By Danzil Monk Sr.
The article title is:
“How a New York billionaire-funded anti-vax group is contributing to the vaccine hesitancy that's crippling the US recovery” published on August 24, 2021.
If you have not watched the video interview that Tom Porter did with Del Bigtree, you must do so if you are going to read my review here. That is the only way you will have context and understand what I am reporting here.
In that interview you will notice that Tom Porter was kind and professional with Del, and he gave the impression that he was interested in getting at the truth. Through out the interview his demeaner was one of and interest in being informed, fair and balanced in his preparation and publishing of his article.
But as you will see here from the article that Tom Porter published, it was anything but all true, fair and balanced.
The very title of the article makes it clear that this is a hit piece on not only Del Bigtree and ICAN, but on one of his alleged financial backers or supporters.
The interview was published on The High Wire on August 17, 2021 and Tom’s article appeared on the Insider website on August 24, 2021.
It starts off with these three bold letter captions:
- The Informed Consent Action Network is one of the most influential anti-vax groups in the world.
- The group has brokered ties with far-right Trump supporters in recent months.
- It's bankrolled by the New York philanthropist and billionaire Bernard Selz.
Again, you can see from these captions that this is not going to be a fair report. And you should know that the reasons for these captions and the even bolder, bigger title caption, is due to the fact that reporters know that most people do not read entire articles, they get their information by glancing the headlines, and bold captions. And even if they do read most of the article, what they remember most are the big captions. So it is a tactic to put thoughts in the minds of the readers.
Often the captions are what is known as virtual signals, they tell their base what they are trying to get out to the public.
What is strange about the first caption, is that later in the article, Tom Porter clearly contradicts it by his use of the words “most influential” to describe Del's group, which says the opposite of the caption, there he uses the word "obscure". But this is only evidence that such reporters are not interested in being consistent, but only in getting the message of "anti-vaxxers" must be rejected out.
The second caption is their typical regurgitation of "TRUMP IS THE ENEMY AND ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS HIM" message. Even though he is no longer president, they must keep that mantra going, because in their minds it seems, it keeps the publics focus on blaming Trump for everything that goes wrong. So that if they cannot get people to believe that Trump is the blame for everything, at lease he can be blamed for most things. Particularly, things that are actually not his fault.
And since they have used so much of their resources and money to falsely make Trump the Boogie Man, and everyone who supports him, evil, they continue to use that successful stigma to plaster on anyone who is conservative and does not agree with them. Note how many times Trump’s name appears in his article.
The third caption is an effort to target Del’s financial supporters. It is a virtual signal for the left to go after Del’s financial backers and hit him in his money. It is sick, but that is how the left roles.
The article continues:
As part of his bid to encourage Fox News viewers to question the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, Tucker Carlson in June praised the work of an obscure campaign group named the Informed Action Consent Network, or ICAN.
This is a clear contradiction from the title and the first mini caption. Both of which make it clear that Del and his ICAN are a significant courter force to the Pro-vaccine agenda. Yet here Tom says they are “obscure”.
The article continues:
Carlson described ICAN as "a group that advocates for transparency on vaccines," citing emails it had obtained to attack White House medical chief Dr. Anthony Fauci, a popular hate figure for the far right.
Note the words “a popular hate figure for the right”. That is a signal of support for Dr. Anthony Fauci. You see, he seems to want you to think that it is only the “right” who hates lying Dr. Anthony Fauci. As far as Tom is concerned, Fauci can do no wrong, if the “right” hates him, the "left" must love him. But that is not the case, as many on the "left" have openly expressed concerns about Fauci’s comments and his efforts to cover up his involvement in the wuhan Covid virus scandal. Also, Fauci’s constant flipflopping has cost him the trust of many, not just those on the “right”.
The article continues:
ICAN is seen by many as a more extreme — and dangerous — organization that Carlson's description let on.
So he claims that Carlson, a conservative, is being dishonest about the danger of Del and the ICAN because they are, “seen by many”, as extreme and dangerous? But many others, including me, see them as an important source of reliable information. But to Tom that is irrelevant because that is not the message he wants to promote. You should pay careful attention to just how much evidence Tom provides here of that "Danger" and "extreme" coming from Del,(None).
The article continues:
It was one of the figures on the so-called "disinformation dozen" list cited by President Joe Biden's administration as the main sources for anti-vaccination disinformation online, which Biden has called on Big Tech to combat.
Now this is important, because he will not define what “disinformation” is, or how what Del is reporting is "disinformation”. Nor will he as a reporter bother to evaluate the Biden Administration’s claims about the "dozen" to see if they are credible. Because none of that is important to him.
The article continues:
ICAN is particularly notable, experts say, because it has actively courted conservatives and supporters of former President Donald Trump, whom multiple studies have shown to be the most reluctant to trust the shot.
In this paragraph Tom claims that it is Trump supporters who are the most reluctant to trust the shot. But this false claim flies in the face of the media’s admission that highly intelligent people are among the most shot resistant.
This US News report says the uneducated “decreased” in hesitancy while the most hesitant were the most educated.
“In terms of education levels, people with a high school education or less had the largest decrease in vaccine hesitancy during the study period, while hesitancy held constant among those with a PhD, which was the most hesitant group by May.”
The UNHEARD the post, reported that it is the most educated who will resist the jab.
“What’s more, the paper found that in the first five months of 2021, the largest decrease in hesitancy was among the least educated — those with a high school education or less. Meanwhile, hesitancy held constant in the most educated group; by May, those with Ph.Ds were the most hesitant group.
So not only are the most educated people most skeptical of taking the Covid vaccine, they are also the least likely the change their minds about it…”
But we also know that you can get any result that you want just by how you decide to do your research. As this report shows that educated people are most likely to take and trust the Covid “vaccine”. But it is a university study, and universities are funded by the government and generally will not buck against the governments Covid agenda.
It is interesting that Tom Porter did not think that any of this was important to mention, he only presented one side. Why, because the goal is to make Trump and his supporters seem like the problem, even though he is not the current President.
The article continues:
Since being founded three years ago, the group has waged a media, legal, and online campaign to hammer home the theory that the damage caused by vaccines is being systematically suppressed.
Here Tom repeats the lie that vaccine dangers and the suppressing of that fact is just a “theory”. He has clearly not bothered to research this before he published, because he is not interested in facts, just their pro-Covid “vaccine” narrative.
The dangers of Covid “vaccines” have been well documented and reported by Del Bigtree and others. Which is the real reason they are being targeted as disinformation spreaders. That's how corrupt media, big pharma and government silences their opposition.
Daystar, a Christian ministry has a whole video page dedicated to exposing the dangers of vaccines and the corruption in the medical industry and government. And the systematic suppression of the dangers of the Covid “vaccines”, and all the other medical malpractice being promoted by the Pro-Covid “vaccine” side, has also been well documented. Just turn on just about any news program, and you will be plastered with claims that anti-Covid "vaxx" is evils, and constantly assured that the Covid “Vaccines” are safe and effective. In fact, they are so sure of it that they have to bribe people by offering money, free sports event tickets, free food, free trips, and yes, even free lap dances for desperate men.
The article continues:
The group is based in Texas, a hub for libertarian right-wing causes, and the campaign is — per a Washington Post investigation — largely bankrolled by the New York financier Bernard Selz and his wife, Lisa.
This is a signal from Tom to his leftist activists to go after the people who are providing financial support to Del and ICAN. As I said, Tom Porter no doubt got instructions by his paper to go after Del and his financial backers. Since he clearly is not trying to provide an honest report, a hit piece is the only other purpose for this article. That seems clear, especially after listening to the interview he did with Del. Also note that Tom injects that ICAN is based in a hub of “right-wing causes”. He never makes such references when he mentions people or institutions that are on the "left". Why?
The article continues with another bold caption claiming vaccine hesitancy is harming thousands:
Vaccine hesitancy is killing thousands, and impacting US economic recovery
This is a bold face lie (pun intended), since it has been well reported that the Covid “Vaccine” does not prevent or protect from Covid, how can people that are not vaccinated be blamed for those who die of covid? People who have been “vaccinated” are still dying of Covid, and spreading Covid. Additionally, non-vaccination can’t possibly be the blame for the economic disaster that exists, since it was bad political decisions to foolishly and unnecessarily shut down our cities that caused the problem. But Tom will not address any of this because he is not interested in honest reporting, only in blaming the unvaccinated for all the Covid problems and pushing the pro-Covid “vaccine” agenda.
Notice his next paragraph:
The Delta coronavirus variant continues to spread in the US, causing serious illness almost exclusively in those who have not accepted a vaccine. The continuing spread of the disease also imperils US economic recovery.
With little effort, anyone can do their own research and find that people who have been “vaccinated” are mostly those who are getting sick and dying of Covid. But Tom does not even mention that there are countering reports that show conclusively that people who have been vaccinated are dying at high rates, and many are experiencing serious sickness. Why? Nor is he interested in the fact that it has been established that the Delta variant is not as dangerous as the previous versions. But like those seeking to use Covid to scare the public into taking the Covid “vaccines”, they are claiming that every variant including the Delta, are extremely dangerous. But this is only true for people who are unhealthy or sickly. But those who trusts them are not concerned about their dishonesty.
The article continues by Quoting Imran Ahmed:
Imran Ahmed is the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the UK-based charity that compiled the "disinformation dozen" list cited by the Biden administration. He told Insider that ICAN and its CEO, Del Bigtree, were among the top anti-vaccination influencers on the list.
Notice that Tom did not tell us if Imran was a leftist or if the Center for Countering digital Hate was a hub of leftists causes. Why? But he saw the need to refer ICAN’s location as the hub of Libertarian Right-Wing causes. You see, his goal is not to openly tell you that he and his leftist friends are pursuing their own agenda, which is to make conservatives look like the enemy and the problem with our society, so that you will not bother to focus to closely on what the leftist are doing.
He continues the quote of Imran Ahmed:
"The disinformation dozen aren't just 12 individuals, but they essentially act ... as marketing tools of the overall anti-vax credo," he said.
As if being Anti-bad vax is a bad thing. You see, what they always fail to make clear is that what they call “anti-vaxxers” are really not all anti-vaxxers, but many, like Del and myself, are not anti-vaxxers, but “anti-bad vaxxers”. We are people who object to the unethical use of vaccines or experimental shots that are called vaccines on the population that are known to harm and even kill people. But people like Tom and those he works for, don’t really care about those harmed it seems, they seem to be more concerned about pleasing those who financially profit off of vaccine sales.
The article continues with another mini-bold caption after which Tom continues to quote Ahmed:
A targeted audience
Different anti-vaxxers target different segments of the population, Ahmed said, citing specific communities like yoga-and-wellness followers. ICAN, meanwhile, has sought to build these ties by emphasizing a hostility to liberal and scientific "elites" shared by anti-vaxxers and Trump fans, he said.
I want you to notice why Tom is using this quote from Ahmed, it is a claim that ICAN is hostile towards, liberals (leftist) and scientific “elites” just as other ant-vaxxers and Trump fans.
In other words, Del Bigtree and his organization are anti-Science and anti-liberals, so if you are a scientist or a liberal, you should not trust him.
The problem is that you will be hard pressed to find Del saying anything hostile about or to the general scientific elite, or liberals, (many of whom support Del), but you will find him objecting to the dishonest scientists who push the Covid –“vaccine” agenda. And he uses honest Scientific elites to do it.
He continues with the Ahmed Quote:
Bigtree, in particular, had "made it their focus to target people with Republican values or who are Trump adherents," Ahmed said. In fact, the ICAN CEO had appeared at an event before the January 6 "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, DC, that preceded the attack on the US Capitol.
You have to hand it to this guy, note how he selects quotes from Ahmed that gives several of the talking points of the "left". Trump is the problem, the January 6 stop the steal rally in DC, and the attack on the US Capital, all in one sentence. None of which has anything to do with the topic of the article. But it is stuck into the article to connect Del to vilified Trump. And yet nothing is said about the way in which the "left" has demonized anyone who dared to say that the election was stolen or that the riot at the Capital was not Trumps fault, or carried out by only Trump supporters, in spite of the mounting evidence that is being uncovered that shows that there may well have been massive voter fraud, and that the January 6th riot at the Capital was not by crazy Trump supporters only, but was carefully orchestrated by Antifa, and other anti-America groups. Nor will anything be said about the revelation that Trump hating FBI agents were involved with the “attack” on the US Capital.
What is stated by Tom Porter, is all that is needed, since so much disinformation about the Election voter fraud, (claiming there was none), and the Attack on the US Capital, (claiming it was Trump's fault and by only Trump supporters), has been so thoroughly saturated throughout the "left" media, and even by some deceived conservatives.
To his credit, Tom later in this article admits that Del Bigtree denied targeting Trump supporters or any particular group, but sought to get the message out to anyone who would listen.
He continues:
Also present were anti-vaxxers Charles and Ty Bollinger, who have featured on Bigtree's influential podcast "The Highwire," which was recently removed by YouTube for violating anti-disinformation policies. Another major anti-vax activist and "Highwire" guest, Joseph Mercola, has appeared on Steve Bannon's podcast, further illustrating how the movements have cross-fertilized.
This quote seeks simply to identify others who have clout that are pushing the same message as Del. Its another signal to leftists to target them also. And again, the “anti-vaxxers” label is intentionally being used to misinform his readers about those who seek to tell the truth about Covid and the Covid injections. And to say that Youtube removed material for "violating anti-disinformation policies", that is a honor, since Youtube has been proven to be a tool of the "left", and regularly targets conservative content. And Yourube has become the gate keepers for medical institutions, big pharma and those in the government who are pushing the covid shots as the only solution for Covid.
He continues:
Last October, Bigtree appeared at AMP Fest, hosted at Trump's Doral resort in Florida, alongside influencers from the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy-theory movement.
Again, note that none of this is relevant to the article other than to connect Del to the hated Trump, so as to discredit him by association. They can’t refute Del’s arguments or his medical message, so they just connect him with Trump, whom they have already sufficiently made the devil to many on the "left", and even some on the "right" as well.
And it continues in the next statement:
Tara Smith, a professor of epidemiology at Kent State University, told Insider that Bigtree had long hosted guests who backed Trump's attempts to downplay the pandemic or undermine public-health officials. "His bottom line pushes distrust of the government and experts, which fits in well with the Trump playbook," she said.
Notice how Trump keeps coming up in the article? This is seven times, and there will be more. This is no accident; it is a tactic. They have put so much time and resources into making him the boogie man, that even though he is out of office they have to use him at every opportunity to discredit others who are on the "right". They can’t do it so easily by actually refuting their arguments, that is to difficult, so they will discredit them by connecting them to Trump. Then accuse them of not trusting the experts. It does not matter that Del told Tom in the interview that he relies on the experts. And also notice that Tom does not tell us if professor Tara Smith was a leftist.
The accusation that Trump Downplayed the pandemic, and undermined public health officials ignores the constant attacks the "left" leveled against him throughout the “pandemic”, a part of which was to twist what he said and make everything he did seem crazy as an effort to destroy his presidency.
Many of Trump’s actual errors were due to the leftist Democratic interference. The atrocities committed against Trump by the "left" is public record. And people who believe everything that the media has said about Trump should be ashamed, as this article by John Perazzo indicates.
Most readers and viewers who digest leftists reporting, don’t realize how they are being trained to think anti-conservative by the manner in which the "left" reports their news.
He continues with his Trump guilt by association:
Ana Santos Rutschman, Assistant Professor of Law at Saint Louis University, said ICAN and Bigtree were "taking advantage of the way anti-vaccine messages resonate with many Trump supporters and deliberately propagating vaccine disinformation with those supporters in mind."
Again, Ana Santos Rutschman is not identified as a leftist. And she is allowed to accuse Del of propagating vaccine disinformation without any evidence and without Del being allowed to respond.
She continued:
As well as forming ties with the right, ICAN has spearheaded legal challenges to vaccine mandates in schools and other organizations across the US.
Her comments indicate she is a leftist, and she comments on his legal challenges to Covid jab mandates as if that is a bad thing. Can’t she nor Tom understand the danger of mandating Covid jabs? Are they that blind that they cannot see where such efforts to mandate the taking of medicine leads? Suddenly, we no longer have a right to decide what is done to our bodies when it comes to the Covid jabs. The fact that she does not commend this effort to stop a human rights violations is evidence of her complacency and lack of patriotism. The fact that the Covid virus can be treated successfully with other well known, tried and proven medicines that have been blacklisted by the Covid "vaccine" profiteers, makes their mandates even more criminal.
The article continues:
Bigtree defended his position in a telephone interview with Insider. "We simply are a consumer-advocacy group that seeks to make sure that people are getting the safest products they can. There is a protocol to how we approve pharmaceutical drugs, and we believe that vaccines should adhere to those same protocols and principles," he said. He said public-health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were wrong to advocate Americans to get the shot: "I believe it's reckless. I believe it's dangerous and I think it is unnecessarily putting people in unknown risk situations."
Tom Porter selectively left out the comments that Del made about why the Covid “vaccines” were dangerous, namely because it takes years for a vaccine to be properly tested, it takes years, because that’s how long it takes to monitor long term effects. But to include this would make people who read it to start thinking critically about the dangerous rush job the Pro-Covid vaxxers had done. Then President Trump, foolishly allowed the Leftist Democrats and some stupid socalled conservatives, to pressure him into carelessly trusting greedy pharmaceutical profiteers and unethical pharmaceutical connected agents like HHS Secretary Alex Azar for a quick fix to the Covid crisis. And they saw to it that a rushed vaccine solution took precedent over all other possible solutions. Trump's foolish agreement to pour billions into that vaccine production makes him the main culprit in the crime. Because without the money it never would have happened. As a Trump supporter, I refuse to lie about his blame. Though he certainly is not alone, he does share the blame. Yes, he thought he was doing the right thing, but he was wrong. And they were manufacturing the Covid "vaccines" before anyone had it, even in Emergency Use Authorization".
The Trump administration's appointment of scientist Moncef Slaoui as Chief adviser, rather than someone with medical morals was a horrible error.
The bottom line is that so much money was foolishly and totally unnecessarily poured into Vaccine development and distribution, that the government refused to not get its money's worth. They now must use them and the public is the guinea pig.
So rather than say anything that would make people think for themselves, he does what they usually do. Just claim that the Covid “vaccines” are safe, and quote the CDC and FDA, both of which are known to lie to the public, and that can’t be trusted.
He continues:
Claims that the vaccines have not been properly tested for safety have been squarely rejected by most public-health professionals and infectious-disease experts. The shots have been found in clinical and real-world trials to be safe and effective.
Note his source of authority:
The CDC says on its website that the US COVID-19 vaccines "have undergone and will continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in US history." The Food and Drug Administration fully approved Pfizer's vaccine on Monday, saying "the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality."
At the beginning of the interview, Del explained to Tom why he felt that the Covid “vaccines” were not safe, since vaccine trials must be done over a period of years in order to be able to determine if there are any long-term effect, or harmful effects after a long period, that can’t be determined over a short period. This makes this statement by Tom dishonest, since he does not ever mention Del’s comment on this. Additionally, Del has reported on the dishonesty and lack of credibility of the CDC and FDA. And public-health professionals and infectious-disease experts are on the payroll of the government or some institution that also is, so their agreement with the governments claims about the safety of the Covid "vaccines" is hardly a surprise.
To Tom’s limited credit, he does us this Quote from Del:
Bigtree denied allegations that he had sought to broker ties specifically with Trump supporters, saying he would not "waste time" on supporters of " a man who is no longer president." He also said he has "never quoted or given any attention to the myth of Q," referring to the QAnon conspiracy-theory movement. On his decision to speak at the event preceding the January 6 rally, Bigtree said: "Wherever there's a large audience that will hear the information that we have to share, then I will go there."
But Tom failed to mention that Del also said he was willing to even speak at the Democratic convention if they invited him to. But to say that would not help the narrative here, which is the Del is a rightwinger and he only works for the right.
I will conclude by commenting on the next two statements:
He also said that while he personally doesn't have any medical qualifications, his work as a producer covering science on TV programs like the "Dr. Phil" show qualified him for his role at ICAN.
If you watched the interview, you know that is not quite what Del said.
The next comment is a great example exposing Tom’s dishonesty:
He said he regularly consulted with medical experts about scientific research on vaccines, but declined to share a list of the experts when asked by Insider.
If you have watched the interview, you know that this is a boldface lie. Not only did Del offer to provide Tom with a list of experts, but he also named several of them during the interview. So you have to ask yourself, why would Tom tell such a lie, when he knows that it can easily be checked? Because Tom like most reporters, has no respect for his readers. He assumes that we are so stupid that we will just take his word for it.
The last section titled "Selz money", is nothing more than a hit piece on Selz and a signal to leftists to go after his money. I will say that you should again notice how often Trump’s name is mentioned, five more times. Proving my point about their agenda to capitalize on all of the hard work they put into making Trump a boogie man. That makes it something like fourteen times Trump’s name is mentioned in a article that is not about him.
It is also important for me to note that Imran Ahmed is again used as a source to attack Selz.
And he is the same source that CNN used to attack another Champion of medical Truth Dr. Joseph Mercola. Dr. Mercola does a fine job defending himself on his site but the article may not remain there long so, if you need a copy, just contact me, it is well worth having, since Dr. Mercola documents what CNN failed to reveal to their audience, he shares the email that he sent to CNN responding to their questions and proving that CNN did not really want his answers but only to make their viewers think he was a quack. My only disappointment about the CNN hit is that Dr. Mercola refused to talk to the CNN lady that invaded his home area. I think he should have used that opportunity to tell her what he thought of CNN and why he would not talk to her about anything on camera, because they would only edit it and spin it to discredit him, just as they did anyway. In the CNN video, aside from acknowledging it was a best seller, they only trash his book, but never refuted it.
This is Del’s response to the Insider Report on Him.
This is the Business Insider article by Tom Porter.
I hope this review helps you to understand why it is so important to use great caution when watching the news, and to scrutinize what your are being told with careful research of your own. If you are a Christian, you should know that God forbids lying and He holds us all accountable for untruths and lies we tell or help to spread.
Colossians 3:9
"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;"
1 Timothy 2:7
"Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;"
1 John 2:21
"I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth."
Revelation 22:15
"For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and makes a lie."
With that truth in mind, I encourage you to please contact me if you fine anything in this article, or anything that I have written that is untrue or inaccurate. I would greatly appreciate the correction.