against a FACA committee member and the committee itself

This behavior is illegal and must end.

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