How anti-vaxxers earn $millions by spreading COVID misinformation – National & International News – TUE 10Aug2021

How the ‘Disinformation Dozen’ profit from COVID misinformation. A pack of errant elephants ends its mesmerizing journey across China.

NATIONAL NEWS

How the Disinformation Dozen profit from COVID misinformation

Have you ever heard wild claims about the COVID vaccines and wondered where they came from? Or have you ever pondered how the same people who claim that “we don’t know enough about the effects of the vaccines” also confidently assert that they cause everything from infertility to magnetism to bodily infiltration by 5G networks?

If so, you’re in luck. The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has produced a profile of what it calls the Disinformation Dozen, a rogue’s gallery of COVID misinformation profiteers. According to the CCDH, the Dozen are responsible for spreading 65% of misinformation about COVID and COVID vaccines online.

The publication Business Insider conducted its own exposé of one prominent member of the Disinformation Dozen, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny. Dr. Tenpenny is an osteopath and has no expertise in infectious diseases or epidemiology. That has not stopped her from being a vocal anti-vaxxer since long before COVID-19. Nor has it prevented her from profiting handsomely from misleadingly selling herself as an “expert” and misrepresenting the science.

Cherry-picking all the way to the bank

Dr. Tenpenny’s case is an especially insidious one. In her frequent appearances in courtrooms, online streams and even statehouses (all of which earn her huge fees), she exudes a sort of homespun charm. Her status as a doctor also lends her an ill-deserved air of authority on the subjects she speaks about. That’s because her training makes her extremely adept at cherry-picking quotes from peer-reviewed papers by actual scientists to suit the narrative she is selling.  

Insider uncovered numerous examples of Tenpenny deceptively quoting scientific papers out-of-context. In one example, she extracts a quote from a paper by Australian Professor Lidia Morawska, implying that social distancing is ineffective in a pandemic. Prof. Morawska told Insider that her argument was actually that the standard 6-ft distance was outdated and needed to be revised. So, if Tenpenny ever actually read Morawska’s paper in full, she either did not understand it fully, or she willfully misrepresented Morawska’s conclusions.

But this is far from an isolated example.

Professor Raymond Tellier, a McGill University microbiologist specializing in coronaviruses, pandemics, and medical microbiology, reviewed a document produced by Tenpenny, titled “20 mechanisms of injury,” about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Tellier rebutted Tenpenny’s misleading assertions about spike proteins, mRNA, human DNA, adenoviruses, and anaphylaxis point-by-point. Tellier summed up his findings by saying: “To paraphrase Luke Skywalker: ‘Amazing. Almost everything she said is wrong'”. He continued, “It is quite clear that [Dr. Tenpenny] does not understand (or willfully misrepresents) the articles she is reading, and is incapable of appreciating them correctly”.

Tenpenny conveniently packages her misinformation slurry into a suite of four educational courses on COVID-19, priced at $79 per module (but currently discounted to $24.95). But that’s just the caboose of Tenpenny’s misinformation money train. The CCDH estimates that Tenpenny earned up to $353,925 from a single webinar titled “How Covid-19 Injections Can Make You Sick … Even Kill You”. As a side gig, Tenpenny charges exorbitant fees as an “expert” witness in medical injury lawsuits.

“But where do the Jews figure into this?”…

Aside from peddling “answers” to questions everyone is asking about the vaccines, Dr. Tenpenny also implies she has answers to questions no one asked. One of those questions being, “Are the vaccines part of a Jewish conspiracy?”.

Dr. Tenpenny has made numerous posts on social media about George Soros and the Rothschilds, insinuating a belief in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy for world domination. (Having some Jewish ancestry myself, I’m outraged that I never get invited to those world domination meetings).

Dr. Tenpenny’s social media has also shared posts denying the Holocaust, and asserting (wrongly) that all the Big Pharma companies are owned by Jews.

Whether or not Dr. Tenpenny actually believes any of this is anyone’s guess. It’s just as likely that these posts, and the controversy they generate, are a marketing ploy. In other words, they are a way of grabbing attention from an audience she believes will be more receptive to the snake oil she is selling.

“The bottom line”

Across conventional social media, Dr. Tenpenny only has around 115,000 followers. But between her appearances on various podcasts, including Alex Jones’ Infowars, Dr. Tenpenny has accumulated more than 1.5 million streaming views.

And those views translate into dollars- lots of them.

According to CCDH’s CEO Imran Ahmed, with Tenpenny and all the Disinformation Dozen, for all their feigned sincerity, their prime mover is profit. “There is no true self” with them, Ahmed says. “There’s no bottom line beyond the bottom line.”

Some CCDH researchers infiltrated a meeting of the National Vaccine Information Center. The NVIC is an organization dedicated to spreading “false and unsubstantiated claims about vaccination”, according to NewsGuard.

At the meeting, prominent anti-vaxxers, including Tenpenny, were putting their heads together to decide how to best capitalize on the COVID panic. Ahmed describes them “bubbling over with glee at the opportunity that COVID presents to them for market growth”.

But wait, there’s so much more…

Dr. Tenpenny’s exploits are too varied and numerous to be listed in detail here, but they are well worth a read. And it is important to remember, she is only 1/12 of the Disinformation Dozen.

If you want to learn more about Dr. Tenpenny, follow this link.

If you want to do a deep dive into the Disinformation Dozen, you can check out CCDH’s report here.

For more on how anti-vaxxers bring in $millions every year, you can read “Pandemic Profiteers” by clicking here.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

China has evacuated 150,000 from path of roving elephant herd

Seventeen months ago, a herd of 14 elephants left their nature reserve in China’s Yunnan province and embarked on an over 300-mile trek. No one knows for sure why the animals left the safety of the reserve. Some believe an inexperienced pack leader may have led them astray, or that the herd just decided to find a new habitat.

The pachyderms’ pilgrimage has captured the imaginations of Chinese and international observers who have monitored their progress through drone, cell phone and surveillance footage. But while enthralling, the elephants’ sightseeing expedition has also brought them into conflicts with some humans. Wandering through fields, villages and even cities, the elephants have consumed $millions worth of crops, and even damaged some buildings. As the animals progressed, Chinese officials have temporarily evacuated about 150,000 people from nearby population centers to ensure the animals wouldn’t come to harm.

Now, their adventure seems to be ending just as mysteriously as it began. The elephants have recently decided to turn back towards their nature reserve in Yunnan. China has only about 300 Asian elephants left in the wild, most of them in Yunnan.

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).