Opinion
By Jeff Childers
01-23-23
Good morning, and Happy Monday, C&C! I hope everyone had a joyful and fulfilling weekend. If not, there’s always next weekend.
To get you off on the right foot, enjoy today’s roundup: a modest correction turns into a fascinating story about vaccine regret; my Sunday poll results; a Damar Hamlin update; Klain out and Jeff Zients in as Biden’s Chief of Staff; the Economist all but announces that Ukraine has won the war; and my letter to the Washington Medical Commission about its investigation of Dr. Cole.
🗞 *THE C&C ARMY POST* 🗞
CORRECTION: In yesterday’s bonus post, I discussed the shifting jab narrative and noted that Twitter seemed to be promoting anti-Trump vaccine comments, and as an example I used a tweet from a self-identified conservative named Ryan Cunningham, who’d randomly materialized in my and a lot of other folks’ Twitter feeds, even though we don’t follow him. In an offhand remark, I incorrectly suggested he might be a deep-state bot.
As we’ll see, Ryan’s explanation for getting the jab is a little misleading and his hit on Trump was a little unfair. His rationale is better understood in the context of his larger, fascinating story.
But early yesterday, by the time I’d caught up with the story, a number of folks were reporting they could not find his profile by searching. Of course I attempted that and got the same result. By mid-morning, several commenters confirmed Ryan existed and was not a bot, but rather was an Illinois conservative. A second search attempt brought him right up and I reviewed his post history.
I have no idea why he couldn’t be found in the morning’s search. I did try.
Ryan is new to Twitter. Between January 25th, 2015 and October 30th, 2022, Ryan tweeted only five times, on random personal topics. You can’t tell anything about his politics from those five tweets.
Then on October 30th, 2022, you could say Ryan had a public political awakening with his first tweet in years.
But in November 2022, Ryan plunged into Twitter with several hundred posts, all on conservative political topics. He was a Twitter natural. From the start he show an easy command of Twitter’s short-form communications style. Just over this last weekend, he’s posted 81 times (by my eye count), all of it on conservative politics.
Ryan is not a deep-state tool. Some C&Cers have vouched for him. And by his Twitter presence, he’s a new, busy independent conservative online activist. C&C will supports his public efforts, and I look forward to meeting Ryan at some point, since we seem to be traveling in the same circles.
It’s great that he’s now on board the right train. But Ryan’s background story is much more ambiguous, and ultimately it may actually be a classic story of redemption. Because most interestingly, I also discovered that Ryan is in another category that we’ve been keenly studying lately: the category of folks who initially pushed the jabs, but now, recently, are publicly voicing their vaccine regret.
To explain, and to help make amends for C&C’s error yesterday, here’s Ryan’s entire, riveting story, collected from a series of his recent December, 2022 tweets, and lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Three years ago, Ryan was in corporate public health. He used to work as the credentialed emergency services director for an Illinois steel plant, where he coordinated the corporate response to the pandemic, adhering to federal guidance.
Now he’s vaccine injured. In his words:
I got the COVID vaccine before most could as a healthcare provider and emergency manager implementing many of the policies of the “covidians”. Days after, I was transported to the hospital with a cardiac issue. Today I’m in heart failure.
[I went] from working out twice a day and lean, to my heart jumping to 160 BPM sitting still. My endocrine system is now gone, and my weight gain is 70+ pounds.
… I have a Masters’s Degree in Emergency Service Management. I specifically studied pandemics, and when the government could violate civil liberties in the name of safety.
In Corporate America, I worked as an Emergency Services Manager for a fully integrated steel plant[, which] @realDonaldTrump visited and helped re-open in 2018.
Ryan explained that because of the jab, his health plummeted — from peak physical condition and health down to chronic heart failure. And now, since last month, he’s finally publicly warning people.
Because I had a healthcare provider license and was on the “team” I was one of the first to get vaccinated… and that’s when it all took a turn for the worst. For those who judge today, at the time there were no horror stories. [Mine] was one of the first.
At the time, I was in great shape, working out twice a day. Days later, after my vaccine, my heart was beating out of my chest, and then I thought I was going to die. I didn’t know where I was. I was saying my last prayers. I went … to the hospital … [where] I was told six other healthcare providers had a similar reaction to mine but all felt better after some time, and I too felt better in a few hours.
… I thought I was going to be “OK” so I got a few days of rest and “shook it off.” [But] all was not OK. As the days went on, I would be sitting at a desk, and my resting HR would jump up to 140 – 160 BPM. I was not doing any physical activity. I was afraid to say anything because I didn’t want to lose my job due to health issues. I ignored it.
As time went on my health was getting worse… I was gaining weight at a rapid pace and I did not feel great. I live in the deep blue state of Illinois and the governor of my state has some of the most severe mandates.
… Today, I’m in heart failure. From working out twice a day and lean to my heart jumping to 160 BPM sitting still. My endocrine system is now gone and my weight gain is 70+ pounds.
PS: [Illinois is] still in a disaster declaration.
Beyond his heartbreaking (literally) vaccine injury, Ryan offers unique insights since, as an emergency services coordinator, he was privy to the internal details of corporate America’s and federal health officials’ rollouts of the coercive mandates and the various other odious “guidances.”
Ryan explained how it happened at the corporate level, and describes feeling shame about his role in how it all went wrong. He knew it was wrong, after all he’d had an adverse reaction to the shot, but he still helped push other people into taking the jabs anyway. It was his job.
… How are Government, Big Tech, and Corporate America connected as it relates to mandates? Many states have “fusion” or disaster response centers [with a private sector] “business emergency operations” component.
How do I know? I was shamefully involved in the process. In my gut, it didn’t feel right, but I made videos and marketing materials supporting others to get vaccinated. I interacted with these fusion centers, and I helped implement many of the initial mandates.
The goal of these fusion centers [was to h]ave liaisons with all the major businesses and keep them “in the know” with the actions of the government and get buy-in to support initiatives. Seem[ed] harmless until COVID happened.
These “fusion centers” continued to push and work with Corporate America to push the vaccination and give them “elite access” to vaccination clinics. These centers include local, federal, and state law enforcement.
In fact, I was involved in the process of getting the CEO and senior executives of a Fortune 100 company early access to the vaccination. They flew to our location so they could get it because it wasn’t available in [their] locations.
When the Government imposed many of the mandates, they KNEW they were mere “guidance,” but if they could get big tech, major media, and Corporate America on board, they could have these entities implement “administrative” or workplace policies [— the de-facto mandates].
But now, Ryan has shifted from Team Coercion onto Team Reality. Why, after all this time, did Ryan give up helping coerce other people into getting the jabs in Illinois, into becoming a prolific, skilled, social media conservative advocate?
Surprisingly, it wasn’t his vaxx injury. Ryan explained it was the same thing that motivates a lot of us: it was for his kids:
What made me decide to stand up and fight back after all of this? It wasn’t my deteriorating health; it was my children. My son has autism and schools got to violate his services in the name of “COVID.”
From a Beach in Florida, I started a local non-profit, Speak for Students. To goal was to advocate for kids and to stop the mandates. It was from this initiative I met @ThomasDeVore76 and @ruhlin.
That’s what I did…. I fought for my children & other’s children to ensure they could have the free choice to mask or not mask, to vaccinate or not vaccinate. I helped my local county board pass a “mask and vaccine choice” resolution.
It’s an arresting story, touching on all the pandemic’s developing electric rails. Answer this: Should Ryan have amnesty? Before you answer, remember, he’s a victim too. He paid with his health. Now he’s on the right side, working hard to make change. He’s sharing important details from inside the pandemic’s bloody boiler room. He’s smart, persuasive, and well-spoken.
Ryan’s story shows how difficult the amnesty question is going to be.
Anyway. Ryan, I know you started your journey to the light side earlier in Illinois, but let me now welcome you to Team Reality. I look forward to speaking with you soon.
🗞*WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY* 🗞
🔥 Here are the results of my super-scientific Sunday poll:
Science! But scoffing tweeters quickly accused my scientific method of being “biased.” How dare they. Science deniers of the worst kind.
🔥 And here is ANOTHER one. Dilbert cartoonist, author, video blogger, and enthusiastic pro-vaxxer Scott Adams now regrets getting the vaccine. Over the weekend, he declared unequivocally that he was wrong about the jabs:
“The anti-vaxxers clearly are the winners at this point, and I think it will stay that way. They came out the best. They have the winning position. The unvaccinated have a current advantage, because they feel better. The thing they are not worrying about is what I have to worry about. Which is, I wonder if that vaccination five years from now…”
“Cause really, the anti vaxxers were really distrustful of big companies and the government. That’s not wrong. So if you just took the position, ‘let’s just distrust everything the government did’, well, you won. You won. Hehe. You won completely. I did not end up in the right place. The right place would be natural immunity and no vaccination. You should take victory, and I should take defeat.”
“All of my fancy analytics got me to a bad place. All of your heuristics — ‘don’t trust these guys, it’s obvious’ — totally worked.”
Scott Adams just broke the internet. “The anti-vaxxers clearly won, you’re the winners!”
12:03 AM ∙ Jan 22, 202345,954Likes14,105Retwe
For ages, Scott was so pro-vaccine that I couldn’t stand anything he said and I blocked him. I can’t really think of anyone else I’ve blocked except trolls. I even have Joe Biden in my Twitter feed. That’s how bad Scott was.
Scott, I give you huge props for the frank and unqualified confession of your mistake, which shows terrific intellectual honesty and courage. Sadly, many people may have been convinced by your intellectual arguments and gotten the shots. Now they too have to worry about what’s going to happen over the next five years.
But still, albeit belatedly, it’s helpful to have your voice on Team Reality.
So, C&C. Amnesty?
💉 The Bills finished their interrupted game this weekend, losing to the Cincinnati Bengals 27-10. The Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin continues to recover from his dramatic mid-game collapse, even venturing to the training room to hang out with his teammates on Saturday. But he’s far from back to normal.
CBS ran a story Saturday headlined, “Bills’ Damar Hamlin Faces Long Recovery, Family Spokesman Says, but ‘Remains Very Upbeat’.” As of Saturday, Damar remains unable to travel:
“Damar still requires oxygen and is having his heart monitored regularly to ensure there are no setbacks or after effects,” [spokesman] Jordon Rooney said. “Though he is able to visit the team’s facility, Damar is not in position to travel often, and requires additional rest to help his body heal.”
Not counting social media posts, Hamlin has not yet spoken publicly. He was not quoted in CBS’s story or any other story I could find.
For instance, Hamlin was not quoted in a New York Times article on Sunday headlined, “Inside the Hospital Where Damar Hamlin’s Life Was Saved.” And don’t let anyone gaslight you about commotio cordis. Late in the Times’ lengthy article, it reported, “It still is not known why Mr. Hamlin had a cardiac arrest.” At the end of a long paragraph in which commotio cordis is discussed as a possible cause, the Times noted darkly that “Sometimes, they never find a cause.”
Sometimes they make SURE not to find a cause.
🔥 Politico ran a story yesterday headlined, “Jeff Zients To Be Biden’s Next Chief of Staff.”
Biden’s Chief of Staff Ronald Klain has stepped down. Jeff Zients, a Bain Capital multi-millionaire and Obama-era political veteran who coordinated all the mandates, railed against unvaccinated people, and violated civil rights laws and the Constitution by leading Biden’s Big Tech operation to censor Americans, will now become Biden’s new Chief of Staff.
Plus he’s an old white guy. Here he is!
Jeff Zients: Winter of ILLNESS AND DEATH for the unvaccinated. Late 2021
Best and brightest. But, despite all his covid management experience, it baffled me as to how Zients is qualified to take the demanding Chief of Staff position. It baffled Politico, too:
[W]hat Zients has in organization acumen he lacks in extensive political experience. … While he’s cultivated a wide array of relationships within Democratic circles, Zients has also been the subject of rising criticism from the party’s progressive wing over his background in management consulting and handling of the pandemic, which has persisted well beyond his exit as Covid czar.
In a statement released by the Revolving Door Project, Zients was characterized as someone who “has become astonishingly rich by profiteering in health care” companies and who embodies the “corporate misconduct” that the executive branch needs to penalize.
Oh, I see. He’s not BIDEN’S Chief of Staff. Jeff Zients is PHARMA’S Chief of Staff. Makes sense now.
🚀 This weekend, the Economist predicted Russia’s imminent national demise. So. Thank goodness, the war is almost over, the Ukrainians have won.
🔥 Finally, for your amusement, on Saturday I wrote a letter to the Washington Medical Commission about their silly investigation of the fabulous Dr. Ryan Cole. It goes out in today’s mail.
Have a marvelous Monday and an even better week! There’s lots I didn’t get to today, so tune in tomorrow, right back here, for more developing news.
If you can, join C&C in moving the needle and changing minds. I could use your help getting the truth out and spreading optimism and hope: https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/-learn-how-to-get-involved-
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© 2022, Jeff Childers, all rights reserved
Published with author’s permission.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
