Sen. Rand Paul: ‘Vaccine Hesitancy’ Is ‘Mostly a Response to Misinformation’ from Fauci and ‘Big Government Types’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told Breitbart News on Wednesday that “vaccine hesitancy” among Americans is mostly a function of “misinformation” spread by government bureaucrats like Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the president and former director of NIAID.

“The vaccine hesitancy, I think, is mostly a response to misinformation that you have gotten from Fauci and others,” Paul said on the Breitbart Daily News podcast with host Alex Marlow.

Marlow said more conservative and Republican Americans would be receptive to accepting coronavirus vaccines if the federal government’s chief vaccine advocates were agreeable to the political right.

Paul concurred, “If you were leading a vaccine effort and you really wanted people to be vaccinated, the people who are unvaccinated would be much more likely to listen to me than they would be to Fauci, and yet, no one’s ever asked me, ‘Will you do a public service announcement?’ Every time I’m on the air, I do say that if you’re vulnerable, I would be vaccinated, particularly over 65 and overweight. I think people at almost any age — probably after age 30, in particular overweight [or] significantly overweight — are at risk for this disease.”

“I think hesitancy is coming from the misinformation of the big-government types,” he added. “Actually, they’d be better off actually saying that voices like ours from the right would actually be voices that might encourage some people to get vaccinated.”

He continued, “The vaccine’s not perfect, but I think it does reduce your risk of being in the hospital or dying. I also mention in every speech I give that monoclonal antibodies will save your life, but you have to get them before you get too sick or Dr. Fauci will deny you care because the government directs all things COVID. If you get admitted to the hospital, they won’t give you any of the monoclonal antibodies. So you have to be very, very aware of what the different rules are if you get COVID or your parents or grandparents get it because you have to wind your way through the government labyrinth rules.”

Paul highlighted the refusal to consider natural immunity to COVID-19 among Americans who had receovered from the virus within proposed and imposed “vaccine mandates.”

He remarked, “I think it’s actually malpractice not to consider natural immunity. So for example, if you’re a pediatrician and you’re telling every kid to be vaccinated without any consideration for whether or not they’ve already had COVID, I think you’re really practicing bad medicine. I would suggest that everybody who thinks about getting a vaccine for their child ask first for an antibody test.”

https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2021/12/01/sen-rand-paul-vaccine-hesitancy-response-misinformation/

US Pullout Date Nears, But Iraqis Are Skeptica

No real withdrawal of troops is expected

Recent reports on the deal to withdraw US combat forces from Iraq suggest that the process is just 15 days away. The hope is that they would be completed before the December 31 deadline, as Iraq’s military assures.

That’s what the Iraqis want, but informed by the last 17+ years of US occupation, most are very skeptical. They’ve a right to be, too, as the Pentagon has already said troops will remain in Iraq beyond December 31.

Analysts say there will be no real withdrawal in December, but rather the US will just change the name of the mission and try to spin it as something else. Effectively, Iraq will see a withdrawal only on paper.

Past times when the US did this, they went to substantial effort to spin this as keeping promises. This time around, it seems they’re leaving it up to Iraq’s military to manage the narrative.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/11/30/us-pullout-date-nears-but-iraqis-are-skeptical/

The Usual Suspects Are Trying to Foment a Crisis With Russia

Once again, the United States and some of its security clients in Eastern Europe are doing their utmost to create a crisis atmosphere with respect to Russia. A key player in that effort is the government of Ukraine. As Ukrainian officials did in April 2021, they are again highlighting allegedly suspicious Russian troop movements near the border between the two countries in late October and early November. Ukrainian leaders contend that such maneuvers might well be the prelude to a military offensive.

Kiev’s propaganda offensive escalated dramatically on November 20 when Brig. General Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s director of defense intelligence, asserted in interview with Military Times that Moscow already had plans in place to launch an invasion by the end of January 2022. He was not talking about a modest border incursion in support of pro-Russia separatists who control portions of Ukraine’s Donbas region either. The attack he was predicting, Budanov insisted, would likely involve airstrikes, artillery and armor attacks followed by airborne assaults in the east, amphibious assaults in Odessa and Mariupul and even an incursion of Ukraine through neighboring Belarus in the north.

Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky soon made Budanov’s prediction look mild by comparison. He warned that Moscow not only intended to seize large swaths of Ukraine’s territory, but that the Kremlin had plans in place to stage a coup to overthrow his government. Zelensky was quite specific about the timetable; the coup was to occur during the week of November 28-December 4.

It would be bad enough if such efforts to generate a crisis were simply a unilateral campaign by a government determined to whip-up nationalist emotions to revive its flagging fortunes. But as it did in April, Joe Biden’s administration seems ready to give full credence and backing to the stance of its Ukrainian client toward Russia. In an April 2 telephone call to Zelensky, Biden "affirmed the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea."

Washington’s knee-jerk support for Kiev is equally evident with respect to the latest developments. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried told reporters in a telephone briefing on November 26 that "all options are on the table" in how to respond to Russia’s “large and unusual” troop buildup near Ukraine’s border. Her statement is the typical diplomatic blather for emphasizing that Washington would even consider using military force on behalf of Ukraine – although the United States has no formal security obligations whatever toward that country. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg likewise insisted that the Alliance "stands with Ukraine" in its confrontation with Russia.

https://original.antiwar.com/Ted_Galen_Carpenter/2021/11/29/the-usual-suspects-are-trying-to-foment-a-crisis-with-russia/

Nationals MP James Hayward faces court on child sex abuse charges

WA police allege 52-year-old former federal party vice-president indecently assaulted eight-year-old girl in 2021

West Australian state Nationals MP and former federal party vice-president James Hayward has been charged with multiple child sexual abuse offences.

Hayward, who was elected to WA’s parliament earlier this year, was scheduled to face Perth magistrates court on Thursday.

WA police allege the 52-year-old indecently assaulted an eight-year-old girl in 2021.

He is in police custody and has been charged with three counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13, one count of procuring a child under 13 to do an indecent act and one count of persistent sexual conduct.

Hayward, who holds the shadow local government, water and regional cities portfolios, was elected to represent the South West region in the Legislative Council at the March election.

He previously worked as a local councillor in Bunbury and a television journalist. He served as the state president of the WA Nationals from 2015 to 2019

The WA opposition leader, Mia Davies, has been contacted for comment.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/02/western-australian-nationals-mp-james-hayward-charged-with-child-sexual-abuse

https://www.theage.com.au/national/western-australia/nationals-mp-james-hayward-charged-over-alleged-child-sex-abuse-20211202-p59e85.html