DUMB MOVE: Oregon extends policy allowing high school students to graduate without having to prove proficiency in English and Math – NaturalNews.com

DUMB MOVE: Oregon extends policy allowing high school students to graduate without having to prove proficiency in English and Math

The Oregon Department of Education‘s main agency that handles K-12 schooling, the State Board of Education, has extended the elimination of proficiency test requirements for high school graduation by an additional five years.

The policy, initially introduced in 2021 as a temporary measure due to the pandemic, allows students to graduate without meeting proficiency standards in subjects such as Math and English. The board argues that proficiency tests are unfair to students of color, as students from minority backgrounds tend to struggle to meet proficiency standards.

According to a report presented to the Oregon State Senate Committee on Education in September 2022, the Education Department has accused schools in the state of predominantly relying on standardized tests, known as SBAC, to gauge student proficiency in basic skills. The department also claims to have received feedback from school districts and educators regarding how proficiency tests have become burdensome and were being misapplied.

However, State Sen. Michael Dembrow, who was on the State Board of Education when the requirement was established, explained the intention of the decade-old proficiency test.

“Having this kind of assessment was not really to show whether or not students could read or write, but rather could apply what they were learning to the real world and their scores on the SBAC are really not indicative of that,” he said.

The Education Department had originally envisioned that its suspension of proficiency test requirements would allow educators to put students through individual tests, such as completing projects, writing essays or engaging in other experiences and tasks to demonstrate their ability to use essential skills such as critical and analytical thinking, management and teamwork outside of the classroom.

Brighteon.TV

Suspension of proficiency tests in Oregon schools sparks controversy

In an opinion article written by Jonathan Turley for his blog, he said that “rather than give these students the level of education needed to excel in the modern workplace, schools will now process them out with degrees and call it social progress.” This approach, he argued, will only lead to students being unprepared for the demands of an increasingly competitive job market.

“If we truly care for these students, we cannot rig the system to just kick them down the road toward failure. It is like declaring patients healthy by just looking at them and sending them on their way. We have the ability to measure proficiency, and we have the moral obligation to face our own failures in helping these kids achieve it,” Turley wrote. (Related: Carey Woodruff: Deceptive curriculum in education system taking the youth down the wrong path – Brighteon.TV.)

Republican lawmakers also argue that despite the campaign for equity, it is still crucial for students to have the basics.

New Direction, a nonprofit organization founded by former Republican legislator and gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan, mobilized a public comment campaign against the suspension and generated 11,000 emails sent to the board.

“It’s disappointing that these unelected bureaucrats decided to ignore public comment and continue down a path that neglects their responsibility to help students meet high standards,” Drazan said.

State Rep. Tracy Cramer, a member of the Oregon House Education Committee, expressed frustration over the board’s decision and the absence of a public comment period before the vote.

“I think the bigger issue here is that the board has continued to remove standards and has not come up with a game plan,” she said. “I think that’s why parents and Oregonians are kind of frustrated. Just because graduation rates are improving, it doesn’t mean proficiency is.”

Learn the latest news about America’s education system at EducationSystem.news.

Watch this clip from Fox News as “Life, Liberty and Levin” host Mark Levin discusses what is actually wrong with the American education system.

This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

LOCKDOWN EFFECTS: Students struggle to recover academic proficiency post-pandemic, particularly in READING and MATH.

IDIOCRACY BY DESIGN: Not a single student out of 53 Illinois high schools can do math at their own grade level.

Public schools are collapsing fast as teacher says they are now indoctrination centers, not places of education.

Education Department report shows school shutdowns caused HISTORIC learning losses for students nationwide.

California school districts “phase out” D and F grades in bizarre effort to claim public school pandemic-era students aren’t FAILING.

Sources include: 

JonathanTurley.org

OregonCapitalChronicle.com

Brighteon.com

Turkey’s Erdogan threatens WAR against Israel for their relentless BOMBING of Gaza Strip – NaturalNews.com

Turkey’s Erdogan threatens WAR against Israel for their relentless BOMBING of Gaza Strip

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened war against Israel over its relentless attacks, including aerial bombings, on the Gaza Strip.

The Turkish leader made the threat during a speech delivered at a pro-Palestine rally on the evening of Oct. 28 in the city of Istanbul. He accused Israel of being responsible for war crimes and lauded Hamas as “freedom fighters.” The group was behind the Oct. 7 attacks at a music festival in Israel, which prompted a swift military response from Jerusalem.

In the same speech, Erdogan claimed that Israel “has been openly committing war crimes for 22 days” and claimed that the Jewish country has espoused “a similar mentality” to that of Nazi Germany during World War II.

“In the past, [the Nazis] were massacring the Jewish people in the gas chambers and they were indeed wiping out regions with bombs. A similar mentality is being shown in Gaza today.”

“From now on, we will continue on our path with the motto that we may suddenly knock on your door one night,” the Turkish president continued, insinuating that members of the Turkish Armed Forces could come to Israel unannounced. This triggered an ecstatic reception from the crowd, which responded by chanting “Turkish military to Gaza.”

Erdogan concluded his speech by telling the crowd that Ankara was preparing to “tell the world that Israel is a war criminal.” The Turkish leader’s actions did not sit well with Israeli officials, who quickly responded by withdrawing diplomatic staffers from the country.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen noted that the remarks from Erdogan had led him to reexamine ties between Jerusalem and Ankara. “Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a re-evaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey,” he said in a statement.

Brighteon.TV

Erdogan earlier offered to mediate Israel, Hamas talks

Erdogan’s Oct. 28 remarks are a complete 180 from his initial statements that centered on peace. According to an Oct. 11 piece by the Business Standard, the Turkish leader has even offered to mediate in talks between Hamas and Israel.

“I would like to state that Turkey is ready for any kind of mediation, including prisoner exchanges, if the parties request it,” he said. “We continue to step up our diplomatic contacts, which we have been maintaining for a while and have intensified even more.”

Erdogan also stressed that the war is subject to a moral and ethical code that both warring sides “are obliged to comply with.” Both sides were urged to follow peace, with Israel told to stop bombing Palestinian territories and Palestinian forces told to stop the harassment of civilian settlements in Israel. These actions, he said, “will also open the door to peace.”

“The destruction of Gaza by air and ground attacks; the bombing of mosques; and the deaths of innocent children, women, elderly and civilians are never acceptable. We have always said and continue to say that we disapprove of letting a single innocent person get harmed, whether in Israel or Palestine’s lands. Our position has not changed.” (Related: Turkey’s Erdogan warns of “spiral of violence” in phone call with Israel’s Herzog.)

At the time, Erdogan stressed that Ankara is making necessary preparations for humanitarian aid that Gaza may require ahead of an impending invasion by Israeli forces. This invasion has been delayed following international pressure. But it appears that Jerusalem turned a deaf ear to Erdogan’s call for peace between the two sides, prompting the Turkish leader to threaten war.

Head over to WWIII.news for more stories about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Watch this footage of the Oct. 28 pro-Palestine rally in the Turkish city of Istanbul, where Erdogan threatened war against Israel.

This video is from the Cynthia’s Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Netanyahu promises to turn Gaza into “rubble” following Hamas attack – they will pay “unprecedented price.”

EERILY SILENT: Israel’s utter DISREGARD for civilian life in Gaza draws muted reaction from the West.

Henry Gruver: “When Israel sends troops into Gaza, it will be a sign the Middle East war has started.”

Turkish president calls for Muslim world to UNITE against Israel.

Sources include:

Express.co.uk

Business-Standard.com

Brighteon.com

California DMV SUSPENDS Cruise’s driverless car permits for misrepresenting information on safety – NaturalNews.com

California DMV SUSPENDS Cruise’s driverless car permits for misrepresenting information on safety

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended the autonomous driving permit of self-driving car startup Cruise on Oct. 24, halting the company’s robotaxi services in San Francisco.

According to the California DMV, the company’s vehicles aren’t safe for public operation and Cruise has “misrepresented information related to the safety of the technology of the vehicles.”

Cruise is majority-controlled by General Motors (GM), which has invested significantly in the division. GM also had plans to launch the Origin, a fully autonomous shuttle that doesn’t have a steering wheel or manual controls.

The suspension also presents another obstacle for Cruise as it is trying to expand its robotaxi service to more cities and prove to investors that transporting passengers in self-driving vehicles can be a major profit generator in the coming years.

Early in October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it opened a safety-defect probe into at least 600 driverless cars operated by Cruise.

In 2022, a California agency also investigated an anonymous letter sent in May that warned that Cruise was preparing to launch its robotaxi service before it was ready for public use.

Within recent months, Cruise has been expanding nationwide and introducing cars in Miami, Nashville and other cities. However, the company has faced issues in San Francisco, one of its biggest markets, as cars stalled and were involved in several incidents.

According to a Cruise spokesperson, the company was pausing the operation of its driverless autonomous vehicles in San Francisco as it continues to “develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives.”

Brighteon.TV

Cruise facing increased scrutiny from regulators

The DMV has issued two permits to Cruise: one for testing and a second one for deployment of driverless vehicles. Aside from suspending Cruise’s driverless-vehicle deployment, the California DMV also suspended the company’s testing permit.

The DMV’s decision is a major setback for Cruise, especially since the company has been facing increased scrutiny by regulators this year due to several incidents involving its vehicles. Cruise first started offering a commercial driverless car service in June 2022, after years of testing the technology in California with and, after some time, without human drivers.

Cruise utilizes GM’s Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles outfitted with autonomous gear. It has begun testing the Origin, its larger “people mover,” in select cities.

Weeks after Cruise’s commercial launch in 2022, some of the company’s vehicles started having trouble with cars clustering together at intersections and blocking traffic. These incidents drew the attention of the California Public Utilities Commission, which also regulates autonomous vehicles in the state.

Following these incidents, employees had to manually retrieve some of the vehicles.

The DMV explained that the suspension is ongoing until Cruise applies for reinstatement of its permit. The agency’s decision doesn’t affect Cruise’s permit for testing autonomous vehicles if there is a safety driver behind the wheel.

Additionally, the NHTSA has also been investigating several on-road incidents involving Cruise vehicles, with two open safety defect investigations.

Last December, the federal auto-safety regulator revealed that it had opened a probe into about 240 Cruise driverless cars after receiving several reports of the autonomous vehicles braking hard or stalling while operating on public roads.

At the time, the NHTSA said it was aware of three crashes, which included two injuries.

The most recent probe, which was opened in October, focused on reports of Cruise’s autonomous vehicles exhibiting risky behavior around pedestrians. According to a Cruise spokesperson, the company regularly communicated with the NHTSA and was cooperating with the agency’s requests for information.

In October, video footage taken by Cruise revealed that a woman was severely injured after she was struck by a vehicle and then landed in the path of a driverless Cruise car. Rescue workers then lifted the car off the woman, who was severely injured.

Cruise claimed that it is conducting “an analysis to identify potential enhancements to the autonomous vehicle’s response to this kind of extremely rare event.” (Related: WAYMO PROBLEMS: Reported accidents involving Waymo driverless cars in San Francisco MULTIPLIED SIXFOLD this year.)

Learn more about driverless cars at RoboCars.news.

Watch the video below to learn how driverless cars challenge cybersecurity.

This video is from the Daily Videos channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Electric car EXPLODES on driveway and sets fire to family home after battery malfunction.

Driverless car gets stuck in wet concrete in San Francisco a few days after CPUC approves robotaxi expansion services.

Climate cultists now DEFLATING car tires across the world, but under-inflated car tires use MORE energy due to lower gas mileage.

Sources include:

WSJ.com 1

WSJ.com 2

Reuters.com

Brighteon.com

Saudi Arabia warns of “catastrophic consequences” if Israel launches INVASION of Gaza – NaturalNews.com

Saudi Arabia warns of “catastrophic consequences” if Israel launches INVASION of Gaza

Saudi Arabia has expressed serious concerns regarding Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, warning American officials that such an operation could have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East.

The New York Times reported on the development, citing Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The Connecticut senator told the Gray Lady that the kingdom’s leadership, helmed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “was hopeful that a ground operation could be avoided for reasons of stability as well as the loss of life.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) further noted that bin Salman – concurrently the kingdom’s prime minister – aimed to prevent “a longer and deeper conflict” in the Middle East. He and Blumenthal were part of the U.S. delegation that flew to Riyadh in October to meet with the kingdom’s officials.

Bin Salman reiterated these concerns directly to U.S. President Joe Biden during their Oct. 25 conversation, underscoring the importance of avoiding a situation that would impact the security and stability of the region. He also called for a fair and comprehensive peace that safeguards the legitimate rights of Palestinians and urged Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza.

The White House has expressed robust support for Israel following a deadly Hamas attack earlier this month, and it has responded to heightened tensions by deploying military assets throughout the Middle East. U.S. officials have stated that these moves are intended to deter external actors from becoming involved in the Gaza conflict, often citing Iran and affiliated militia groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Brighteon.TV

In his discussion with the crown prince, Biden stressed the necessity of preventing the conflict from escalating, considering that state and non-state actors may seek to intervene. (Related: Spread of Israel-Hamas conflict increases risk of WWIII to about 50%, warns hedge fund manager.)

Other Arab leaders have echoed these concerns. At the Cairo Summit for Peace in Egypt, Jordan’s King Abdullah II  emphasized the urgent need to work toward a ceasefire, warning of a humanitarian disaster that could push the entire region into turmoil.

Although the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has thus far postponed a full-scale ground assault on Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has outlined a three-stage plan to eliminate Hamas and establish a new security framework in the Palestinian territory – beginning with airstrikes and followed by ground maneuvers. The IDF has mobilized 360,000 reservists in preparation for the operation and has conducted daily air raids on Gaza for nearly three weeks. The conflict has resulted in a significant loss of life, with over 1,400 Israelis and more than 7,000 Palestinians killed, according to local officials.

MBS assumes pivotal role in Israel-Hamas conflict

Bin Salman, 38, finds himself in a pivotal role amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. He represents a new generation of Gulf state leaders who have not experienced a full-scale conflagration involving Israel. As the conflict unfolds, he must carefully navigate several key factors including the kingdom’s rivalry with Iran, its role in the global oil market, overseas investments and the sentiments of its 32 million citizens.

In an Oct. 18 piece for Reuters, journalist George Hay noted that the Saudi prime minister’s response to these challenges will not only impact his vision for modernizing Saudi Arabia’s economy, but will also have far-reaching implications globally. Saudi Arabia’s potential rapprochement with Israel may have triggered the recent deadly attack by Hamas, which resulted in the loss of over 1,400 lives in Israel.

The prior efforts by Biden to mediate talks between bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries. This normalization could have been tied to an enhanced security pact with Washington and the potential for Riyadh to develop its nuclear capabilities.

Such developments would have strengthened Sunni Saudi Arabia’s position relative to Shiite Iran, its main regional rival. However, the attack by the Tehran-backed Hamas and Jerusalem’s retaliatory actions have complicated the prospects of such a deal. Saudi Arabia’s significant role in the global oil market gives it a critical say in the unfolding events.

Visit Chaos.news for more stories about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Watch this report about Saudi Arabia criticizing Israeli ground operations.

This video is from the White Knight channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Is Joe Biden to blame for Hamas terror attacks on Israel? Alex Marlow says YES.

State Department: At least 22 American citizens KILLED (so far) in Israel-Hamas conflict.

Israel-Hamas conflict could escalate into World War III very quickly as Pentagon readies troops for deployment to the Middle East.

Sources include:

RT.com

Reuters.com

Brighteon.com

Houthis Write the Book on Asymmetrical Warfare

The Saudi Ministry of Defense displays drones and parts from missiles used in a refinery attack. PHOTO: Asia Times

Update: The Saudis will try and maintain a wide berth and stay neutral in the Great Middle East War. The Houthis attention will be directed at Israel and the US.

The Houthis have emerged as a major thorn in the sides of the Saudi puppet regime. Beyond the threat of drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities, the Houthis are delivering lickings to Saudi ground forces in the Yemen theater. Houthis are razors, and Saudis use low-quality mercenaries.

Overnight the UAE capital of Dubai was Rocked By Explosions, Huge Emergency Response Underway. In the past weeks the UAE has been target of multiple drone and missile attacks from Yemen, with Houthi leaders vowing the country would no longer be safe.

On August 31, 2021 a drone struck the civilian airport in Abha, wounding eight civilians and damaging a commercial airliner.  On September 4, a Houthi missile attack struck Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, injuring two children and damaging several homes. On August 29, a drone and missile attack on Al-Anad airbase in Yemen’s Lahj governorate killed at least 30 people.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that since the beginning of 2021, “Saudi Arabia has endured more than 240 attacks from the Houthis,

Saudi vulnerability is evident well before any total war with Iran.- video memory holed

Houthi armed forces duly claimed responsibility for the Abqaiq oil disruption: “This operation is one of the largest operations carried out by our forces in the depth of Saudi Arabia and came after an accurate intelligence operation and advance monitoring and cooperation of honorable and free men within the Kingdom.”

Notice the key concept: “cooperation” from inside Saudi Arabia. This could include the whole spectrum, from Yemenis to eastern province Shiites. The Houthis also indicated that the attack on Aramco was made possible by on-the-ground informers.

“It came after an accurate intelligence operation, advance monitoring and cooperation from honourable and free people inside (Saudi),” the group’s military spokesman said.

Even more relevant is the fact that massive American hardware has been deployed in Saudi Arabia, inside out and outside in — satellites, AWACS, Patriot missiles, drones, battleships, jet fighters — and they didn’t see a thing before the attack, or certainly not in time. The sighting of three “loitering” drones by a Kuwaiti bird hunter arguably heading toward Saudi Arabia is being evoked as “evidence.” Cue the embarrassing picture of a drone swarm — wherever it came from — flying undisturbed for hours over Saudi territory.

Patriot missiles nearly worthless- video memory holed as You Tube endeavors to become increasingly worthless. News related to Yemen is especially suppressed.

Officials openly admit that now what matters is everything within the 1,500 km range of the Houthis’ new UAV-X drone: oil fields in Saudi Arabia, a still-under-construction nuclear power plant in the Emirates, and Dubai’s mega-airport.

Analysis of weapons captured or seen in Houthi images show a combination of home-grown designs, entire foreign items and components brought in from outside to upgrade existing stock, a January 2018 U.N. panel of experts report said.

Curiously, parts of the Houthi drones are either Israeli or are Israeli-copied.

Professor Mohammad Marandi from the University of Tehran, who has very close relations with the foreign ministry, is adamant: “It didn’t come from Iran. If it did, it would be very embarrassing for the Americans, showing they are unable to detect a large number of Iranian drones and missiles. That doesn’t make sense.”

Marandi additionally stresses that “Saudi air defenses are not equipped to defend the country from Yemen but from Iran.” He said, “The Yemenis have been striking against the Saudis, they are getting better and better, developing drone and missile technology for four and a half years, and this was a very soft target.”

Hardly mentioned in western media was another explosion inside Saudi Arabia on Sept. 29. 2019, A massive fire engulfed the train station at Jeddah, which links Makkah and Madina.

Saudi Arabia is crumbling https://t.co/i28JuYx15e

— ፀደይ Tseday Mekbib Teklemariam Woldeyesus (@Tseday) September 29, 2019

The American response to this is standard: sell more air defense weaponry to Saudi Arabia. U.S. personal will man the equipment. This is an open invitation for the Houthis and Iran to test these systems within the confines of asymmetrical warfare.

Just the pre-war jabs alone have gotten quite expensive for U.S. interests. It also proves how expensive American gadgetry is compared to the asymmetric tech of the Iranians.

It’s apparent that the folks on Iran’s war staff are well versed in World Wide Wrestling Federation psychodrama and the perverse American cartoon-world psyche. Iran scored a coup, downing a $220 million MQ-4C high-tech drone.

After the expensive hardware was lost President Trump then claimed the Iranian action was unintentional, to which Iran promptly corrected that, stating that it was unapologetically intentional. Furthermore, Iran suggested it could have easily taken down a manned P-8 military aircraft spy plane ($256 million price tag) as well but deferred.

Iranian forces claimed they used a version of the Buk M1 road-mobile SAM to shoot down the drone. The IRGC also possesses Russian-made S-300 air-defense systems. Iran announced that it had a “domestically made” system with the same capabilities as the S-300. Now, Russia is testing the S-500 in Syria.

Iran has had 40 years to develop low-tech asymmetric warfare on a country that has wasted hundreds of billions of dollars on gadgetry.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Army’s Air Defence Force unveiled a new surveillance radar and command-and-control (C2) system on September 1, 2021  and also announced that it has tested a new version of its Mesad-16 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.

Currently, U.S. cruise missiles are among the most expensive among single-use weapons, up to several million dollars apiece. One consequence of this is that its users face difficult choices in target allocation to avoid expending the missiles on targets of low value. For instance, during the 2001 strikes on Afghanistan, the U.S. attacked targets of very low monetary value with cruise missiles, which led many to question the efficiency of the weapon.

On April 6, 2017, 59 Tomahawk missiles were launched targeting Shayrat Airbase near Homs, in Syria. An independent bomb-damage assessment conducted by ImageSat International counted hits on 44 targets, with some targets being hit by more than one missile. These figures were determined using satellite images of the airbase 10 hours after the strike. However, the Russian defense ministry contends that the combat effectiveness of the attack was “extremely low.” Only 23 missiles hit the base, destroying six aircraft.

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said the country’s development of ballistic missile technology had changed “the balance of power” in the region.

According to Salami, the Revolutionary Guards began tests using ballistic missiles as “a way to end the story of American aircraft carriers in the area” some 12 years ago.

The U.S. is likely to give its aircraft carriers a wide berth. The most effective weapon Iran has is the sea mine, which will choke off the Persian Gulf. Iran has 15,000 of these, and they have low-tech but effective price tags at $25,000 a pop. Any clearing of these mines will be risky and expensive. A number of U.S. ships have been damaged by mines in past regional conflicts.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) focuses more on smaller, fast-moving, heavily armed ships for an anti-access, area-denial role in the inner Persian Gulf against Iran’s neighbors and the U.S. The IRGCN also controls Iran’s shore-based anti-ship missiles.

In 2002, Marine Gen. Paul Van Riper led an Iran-like Red Team in a U.S. military exercise called The Millennium Challenge 2002. Van Riper launched a preemptive “swarm strike” against an approaching U.S. amphibious force, using a huge anti-ship cruise missile barrage that over-saturated their sophisticated Aegis air-defense systems. This was combined with a swarming attack by fast boats. His attack sank 16 ships and killed 20,000 Blue Team personnel.

Van Riper apparently hadn’t understood that he was meant to lose the war game in order to validate U.S. military doctrine, so the exercise was promptly rebooted to have the “right” outcome. My speculation is logical: The neocon psychopaths running the U.S. war biz have exposed themselves and, with supreme hubris, ignored Van Riper’s lessons on their obsolete doctrine. The general has said as much.

Van Riper discussed ultimatums and threats in his Nova interview. 

“What advantage is there for Red to wait for Blue to strike?” There was none. And that lead to the natural conclusion that if they’re coming, and we can’t persuade them not to diplomatically, then we will strike.

As I looked at an ultimatum that gave me less than 24 hours to respond to what literally was a surrender document, it was clear to me that there was no advantage in any of this diplomacy. I was very surprised that the Joint Forces Command personnel who had argued for using all of the elements of national power—the economic, the diplomatic, the political information—in some sort of coherent fashion, really came at Red with a blunt military instrument. So it was clear to me that this was not going to be negotiated, this was going to be a fight. And if it was going to be a fight, I was going to get in the first blow.

Indeed, besides the effective sea mines, the “Mad Max”-style tactics of barreling toward enemies at maximum speed in swarms of over-gunned open-topped motor vehicles may seem outlandish, but it has a certain logic for Iran. The small and affordable boats have low radar signatures; which, combined with speed, would significantly reduce their target’s reaction time. More importantly, should the U.S. approach Persian shores, their sheer numbers could overwhelm the expensive defensive systems on board U.S. warships.

A fight in someone else’s bathtub

From the IRGCN’s standpoint, and replicating Van Riper doctrine, the U.S. Navy’s advanced warships bristling with missiles are the Death Star, and the death blow is swarms of fast boats and maneuverable fighters capable overwhelming advanced defenses.

The Seraj-1 fast-attack craft was built on the “Bladerunner” design and is known for its stability, high mobility and strength. The newest version has large-caliber armaments, especially the 107-mm rocket launcher on the bridge and the DShKM mounted on the front. It can hit speeds of 90-100 knots (Seraj-2, Seraj-3) with a low silhouette. Iran has 30,000 of these equipped with short-range anti-ship missiles that approach at low altitude.

Iran also possesses thousands of small, hard-to-detect swarm drones that can land quick, hard punches. Expending high-tech cruise missiles and trying to hit these on the ground is a fine proposition and trade off for Iran.

Iran has imported Chinese C802 Silkworm missiles with a strike range of 120 miles, as well as reverse-engineered its own domestic Noor cruise missile, and it began working on a 200-mile range Ghadir ASCM. The width of the Persian Gulf ranges only between 35 to 212 miles.

Blacklisting and Censorship Violates Freedom of Thought, Speech and Conscience

blacklisting and censorship

By: Barbara Loe Fisher

  • This is a commentary about a special report that was researched and written on the systematic abuse of parents with vaccine injured children and the silencing of information published by NVIC

  • Entitled “The Silencing of Barbara Loe Fisher and the National Vaccine Information Center in the Digital Public Square: A Violation of Freedom of Thought, Speech and Conscience,” the report is anchored with more than 300 live linked references

  • In my report, I take the reader on a chronological step-by-step journey from 1982 through 2023, giving an overview of the history of the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in America against the backdrop of the creation of a global mass vaccination infrastructure facilitated by public-private business partnerships encouraged and funded by Congress

  • I have connected the dots so the reader can appreciate the scope and influence of the great wealth and political power held by those who have built the spider web of a global infrastructure institutionalizing censorship of freedom of thought, speech and conscience about vaccination and health, especially in the new digital public square

  • Please read my report and share it with everyone you know. Join NVIC’s mission and take action to educate your friends, family and community about vaccination, health and autonomy

Visit Mercola Market

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Freedom of thought, speech and conscience are inalienable natural1 and civil rights recognized in America and in countries where respect for autonomy2 and protection of bodily integrity3 4 5 places limits on the power of the state. Under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Americans have the legal right to peacefully dissent and “petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”6

The freedom to use our intelligence and follow our conscience7 8 9 is absolute when we make a decision that involves taking a risk of injury or death for ourselves or on behalf of our minor child,10 and the freedom to speak in the digital public square about what that means should be absolute as well.

This is a commentary about a special report I have researched and written on the systematic abuse of parents with vaccine injured children and the silencing of my voice and information published by the charitable National Vaccine Information Center in the digital public square both before and after the declaration of a coronavirus pandemic in 2020. I have submitted the report to the US House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.11

Entitled “The Silencing of Barbara Loe Fisher and the National Vaccine Information Center in the Digital Public Square: A Violation of Freedom of Thought, Speech and Conscience,” the report is anchored with more than 300 live linked references.12

It contains information about the collaborative actions taken by government officials, political operatives, corporations, academic and financial institutions, media, philanthropic foundations, and global governmental organizations to target, discredit, discriminate against and censor me and NVIC for our mission since 1982 to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education, and to defend the legal right of Americans to make voluntary decisions about vaccination without being coerced or sanctioned for the decision made.13

In researching this report, I was shocked and saddened by the evidence I found to substantiate that I and NVIC have been blacklisted, even though we have a long, transparent credible public record of working responsibly in the U.S. with the federal and state governments, and urging others to do the same.14 15 16 17 18 19

It is clear that we have been subjected to demonization and sanctions because for four decades we have exercised our right to dissent and criticize the safety and effectiveness of government recommended vaccines, and we have asked federal health officials to fill in vaccine safety science knowledge gaps, and we have worked in the states to reform U.S. public health policies and vaccine laws.20

I spent three months researching and writing this report because I wanted to understand who, what, when, how, and why NVIC was ghosted on the Internet and my voice was silenced.

While we were being demonized and our presence on the Internet was slowly being suppressed — particularly between 2009 and 2019 — which was followed by de-platforming from four major social media platforms and Pay Pal in 2021,21 22 23 I and NVIC’s staff and volunteers were so busy trying to deal with the blocking of public access to our information that we did not have time to stop and analyze exactly who was responsible.

We poured all of our resources into educating and empowering Americans at the grassroots level in support of the legal right to make informed and voluntary decisions about vaccination.24 25

access report

The decades of grassroots education and advocacy that NVIC has performed, particularly at the state level between 2010 and 2020 through the online NVIC Advocacy Portal, culminated in a national rejection of proposed COVID vaccine mandate bills for children to attend school in America.26

All 50 state legislatures refused to mandate the federally recommended COVID-19 vaccine for children as a condition of receiving a private or public school education, even though the government mandated the vaccine for federal employees and large private corporations as a condition of employment.27

It is an historic milestone in the history of state-based grassroots advocacy that no legislature in America forced parents to choose between denying their children a school education or injecting them with a biological product recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a product which has proven to be highly reactive and unreliable in preventing infection and transmission.28 29 30 31

In my report, I take the reader on a chronological step-by-step journey from 1982 through 2023, giving an overview of the history of the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in America against the backdrop of the creation of a global mass vaccination infrastructure facilitated by public-private business partnerships encouraged and funded by Congress.32

I describe the major players who, for the past decade especially, have sought to block online conversations about vaccination that do not conform with government and World Health Organization policy, and have used public opposition to vaccine mandates as a political tool to help build what is being aptly characterized as the “Censorship Industrial Complex” or the “Disinformation Industrial Complex.”33 34 35 36 37 38

In the early 1980s, parents of DPT vaccine injured children went head-to-head with the mandatory vaccination lobby led by the pharmaceutical industry, public health and medical trade, and we managed to secure historic acknowledgement in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 that vaccine safety should be made a national priority.39 40

That accomplishment was based on the fact that federally licensed and recommended vaccines for children, which are mandated by states, can and do injure and kill a minority of them.41

Acknowledgement of that inconvenient truth in the late 20th century, a truth still often denied by those conducting the business of vaccination, planted the first seeds that grew into a national and international Censorship Industrial Complex in the 21st century, which targets not only “vaccine hesitancy,” but a cross-section of political, economic, cultural value and belief issues.

In this report, I have told the story from an eyewitness perspective of a mother whose child was brain injured by a crude pertussis vaccine in 1980 that could have been made safer;42 and as co-founder of a charity that worked for 14 years to get a less reactive pertussis vaccine licensed for America’s babies in 1996;43 44 and as the author of referenced articles and books; public presentations and television debates; congressional and state legislature testimony; and video commentaries that have been posted on NVIC.org’s four websites and in other forums on the Internet since 1995.45

I have connected the dots so the reader can appreciate the scope and influence of the great wealth and political power held by those who have built the spider web of a global infrastructure institutionalizing censorship of freedom of thought, speech and conscience about vaccination and health, especially in the new digital public square.

I provide readers with live links to papers, articles and documents using language to denigrate individuals and groups that criticize vaccine policy and law that were published by or under the guidance of individuals associated with the United Nations,46 47 48 49 50 U.S. Department of Homeland Security,51 52 53 54 Director of National Intelligence,55 Department of State,56 Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation;57 Department of Defense;58 Department of Health and Human Services;59 60 61 the US Surgeon General,62 and other government agencies.

There are links to published evidence that big philanthropic foundations and think tanks, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,63 64 65 Rockefeller Foundation,66 Bloomberg Philanthropies,67 World Economic Forum68 and Aspen Institute,69 as well as organizations representing Big Pharma, like the Sabin Vaccine institute70 and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance,71 72 73 have funded and collaborated with universities and government agencies and for-profit media companies like NewsGuard74 75 76 77 to urge censorship of free speech.

There are live links to reports by a foreign political operative, Imran Ahmed, who founded the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) in the United Kingdom,78 and has spread false information and engaged in defamatory attacks on me, NVIC and a number of speakers, who presented at NVIC’s Fifth International Public Conference on Vaccination: Protecting Health and Autonomy in the 21st Century, that was held online in October 2020.79 80

He created the first blacklist of individuals and organizations like NVIC targeted for defunding and elimination from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and You Tube,81 82 83 84 85 a blacklist that was used by government officials and media outlets to put pressure on social media companies to silence my voice and NVIC’s presence on the Internet.86 87 88 89 90 91

In my report, there are live links to medical literature and media articles in which professors at major universities and medical organizations hurl abuse at parents of vaccine injured children and call for those they label “anti-vaxxers” to have their freedom of speech taken away, including professors and doctors affiliated with Johns Hopkins University,92 93 University of Pennsylvania,94 95 96 Emory University,97 Baylor University,98 99 New York University,100 101 Stanford University,102 103 Brown University,104 University of Washington,105 University of California,106 Mayo Clinic,107 George Washington University,108 Harvard University,109 and more.110 111 112

Some have called for physicians sharing information with patients about vaccine risks and failures that does not conform with government policy to lose their medical licenses,113 114 and for Americans who decline vaccines for themselves or their children to be sued and fined and arrested.115 116

When I finished and reviewed the report, I thought to myself: it reads like a crime novel. That is because the blacklisting and censorship of ordinary Americans, who are treated like enemies of the state simply because they exercise freedom of thought, speech and conscience, is a crime that should never have happened.117,118,119

Today, NVIC is struggling to survive. We are doing everything we can to stay on course and connect with parents desperately searching for information they need to protect their children from harm, information we did not have when we were young parents and had been kept in the dark by the very same players who are operating the global Public Health Empire and Censorship Industrial Complex today.

We need your help because people tell us over and over again, that when they conduct online searches, it is almost impossible to find NVIC.org, a website we established in 1995 and today is the oldest and largest consumer operated website on the Internet publishing information about vaccines and diseases.

They tell us they don’t know about the NVIC Advocacy Portal, a free online communications network that helps residents of every state work to protect their legal right to make vaccine choices for themselves and their children; and to protect their medical privacy from being violated in electronic vaccine tracking systems; and to protect their right to hold a job without getting every government recommended vaccine.

Most people don’t know that NVIC publishes a digital weekly journal newspaper at TheVaccineReaction.org, which was re-launched online in 2015 after being founded in print published form in 1995.

And they don’t know they can read descriptions of vaccine reactions filed in the federal vaccine adverse event Reporting System by going to the MedAlerts.org website, a user friendly search engine that NVIC has sponsored since 2006.

Before being blacklisted, NVIC was in touch with hundreds of thousands of Americans every day on major social media platforms and we had a stable donor base. Now, if anyone shares NVIC’s well referenced vaccine information or talks about vaccine safety concerns on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, their accounts are in danger of being cancelled so they can’t have conversations with friends and family members online.

Mothers tell us that, if they ask a doctor a question about vaccine reactions, or want to alter the CDC’s vaccination schedule and give their infants and children fewer vaccines on one day, they are thrown out of the doctor’s office and their children are denied medical care.120

A lot of people tell us they are afraid that one day, they will be forced to get vaccines they don’t want, or be fired from their jobs, or denied medical insurance or a passport, or blocked from entry to a hospital when they or loved ones become ill — or worse.121

We all remember what was done to Americans in the name of public health and national security during the COVID19 pandemic emergency declaration. We remember how sick we or someone we cared about felt after suffering a COVID vaccine reaction.122

Many are still suffering from the long-term effects of those vaccine reactions, just like many of us are still suffering from the long-term effects of having been infected with SARS-CoV-2,123 a mysteriously mutated virus that appears to have leaked from a Chinese biohazard lab that received U.S. federal agency funding.124

We want to be free to talk about what we think about all of that with our friends, family and colleagues in the virtual public square, which is the First Amendment right of every American. And when we realize our cell phones and computer searches are being secretly monitored by government and Big Tech, and we are blocked from speaking freely on the Internet about health and vaccination issues we care deeply about, we know something is very, very wrong.

I never imagined that after I had spent more than two decades serving as a consumer member on federal vaccine advisory committees and responsibly participating in public engagement projects, begging government officials to do the science to identify genetic, epigenetic, and other biological high risk factors that make some individuals more vulnerable to suffering vaccine reactions so their lives could be spare, that I would be thanked with overt discrimination and abuse.

I was devastated to learn that government officials have worked with political operatives, corporations, the media and academic institutions to characterize public conversations about vaccine risks and failures as a threat to national security in order to pejoratively label me and others as “anti-vaxxers,” using words like “malignant” and “domestic threat actor,” for the purpose of blacklisting and justifying the silencing of our voices in the public square.125 126 127 128

This is not the America my parents and I grew up in. It is not the America I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in. And I am not alone.

I know that my life’s work and the mission of NVIC in memory of the vaccine injured is — and has always been — just. And I know the truth will shine bright and clear when all the evidence about this shameful era in U.S. history is revealed by others with access to far more information than I have.129

In the meantime, I and the staff and volunteers at NVIC will not be silent and surrender to the Censorship Industrial Complex. As we have done for 41 years, we will stand and defend the natural right of all Americans to freely choose when and for what reason we are willing to risk our life or the life of our minor child without being punished by the state.

Because if the state can tag, track down and force individuals against their will to be injected with biologicals of known and unknown toxicity today, then there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the state can take away in the name of the greater good tomorrow.

Please read my report and share it with everyone you know. Join NVIC’s mission and take action to educate your friends, family and community about vaccination, health and autonomy. Please make a donation to NVIC during this 14th Annual Vaccine Awareness Week.

access report

Be the one who never has to say you did not do today what you could have done to change tomorrow. With your help, NVIC’s mission will continue: No forced vaccination. Not in America.

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