By Ginger Taylor

Religious vaccine exemptions?  She was for them before she was against them.  

6/22/18

Let's be serious.  Maine Governor Janet T. Mills' sister Dora Ann is a pediatrician with a Masters degree in public health who has been the primary vaccine promoter in Maine for more than a decade.  Mills never had any intention of preserving the rights of Mainers to choose what vaccines they can get.

Watch this story by NBC 6 that shows her lie to Mainers.

Interviewing silence: In conversation with the Autism Community
Participations Journal of Audience and Reception Studies
Download Interviewing Silence-1
Jonathan Rose,
Drew University, New Jersey, USA

Abstract:

Collecting an oral history of autism presents extraordinary challenges. A third of all autistic individuals are nonspeaking, many others are seriously speech impaired, and their parents are often so overwhelmed by the burdens of caring for disabled children that they have little time to reflect about their experiences. Moreover, the mainstream media likes ‘happy news’ about autism (e.g., fundraisers, job training programs) and prefers not to dwell on the dark side (neurological damage, unemployment, violent outbursts, suicide). Here I explain the methodology behind my article ‘The Autism Literary Underground’, published in the journal Reception. I conducted interviews by email, in part because scheduled audio-recorded interviews are likely to be interrupted by the daily crises that autism families face, such as meltdowns and elopements. I specifically interviewed a small cohort of autism parents about their reading and how it shaped their attitudes toward the disorder, and I compared their responses with the results of larger scale studies. What emerged was a self-portrait of the autism community that is very different from what the mass media presents.

Keywords: Email interviews; autism; reading; controversy

The blind and the deaf have always been with us, and over the centuries we have learned how to communicate with them. But autism is a relatively new (and increasingly common) disability, and we don’t yet understand it or know how to deal with it. The symptoms vary enormously from individual to individual. Severity can range from barely noticeable to totally debilitating. The condition often impairs the ability to read but can also result in ‘hyperlexia’, a syndrome which involves precocious reading at a very early age but also difficulties in reading comprehension.

“Fundamentally, this vote isn’t about public health – it’s about how far is too far for the government to reach into our personal lives,” Farrin said. “A vote against this bill isn’t a vote against vaccinations – it’s a vote in support of parental choice and religious freedoms.”  Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Skowhegan

...But supporters of the bill said religious exemptions for preventable diseases put others at risk, especially children with compromised immune systems, like those recovering from childhood cancers or other illnesses.

Read the full article in the Press Herald - Maine Senate reverses course, ends religious exemption for vaccines by Scott Thistle.

The 2020 Presidential election is getting underway. Dan Olmsted always called us "Switzerland" when it came to politics at Age of Autism. As a non-profit organization, we do not lobby or tell you for whom or how you should vote.  Some of our readers became one issue voters in 2016. And the issue was forced vaccination. President Trump seemed to be amenable to a conversation about vaccine injury and medical freedom. We've seen precious little from the White House in that regard. In fact, he recommended a measles vaccine (do tell him there is no such thing, only MMR) for everyone during the great measles panic of 2019.

I came up with a rather clever - OK, silly - campaign slogan for both Rs and Ds. It's what I do.  It's all tongue in cheek and I am not suggesting you vote specifically for either party. Here goes:

Vote Republican!  More Guns! More Buns! (In the oven.)  For our readers who are not native English speakers, a "bun in the oven," is a phrase for being pregnant.

Vote Democrat! More Taxes! More Vaxes!

Connecticut, my state, is not voting on removing vaccine exemptions - the bill was tabled last week. Oregon also staved off vaccine exemption removal - for now. The beautiful state of Maine succumbed. They voted to remove the religious exemption, despite the tireless work of our own Ginger Taylor and so many other advocates from a number of walks of life and points of view. It's not just the autism community fearful of mandatory vaccinations and the result on our children.

We just take most of the blame and are the number one demon in the media.

By Cathy Jameson

Ronan has a few favorite things – books, songs, movies, and words.  One of his favorite movies is the original Dr. Seuss Horton Hears a Who! cartoon from 1970.  He found it on his own on Youtube and really loves certain parts of it.  He loves showing us the silly Seuss-inspired musical instruments from the story also.  Pointing carefully at his iPad so as not to rewind or fast forward the scene, he turns to us, stares intently at us to get our attention, and waits for us to say some of his favorite words of objects he sees on the screen:  drums, cymbal, trumpet.  I love the eye contact and the attention he shares with us in those moments.  I don’t always love the repetition of him playing the movie over and over again, but I love that he finds joy in parts of a story that I sometimes overlook. 

Ronan’s played another clip from that movie over and over again before.  It’s toward the end where the Whos from Whoville all chime in together and yell, WE ARE HERE!  WE ARE HERE!  WE ARE HERE!  Their lives were in jeopardy.  Something had to be done to prevent a terrible tragedy.  Working together, it took the entire population of Whos to let Horton’s jungle-mates know that they existed.  It’s a great scene with a powerful message, but from mid-January through most of February, that was the one and only part of the movie that Ronan wanted to play.  At one point when he would not stop rewinding and replaying that part, I looked at Ronan and thought, puh-leeze, kid, find something else to listen to!  But then, when I heard him play that clip multiple times the next day, I thought, Wait, am I missing something?  I know he’s here.  I’m sure he knows I’m doing everything I can to help him, too.  Since Ronan’s used parts of movies and songs in communication efforts before, I wondered, Is he trying to tell me something??  When I saw that he was just fixated and perseverating on the scene, I got tired of hearing those Whos yelling.  I asked Ronan if he could please either lower the volume or find another movie to watch.  By the end of that week, he’d moved onto watching a different film. 

I got some reprieve, but then, about 4 weeks ago, Ronan started listening to Horton attempting to save the Whos all over again.  Oh, no. I thought.  Here we go again.  But the times Ronan would replay that specific scene were uncanny.  I’d hear it after I’d tell the family about the challenges and the threats other parents across the country were facing.  Those challenges were stemming from liability-free vaccine legislation – from the Jewish families in New York, to the freedom fighters preparing to oppose SB276 in California, to the Mainers raising their voices about LD 798, to the group of parents rallying in Connecticut to protect their parental rights, there was much chatter in our family about vaccines over the last few weeks.  Ronan has a lot of deficits because of his disability, but his hearing is not affected.  He hears everything and will react to what he hears.  Vaccine-related stories around the United States and in our home were intensifying.  So was the frequency of Ronan playing that clip about the Whos from Whoville  (that part begins around minute 18:45).  

Source: Screenshot from the video

By Anne Dachel

My friend Maurine Meleck, dedicated autism activist, had this letter to the editor published by the Jacksonville (FL) Times Union.

Every April we live the fantasy surrounding autism with blue lights, walks, and puzzle pieces. We’ve been conditioned to think all this is significant. Somehow there’s no need to worry about a disorder overwhelmingly affecting children with no known cause. The fact that the rate keeps on increasing is just more of the mystery.    

Maurine points out the obvious and ignored truth: AUTISM WILL BURY US.

The cost of this disaster will be dumped on the states. While federal officials continue to scratch their collective heads over autism, state governments will have to provide for adults who will live long lives dependent on social services. The autism bill will come due very soon.

We must address autism in a realistic manner

The authors of a recent article urging employers to hire more people on the autism spectrum because it makes good business sense stated that individuals with autism may “differ dramatically from one another.”

This statement is very true.

By Nancy Hokkanen

Overturning a Supreme Court decision is a tall order, necessitating a constitutional amendment or a new Court ruling. Despite the effort and obstacles, the eventual repeal of SCOTUS’s 2011 Bruesewitz v. Wyeth ruling is behind four resolutions discussed by Minnesota legislators and advocates at a Capitol press conference May 14 in St. Paul.

The 2011 SCOTUS Bruesewitz verdict eliminated vaccine injury victims’ option to sue pharmaceutical companies after first working through the problem-ridden National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, or “Vaccine Court.” A 6-2 majority of the Supreme Court held that “the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act preempts all design-defect claims against vaccine manufacturers brought by plaintiffs seeking compensation for injury or death caused by a vaccine’s side effects.”

HF2862, HF2825, SF2781 and SF2831 are Minnesota resolutions to reverse Bruesewitz, by “memorializing the President and Congress to hold vaccine manufacturers liable for design defects that result in adverse side effects from vaccines.” Local vaccine safety advocates helped develop the language with legislators, in an attempt to restore the NCVIA to its original Congressionally mandated intent.

Since Oct. 1, 1988, the Vaccine Court has paid out $4.1 billion to victims of vaccine injury, and is hardly the free-and-easy road to generous compensation that industry-linked critics claim. The resolutions ask Congress to “override the Supreme Court decision, and remove Bruesewitz to allow petitioners to file suits in state or federal court,” according to speaker Wayne Rohde, father of vaccine-injured child and author of The Vaccine Court: The Dark Truth of America's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Minnesota’s Capitol was chaotic Tuesday because its legislative session ends May 20. Rep. Jeremy Munson (Dist. 23B) made

Minnesota Rep. Jeremy Munson.

time to lead the half-hour press conference, organized primarily by the Vaccine Freedom Coalition and Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota. In attendance were reps from metro TV stations, radio and a newspaper, and lobbyists including the Minnesota Medical Association.

Rep. Munson stated that he is not anti-vaccine; rather:

“I am for making sure we that have a balance in the system that allows vaccine manufacturers to be held accountable if their products are dangerous. If everyone believes that vaccines are safe, that they cause no injury or they can’t cause injury, then there should be no problem with… going back to the law that we used to have, that allowed people to seek civil cases against vaccine manufacturers.”

Sen. Jim Abeler, chief author of SF2781, noted the large number of vaccine injury claims filed – and “how tortuous the route is to actually get a claim resolved” after an injury or death. And he questioned public health officials’ definition of “safe” – which differs from Webster’s Dictionary. “We’re in a world where the Department of Health calls them ‘exceedingly safe’ – I think that nothing is further from the truth.”

Sen. Abeler stated that vaccines are safe for some people but not all, and compared them to peanuts. “Nobody disbelieves the peanut allergy family. Unfortunately when somebody has a reaction to a vaccine, they are somehow considered to be unbelievable.”

Vaccines are classified as biologics, not drugs, so safety testing requirements differ. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that U.S. vaccines are “as safe as possible,” but critics point to contaminants, lack of true placebos, and data fraud in vaccine research.

A 2012 American Medical Association Journal of Ethics article states, “…[V]accine manufacturers are now not liable for failing to improve vaccine designs and defects, unlike manufacturers of other products.” When a manufacturer bears no professional or financial liability for unsafe reactions, “Then they’re much more casual with their safety testing,” said Abeler.

Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter J. Patrick Coolican.

At 4:25 in the Senate video, Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter J. Patrick Coolican suddenly interrupted Sen. Abeler’s presentation with an irrelevant question:

“Do you think that gun manufacturers should also be protected from liability? Because they currently are, by an act of Congress.”

Sen. Abeler replied that Coolican’s question was another topic for another day, but added, “I appreciate the joke.” (To folks in the know, Minnesota’s legislative progress has been held up recently by polarizing partisan gun policy debates.)

Next Coolican half-asked:

“So you’re not pro-vaccine.”

Clearly Coolican had an agenda and was baiting Sen. Abeler, rather than:

            (1) listening to the full presentation content, or

            (2) asking a question pertinent to the material being presented.

Only two minutes before (at 2:58) Sen. Abeler had stated most distinctly:

From The CT Mirror:

Legislators who in recent weeks had accelerated efforts to repeal Connecticut’s religious exemption on mandatory immunizations reversed themselves Thursday, abandoning their quest amid concerns about what to do with unvaccinated children who are already enrolled in school.

I can tell them what to do with HEALTHY, unvaccinated children in school. Let them continue to grow up, prosper and take part in the basic American right 0f education. Healthy children pose no threat.

Read more at The CT Mirror.

Jabberwocky

Alabama has all but removed a woman's right to choose to terminate a pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest. As a Mom of three disabled daughters who face a lifetime of sexual assault, this ruling appalls me.

Undue burden means significant difficulty or expense: In the field of reproductive rights, having the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a fetus that is not yet viable. Laws that impose an undue burden on a fundamental right are unconstitutional under current Supreme Court cases.( https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/undue_burden)

What about the undue burden of vaccination rights?  How far will a parent have to travel to find a doctor willing to give a medical exemption to a child, when that doctor knows his license will be at stake? We're creating a new back alley. In 2019. Not to mention the threat of vaccine injury to every single child. That fact is swept under the rug because most politicians, heck, most Americans, simply do NOT believe vaccine injury exists beyond the redness at the injection site. Vaccine injury is as mythical as the Jabberwocky. And if vaccine injury does not exist, there is no reason to ever say "no" to a vaccine, therefore exemptions are not needed. Find me a bottle that says "Drink Me," please.

Maine removed a woman's right to choose to say "no" to pediatric vaccines for her children, even in cases of previous family injury, religious belief or scientific research having convinced her that to delay or deny a vaccine is in the best interest of her child.

Women who rally against Alabama's law are considered Handmaid Heroines.

Women who rally against Maine's (and New York and Connecticut, and California, and Oregon et al) law are considered dangerous, selfish, obnoxious threats to be silenced.

Here's a clever way to sum up American politics today.

Republicans  = Guns and Buns (in the oven.)

Democrats = Vaxes and Taxes.

"Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome wraths outgrabe." (Lewis Carroll.)  This is not, as our Dan Olmsted would have said, a "frabjous" day for any of us.

NATURE WINS.
SCIENCE IS IMPERFECT.
THE ROAD TO HEALTH IS PAVED WITH PROFITS.

We are allowed to talk about antiobiotic overuse and the terrible outcomes. We are not allowed to talk about vaccination overuse and the terrible outcomes.

From Vox.com:

Our antibiotics are becoming useless

“Common diseases are becoming untreatable.” That’s the blunt warning issued on page one of a major new United Nations report on drug resistance. If we don’t make a radical change now, the report says, drug-resistant diseases could kill 10 million people a year by 2050.

Drug resistance is what happens when we overuse antibiotics in the treatment of humans, animals, and plants. When a new antibiotic is introduced, it can have great, even life-saving results — for a while. But then the bacteria adapt. Gradually, the antibiotic becomes less effective, and we’re left with a disease that we don’t know how to treat, perhaps more dangerous than its predecessor.

From Child Health Defense:

Failure to Vaccinate or Vaccine Failure: What Is Driving Disease Outbreaks?

The topic of vaccine failure is not new, having been discussed since the earliest days of smallpox vaccination—and modern-day descriptions of vaccine failure continue to multiply. There is also growing evidence that vaccine manufacturers have made false claims about their products’ effectiveness. In MMR-related lawsuits against Merck, former Merck scientists avow that Merck “fraudulently misled the government and omitted, concealed, and adulterated material information regarding the efficacy of its mumps vaccine in violation of the FCA [False Claims Act].” According to a report by Huffpost, the company’s “far-ranging” fraudulent activities were designed to help Merck monopolize the mumps vaccine market, even though Merck “expected outbreaks to occur” as a result of its shoddy vaccine. Merck has also been accused of fraud and negligence related to other vaccines.

A recent article in U.S. News says that many families’ desire for vaccine choice stems from “accumulated distrust of organized medicine, federal regulators and pharmaceutical companies.” Although U.S. News does not say so, this “accumulated distrust” is well deserved!

Rather than tarring and feathering individuals who, for a variety of well-founded reasons, do not vaccinate—or worse, forcing them to inject their children with vaccines that are not only ineffective but harmful—our legislators should be investigating the powerful entities that are trying to hide vaccines’ inability to deliver what they promise.

By Anne Dachel

Someone in the mainstream media actually noticed that something is wrong with our children. On May 9, 2019 Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson editorialized on the state of our children’s health and our elected officials’ failure to deal with it.

The occasion involved the most recent school shooting, namely the one at a Denver-area charter school where a young man was killed trying to stop an assailant. The title of the story was Vultures treat the Colorado shooting like a political prop—our kids deserve so much more, and in it Carlson went from criticizing politicians who use heartbreaking situations and push for gun control to asking the REALLY BIG QUESTION: WHY ARE KIDS TODAY SO DIFFERENT?

Carlson: Congressman Jason Crow and Sen. Michael Bennet, both Democrats, attended the prayer vigil. They were not there to offer prayers. They were there to belittle prayer, and instead hold a campaign rally….

What vultures these people are. The students walked out of the vigil. For the politicians, devastated children and grieving families were just political props -- props they could use to increase their own power at the expense of other people's freedom. That is their reaction to every problem and every tragedy.

This could have been stopped if you have given me more power. Of course, in reality, Washington has been getting more and more power for decades and has not been making our kids happier or healthier. …

There are a lot of possible explanations for this. We don't seem to be talking about any of them. The kids in Colorado were, though. They chanted, "Mental health." And they are right. But it is not enough to say we need more mental healthcare. It is also worth asking why we need it.

Why do so many kids have so many more mental health problems? It's not your imagination. It's real. It is measurable. It is being measured, though not addressed. In the past decade, teen depression has risen dramatically, as have teen suicides. They are connected, of course. Between 2008 and 2017, the percentage of adolescents with depression symptoms rose 52 percent. Among kids 15 to 24, suicides are up almost 50 percent. That's a horrifying number. No one mentions it.

Millions of American children are on drugs for ADHD, anxiety, other mental health problems. But why? What is driving this?

Is it the breakdown in the family? Is it too much screen time? Is it something in the food? We don't really know. That is the actual tragedy. And as long as our leaders' preferred response to this tragedy is opportunism, we never will know.

Here is the dichotomy of California. Some are protected. Others are thrown under the cable car. Vaccine makers - have NO LIABILITY for injury.  None. Nada. Zip. Zilch.  Few Americans know this. It's a huge difference.

Monsanto hit with staggering $2 billion verdict in Roundup cancer suit

An Oakland jury awarded a staggering $2 billion-plus in damages Monday to a Bay Area couple who both came down with cancer after spraying Monsanto Co.’s widely used Roundup weed killer on their properties for more than 30 years.

It’s the third such verdict against Monsanto, all in Bay Area lawsuits, and by far the largest judgment against the company.

Alva Pilliod, 76, of Livermore was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, and his wife, Alberta Pilliod, 74, was diagnosed in 2015. They had used Roundup to kill weeds on the grounds of three properties they owned in the area, applying it once a week for nine months out of the year. Their lawyer estimated they sprayed 1,500 gallons of the herbicide over three decades.

The Maine Senate has just agreed with the House to remove religious and philosophical exemptions. The governor will sign the bill, which will go into (side) effect in 2021.

From Ginger Taylor, “What happened in Maine:

The house had voted to pass LD 798 removing philosophical and religious vaccine exemptions last month.  Two weeks ago it went before the Senate, which passed the bill, but then passed an amendment to restore the religious exemption.  

4 Dems voted with the Republicans to keep the religious exemption.   The vote was 18-17 for the amendment.

The House then would not pass the Senate version, and sent it back to the Senate, insisting that they pass the version with both exemptions removed.  Those four Senators were basically beaten to bits.  The news papers ran their names, their party berated them, and one caved.  Senator Dill. 

Today they revoted and the measure passed with both exemptions removed, 18-17.

The Governor Mills was a primary proponent of the bill.  Her sister Dora Mills is a pediatrician and public health official who has been the face of vaccine sales in Maine for more than a decade.  She will sign the bill with glee.

Green voted to remove exemptions, red are the stalwart Senators who need to hear your gratitude for defending your rights.

American women are having fewer children, and seem to be getting "worse" at successful healthy birth when they do, according to this article on NPR. We are the most medicalized society ever to exist. We treat everything with drugs whose side effects are longer than a CVS receipt. We've added vaccine after vaccine after vaccine not only to infants through teens, but to pregnant mothers. When my mother gave birth to my siblings and me, there were few contraindications to pregnancy.  Then we hit the "zero tolerance" years when I had my children in the 1990s-2000. I avoided so many foods, certainly alcohol, I never smoked but I'd run from a room if there was secondhand smoke. I wouldn't' even stand near a microwave!  I had zero vaccines while pregnant. (If I'd been offered one to protect my baby, I would have taken it at least for my 1st two pregnancies. It never occurred to me that vaccines could harm when I was vax-uneducated.)

The article below has some fascinating stats. And frightening. Teen birth rate is down, which is a good thing. Women in their 40s are the only group to show an increase in birthrate.  (A lot of you just crossed yourselves, right?)

Young men and women leaving college are saddled with debt, surely this delays marriage. And childbirth. Women have more choices and less reliance on a man to provide.  There must be major socioeconomic reasons as well as health-related reasons. 

U.S. Births Dip To 30-Year Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level

For the third year in a row, both the preterm birthrate and the low birth weight rate rose. The CDC said that the 9.93 percent rise in preterm births was due to late preterm births and that the early preterm rate had not changed from 2016's 2.75 percent.

Low birth weight — defined as newborns that weigh less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces — rose slightly above the highest level previously recorded, with 2017's 8.27 percent topping 2006's 8.26 percent.

The overall cesarean delivery rate nudged upward in 2017, rising to 32 percent from 31.9 percent – still below the all-time high of 32.9 percent in 2009.

In addition, young people are reported to be having LESS SEX. I know we're said to be "Anti-science" here at AofA.... but I've listened to the Makin' Whoopie song many times and I know that you have to have sex to make a baby.  In March, media outlets ran article about the drop in sexual activity in our nation (I almost wrote country but then I laughed out loud and had to change it to nation.) We live in the days of TINDER and hookups.  How is it that 28% of MALES younger than 30 aren't having sex??  Is this the videogame addicted online porn in the hairy palm of men's hands world at play - or NOT at play? Perhaps our old companion autism spectrum disorder is playing a role?  This group of males is also where we see angry school shooters.  What has happened to the male brain, libido and desire or ability to secure a sex partner?

From The Washington Post story The share of Americans not having sex has reached a record high

For most of the past three decades, 20-something men and women reported similar rates of sexlessness. But that has changed in recent years. Since 2008, the share of men younger than 30 reporting no sex has nearly tripled, to 28 percent. That’s a much steeper increase than the 8 percentage point increase reported among their female peers.

This is how politics works.  Deals. Behind the scenes. Out front. Make no mistake, the arduous work of demonstrators who fought against the removal of vaccine exemptions is making a difference.  Politicians pick their battles wisely, even in the face of lobbyists. A wary congratulations to Oregon, a very different part of the country from New York and Connecticut. Stay tuned.

Join us in Albany, NY on Tuesday, May 14, for our first annual Vaccine Injury and Vaccine Rights Rally & Lobbying Day.

Click here to learn more.

If you want to protect your first amendment right to decide what goes into your body or your children's' bodies you need to come to our rally!

Our rights have never been in greater danger in NY than they are now with the unprecedented number of bills threatening to expand the schedule of mandatory vaccines (flu, HPV/Gardasil), allow minors 14 years old and up to get vaccinated without parental knowledge or consent and to eliminate religious exemptions in NY.

If you don't show up to fight for your rights, who will? 

There's an elephant in the classroom. Last week, I wrote about the UNC shooter, whose father recorded his son's autism in a letter to his daughter.   Our AofA readers have children across the length and breadth of the spectrum, no matter what we call it. We work hard to protect our kids, and to teach those who are able to participate in the mainstream world, how to navigate in a way that they can keep themselves safe.  It seems the Colorado STEM school was a perfect example of the state of education that our Anne Dachel records in her website Loss 0f Brain Trust. Boys, young men, and in this latest shooting, a gender-fluid female who prefers a male identification.  Read the clip below. No matter how smart, how savvy in math, technology and science, if the students have significant behaviors and aggression, what is their future? And how to we protect those around them? I hope some brave journalist (Oh, Dan Olmsted, how we miss you) will find a way to access health records for diagnoses and medications. Mostly medications. 

###

STEM School Parents Warned The District Of Their Security Concerns Months Before Shooting

In a 242-page document submitted to the school board and to Douglas County Superintendent Thomas Tucker in December, a group of parents allege there was inadequate attention paid to the needs of students with behavioral and other special needs.

The document cites “severe student safety and mental health concerns” in the 2018-2019 school year, but because of confidentiality, it doesn’t provide more details. It claims that students with potential behavioral challenges, such as autism, don’t have appropriate accommodations including supervision and that “this inherently puts other students at risk.” The document was authored and compiled by current STEM School parents.

The school has an unusually high number of gifted students, who often require higher levels of mental and social health support.

We here in Connecticut face the loss of our religious right to say no to a vaccine required for school attendance. TOMORROW, Monday, 5/13. Matt Ritter, Liz Linehan and Josh Elliott have been successful in creating an emergency bill to strip the religious exemption in CT.

WE NEED YOU TO TESTIFY AGAINST IT--IN PERSON!!

WHEN: Monday May 13th at 9:30am-3pm sign ups to testify begin at 8am
WHERE:  Legislative Office Building (LOB) 300 Capitol Ave Hartford. Room 2E. Parking is free and behind the LOB in a parking garage.
WHAT TO DO: SHOW UP, this is the time to take the day off of work, have your significant other come too, bring the kids. Bring your friends! If you don't show up for this one, there might not be another chance to show up.  

Please submit 30 copies of testimony to the staff when signing up. Testimony received after the start of the Informational Hearing may not be distributed until after the hearing. The first hour will be reserved for invited speakers. Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes of testimony. Unofficial sign-up sheets have no standing for the Informational Hearing.

IF YOU CAN'T COME: Please submit written testimony via email to: phtestimony@cga.ct.gov AND kidtestimony@cga.ct.gov

From a March article in The CT Mirror, with my version below each para in red.

“Here is the situation we’re faced with: You have hundreds, if not thousands, of kids with compromised immune systems who are entering kindergarten with no knowledge of who sitting beside them has not been vaccinated,” he said. “Who is going to speak for those kids?

Here is the situation we're faced with: You have hundreds, if not thousands of kids with vaccine injuries who are entering kindergarten with no knowledge if the next vaccine we demand go into their bodies could cause further adverse reaction. Who is going to speak for those kids?

“You have the medical community coming to us saying, ‘Why do you have this exemption when other states are getting rid of it?’”

You have the parents of vaccine compromised children and their healthy siblings coming to us saying,"Why can't we have the exemption to protect our children, even if 0ther states are getting rid of it?

State Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, said a contingent of the skeptics are “vaccine averse” – they aren’t opposed to immunizations, but they need more information.

Parents say that they are vaccine educated, they aren't all, 100% opposed to vaccinations as a medical choice, but they need to know they can say "no" to one of more vaccines and the timing of administration if their child(ren) have a history or possibility of injury.

By Cathy Jameson

A couple of years ago when we discovered that Ronan was getting better at typing, I asked him to fill in a few short sentences.  When he was finished, I couldn’t wait to show the rest of the family.  We were all so excited to see his responses! 

Mom is mom.

Dad is dad.

Ronan is wii bowling.

Izzy is nice.

Fiona is love.

For years, Ronan would only tell us what he wanted.  I got used to his one-word requests, either by sign or his typing attempts, but craved to know more.  Getting Ronan to the next level, like knowing what he was feeling, would take some time.  It’s neat to see that he can do more than just make his wants known like this one from 2011:

PLAY MOVIE YES

NEW MOVIE YES

TRAIN

I WANT MOVIE

I love that Ronan has learned that his ability to communicate is important.  One word at a time, he has been able to tell us not just his wants, but also his needs.  When it’s too cold in the room, he types cold and asks for assistance to put on a jacket.  When he’s upset with someone or something, he will now quickly type “feel sad” or “feel angry”.  With prompting, I’ve been able to help him type full sentences.  Since much of his communication still includes requests, I ask him to be polite in making them – address his helper and add please or thank you. 

Non-verbal autism severely limits Ronan.  Patience, determination, and his brave attempts at trying to talk while he’s typing continue to keep me hopeful though.  His latest vocal outputs and his growing receptive language skills are encouraging to hear and see.  Since he can comprehend much of what is going on around him, I try to find new opportunities for Ronan to join our activities and to find out more about what he’s thinking about.  While we’ll always hope and pray for verbal speech, lately, we maintain the focus on writing and typing with Ronan.  I’m glad we are.

God almighty, I am having one HELL of a flashback to when 2010 when my then ten year old daughter leapt of the bus sobbing inconsolably while bruises formed on her body.  Look at this beautiful little Wisconsin girl with the pigtails. Another girl on the bus, her seatmate, was "brutally biting" Miss Waldron.  This other student also has a disability - and I place no blame on a child. 

Here's where I disagree - Dad calls for a bus aide, which seems to make sense. But.... I never want an aide on my daughter's bus. It's written into her IEP - NO BUS AIDE. Why? The bus aide was the perpetrator, spraining Bella's hand day after day.  I place the blame on the bus driver in this Wisconsin case. He or she should have pulled over. Surely there was screaming. Autism vocalization is one thing. Screams of agony are UNMISTAKABLE. He should have pulled over.

Autism is a scourge. For those who have it. For those of us who love them. IT IS A CURSE AND A SCOURGE. You don't like that statement? Go read another happy shiny horsehshit site.  Kim

###

GREEN BAY, Wisc. -- An elementary school student in Green Bay, Wisconsin, came home with bruises on her arm after being bitten by another student multiple times on the school bus, according to WBAY.

Lillian Waldron, 10, goes to Langlade Elementary School. Her mother said she is developmentally delayed and cannot speak.

When Waldron exited the bus Monday, she ran to her mother with tears in her eyes. Waldron was inconsolable, so her mother decided to calm her down by giving her a bath.

That's when she noticed the bruises.

Waldron's father said she sits directly behind the school bus driver in a bus with other students with special needs.

"She can't tell them to stop. She couldn't get away, because she's in a five-point harness car seat. She just had to sit there and take it and the bus driver wasn't stopping," Waldron's mother said.

All Green Bay Area Public Schools buses have video recording devices on them. The school district said it is now investigating the video.

Waldron's parents said the school principal already watched the video and told them it was "gruesome and horrifying to look at."  Read more if you can bear it here.

Yesterday afternoon and today, there is a nationally breaking story about San Francisco physician Ken Stoller receiving a subpoena from the San Francisco City Attorney for all his medical records for all vaccine exemptions he has written.

A new tactic is taking place to harm doctors who write vaccine exemptions in Squalorfnia, formerly known as California. Using public nuisance laws against them. Imagine that. The lengths to sell a bill. To remove rights. Let's chat about San Francisco, shall we?

San Francisco's is a squalid city of filth and disease. A city where there is human waste, poop, crap, shit - festering in the streets.  Maybe Tony Bennett will sing a new song, "I left my faaaarrrrrt, in San Francisco."

Public health is a farce in the Golden State. The agenda to jam vaccines into every citizen is not about health, but coercion, control and frankly, we do not know what else. It is monstrous. Until every child in the state goes to bed with a full belly in a clean bed, here in the United States of America, there in California, the claims of protecting children are shams. 

God help every doctor in that state who is trying to put patient rights and health first. And to the uber wealthy there who do not fully vaccinate, who have exemptions, and who could make a difference with the bills in play but who remain silent? Careful Karma doesn’t cause you to slip and fall face first on the streets.... of San Francisco.

From City Journal this Spring:

San Francisco’s homeless problem has become so grim that tourists wonder if they’ve just wandered into a seedy neighborhood. Last year, a Reddit user posted that he had “walked past numerous homeless” people who were “screaming and running all over the sidewalk near Twitter HQ.” He asked, “Is this normal or am I in a ‘bad part of town?’”

The “streets are so filthy,” National Public Radio reports, “that at least one infectious disease expert has compared the city to some of the dirtiest slums in the world.” A resident living in the South of Market neighborhood has documented an increase in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Note:  We received this letter and permission to share it with you. Measles mandates, measles "mafia" (wrong ethnic group, the strongarm tactics are the same) threaten our rights.

###

As the measles debate wears on, we’re hearing a lot about the “spread of misinformation” in relationship to vaccines. Typically, this term is used to describe the efforts of vaccine safety advocates to expose the truth about vaccines to the public, but with the current backlash and push for mandatory vaccination, we’re seeing a new level of misinformation in the press that warrants the attention of every American.

The truth is, it’s easy to accept what we see in print without taking the time to really consider what it’s saying…and whether it’s true. At a time when the nation is more divided than ever, it’s vitally important that we check the facts before accepting what we read in the media…and while it’s easier than ever to spread misinformation by simply hitting “share,” the internet has also made it easier than ever to quickly do a fact check and research claims for yourself.

This is especially important when it comes to situations like the one unfolding in New York. The state has reacted by placing the blame on one population in particular when it comes the spread of measles: The Orthodox Jewish community. Major media outlets have been feverishly publishing titles like the Washington Post’s recent “New York City vaccination order shines spotlight on insular Jewish community”. The claims made by the media and government officials have circulated throughout the country...but are they correct?

Informed Choice CT
Peaceful Protest and Press Conference
Friday, May 10
9:30-11:30am
Attorney General William Tong’s Office
55 Elm St
Hartford
(Wear White)

PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE

WHEN: 9:30 A.M. - 11:00 A.M. TOMORROW (FRIDAY), MAY 10, 2019

WHERE: 55 ELM STREET, HARTFORD, CT (Driving directions: https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Contact-Us/Attorney-Generals-Office-Driving-Directions)

THERE ARE TWO PUBLIC PARKING LOTS NEARBY: https://hartford.com/parking/
(On this map, Lot #25 is closest; use #19 if 25 is full.)

BRING SIGNS!!!

"CIVIL RIGHTS HAVE NO HOME HERE"

"MANUFACTURED CRISIS"

"AG OPINION FLAWED"

"SEGREGATION IS NEVER EQUALITY"

By Laura Hayes

Dear AoA Readers,

We, the undersigned, assert that mandatory vaccinations are in violation of:

• Our God-given rights of bodily integrity and self autonomy.
• The fundamental human right to determine that which one allows, or doesn’t allow, into oneself and one’s child.
• The Constitutionally protected and guaranteed right for parents to direct the upbringing and care of their children as they deem fit and right.
• The First Amendment protected and guaranteed freedom to exercise one’s religion without government interference or prejudice.
• The ethical practice of medicine, whose hallmark is that of prior, completely voluntary, and fully informed consent. Informed consent requires a formal opting in, never a formal opting out.
• The Hippocratic Oath, which states that doctors and nurses shall “First, do no harm.”
• Several international codes of ethics to which the U.S. is a signer, including the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki, and most recently, the 2005 Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights at the UNESCO Convention.

Furthermore, we assert that current vaccines have not been tested or approved properly or ethically, either individually, or in the myriad, non-uniform combinations in which they are regularly and routinely administered:

• The scientific gold standard, that of a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, is not used for the testing of vaccine safety or efficacy.
• U.S. regulatory agencies have neglected, and presently refuse, to commission a comparison study comparing the never-vaccinated to those who are fully-vaccinated according to the CDC’s recommended vaccination schedule (which expands on a frequent and regular basis). Without such a comparison study, no valid claims about any vaccine’s safety or efficacy can be made, nor can any claim be made as to the safety or efficacy of any combination of vaccines, nor can any claim be made as to the safety or efficacy of the CDC’s recommended vaccination schedule, be it the CDC’s schedule for children (0-18), or the CDC’s schedule for adults (over 18).

Senator Richard Pan of California is the face of vaccine oppression. He is a pediatrician turned politician whose autistic-like focus is the removal of vaccination choice, regardless of the health status of the patient or the medical choice we used to believe we had as Americans.  Joshua Coleman is the father of a boy who was severely injured by vaccination. He has taken it upon himself to hold Senator Pan if not accountable, as least cognizant at some level, of the very real consequences of forced vaccination. You can see much more of Josh's work at his Y0ouTube channel here.

Our Anne Dachel interviewed Joshua in 2016. Here is a quote from him:

Joshua and his son Otto

Here is part of what Joshua had to say about the reality of vaccine injury and what doctors and legislators are willing to close their eyes to.

"We asked why this had happened, and the doctor said it was most likely a reaction to either a vaccination or an airborne virus, the latter being rejected since he'd had no signs of illness.  The doctor then slammed the door shut on further discussion of how our healthy son went from walking to being paralyzed.  There was no investigation to specifically determine what had caused our child to go from walking and running into a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  At a later date, we took our son to Johns Hopkins for further testing.  There, doctors investigated every possible reason why our son might have become paralyzed from Transverse Myelitis, every possible reason except for vaccines.  This made no sense then, and it makes no sense now, as every doctor that Otto saw at four different hospitals mentioned that the vaccines he received in close proximity to his paralysis were the most likely culprit."

Check out this video Joshua made from the May 4th March for Science in Sacramento, California where Josh donned a Star Wars costume. Senator Pan used the opportunity in a wry fashion, Tweeting: “Even anti-vaxxers w/ the Dark Side need #CommunityImmunity to keep their family safe from #measles & other VPDs. #VaccinesWork #IVax2Protect #FakeMEsHurtKids #SB276 #MarchForScience #MayTheFourthBeWithYou @SacScienceMarch @VaccinateCal”

And The Vax Wars continue.

Good morning. Recently, I have received emails from people claiming to be students, asking for "help with research".  The topic is autism and/or vaccinations. A friend in my town's son was asked to write a point/counterpoint on vaccine choice - in SEVENTH GRADE.

Last week, an email asked me to explain the vaccine autism link for a school project. By the time I would have answered, the kid would be celebrating his 25th high school reunion. I got another such an email yesterday.

Lauren XXXXXXX (Student) <student.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxschools.net>

I’m so sorry to bother you, but I must say I’m offended by your publications. I am 16 years old and am living with high-functioning autism. I build my own computers. I am a master of economics. I am not a victim of a vaccination. I am not a side effect or mistake. I am an upgrade. Your blog makes me feel bad about myself. I am somebody, not a disease. I have autism, but autism isn’t me. Stop writing to make me feel like I wasn’t meant to be.

Sincerely, Rose Mxxxxxxxxx

A student says she wants us to stop publishing because we offend her. Oh honey, welcome to the world.  I'm never rude to children who contact me. Or any reader, or faux reader. I gain nothing by whipping out my Snark guns. I borrowed dear Dan Olmsted's response to almost every email he got: "We always enjoy hearing from our readers."  If I were to answer her in full. And I will not, I would tell her I do not think she is a mistake. Or a side effect. Her autism might be though. I would encourage her studies and her work and hope she is kind to the students in her school who have disabling autism, like my girls. I said none of this to her. I don't engage young people in this way - it's rhetorical. If she is genuine, I wish her well.

Kids should be thinking about prom and a first kiss and their first time voting and a driver's license.  They should be worried about college debt, and maybe STDs and pregnancy. But vaccination? It feels fabricated. What do you think?

I know Paul Offit thinks educated, suburban (code word white, as if his being misogynistic isn't enough, he has to racial profile us) women are the backbone of the vaccine choice movement. We're uppity Whole Foods shopping naughty women who refuse to listen to the male, white man in the white coat.

I am member of a Facebook group that's for Moms in my town. It's private. Shshshshs, it's actually a SECRET group and  you can only get in after proving that you live in our town, showing a c-section scar, 23 and me reports or producing adoption papers. The group is wonderful when someone is in need. Hurricane knocks out power in half the town for a week? Moms line up to offer a shower in their home with power, a pot of hot coffee. Someone sick with cancer? The meal train shoots out of the station like a bullet train in Japan.  Lasagna to the rescue! They organize charitable events and donor drives.  It's a great group overall. But there is one topic that is not allowed. Vaccine choice. "Too controversial." Women have spoken among themselves about how to birth, protect and raise their children since the cave days. But I, a woman with vaccine injured children, can not utter a word about their vaccination history. I can not warn. I  can not exercise my right to say, "Please do your own homework. Read this and decide for yourself."  I can respond to posts about which greige paint is the one to choose for resale. I can respond to a post on "How do you keep up with laundry?"(wash, dry, fold and put away...)  and other first world problems. But, I can't even write, "Our State Senator is meeting at Bruegger's Bagels on Tuesday, from 8:00 - 9:00 am to talk about the health bills that alter vaccination choice in Connecticut. You're invited." 

Too controversial.

It's not right. We should be able to discuss our kids' health from all sides. Sure, some of the conversations will be difficult, contentious even. Angry Moms who believe every kids needs every vaccine will yell at Moms who think they should be able to pick and choose based on their child's health.  There will be fighting. We know this. So what? There is no Stepford, Connecticut. We are in real towns with real children. And we should be able to have real conversations, without fear of being "too controversial." And then shut down.

Kim

By Cathy Jameson

One of my kids shared that they’d overheard a vaccine conversation earlier in the day.  They couldn’t figure out what sparked the discussion.  But, at one point while the other people were still talking, one of them turned to my child and said, “Hey, your mom is anti-vax, right?”  I guess according to the media’s definition, I am.  But if you really know me, or care to dig a little deeper than believe a superficial label that the media brands me, I am more than just an “anti-vaxxer”.  I wrote about that  not too long ago. 

Depending on who’s said it, being called “anti-vax” can be an insult.  The way it was said toward my son most likely wasn’t.  I know that my child’s peers didn’t mean any harm while referring to Mrs. Jameson as "anti-vaxxer".   They were just repeating what the news says about moms like me.  Most of my kids’ closest friends respect me.  Some even think that I’m really nice!  When they see me, they are respectful.  When they see me with Ronan, they are even more courteous.  They show only love toward Ronan. 

Seeing him and asking about him as many times as they have over the years has opened their eyes about autism, about the ongoing struggles he faces, and about his medical history which includes a vaccine injury.  Because of their curiosity, which I always welcome, they’ve come to know that based on our family’s personal experience, we believe differently than they do about a few things.  That includes vaccines.  Liability-free vaccines are not as safe, effective, or life-saving as they and their families may believe.  Vaccine injury is not their reality, and I’m very grateful for that.  I don’t begrudge them for not knowing as much as we know, but I will always hope that they will politely agree to disagree with me, and my kids, whenever the topic comes up. 

Not too long ago, people were allowed to believe differently than their neighbors did without any drama.  That practice doesn’t hold true today.  Nowadays, when people disagree on a topic, it’s grab the knives and pitch forks!  Go after them!  Ruin their reputation!  Drag their name through the mud!  Repeat lies about them!  That’s become especially true when people, like parents like me, speak out against liability-free vaccines.  Needing someone to blame for the rise in vaccine hesitancy, we’re attacked by industry spokespeople every time a vaccine story hits the news wire.    

It shouldn’t be that way, but that’s what I see going on.  Like a spoiled child, the media and its backers want to blame someone else for something they can’t control.  They can’t control parents who have become vaccine smart.  Instead of finding fault in the US vaccine program (which is not perfect), in the US government (for their overreach), or in the vaccines themselves (which all come with risk), the media has chosen to blame all of the “anti-vaxxers” for all of the vaccine problems.  Having the means and the platforms to build up communities, the media encourages the public to pit neighbors against neighbors, school children against school children, doctors against rightfully worried parents.  

The “anti-vax” are the ones responsible for all outbreaks – even though some outbreaks have occurred in the vaccinated. 

The “anti-vax” are the ones ruining the herd immunity concept – even though it’s just a concept and even though vaccination rates are high in several states.

Note: Dan wrote this post in 2016. It holds truer than ever today, when vaccine mandates and pushes to eliminate exemptions are raging from coast to coast. I miss Dan so much. Our anchor. Our beacon. The General of the Rebel Alliance. Kim

By Dan Olmsted

"An effort spanning two decades has resulted in a global first," CNN reported Thursday. "The Americas have eliminated measles, the World Health Organization said this week. The battle was won through mass vaccination to prevent the viral disease, which can cause severe health problems including pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and even death."

Well, the battle was mostly won before the battle began, as anyone who's looked at the pre-vaccine wipeout of the disease would know.

From Mark Blaxill and my 2015 book, Vaccines 2.0:


In Vaccines 2.0 we wrote: “Much of the recent publicity about measles reflects a small increase in US cases in the past few years—usually overseas travelers becoming infected and then spreading the illness in small pockets that generate alarmist headlines.

“In the spring of 2014, a news outlet in suburban Washington, under a large banner titled “Health Warning,” reported public health workers “are informing people who were at various locations . . . that they may have been exposed to a person with measles. Northern Virginia area health officials are mounting a coordinated effort to identify people who may have been exposed.”

“The idea that measles is highly infectious is certainly true; the claim that it is a health emergency is not. For generations, measles was considered a rite of passage for children, with little risk of complications and the reward of lifetime immunity."

A blogger at Livingwhole.org made the same point in June 2014 in a post titled, Measles Shmeasles:

“So far, in 2014 there have been 288 cases of measles, no cases of encephalitis, and no death. In 2013 there were 189 cases of measles, no encephalitis and no death. In 2012 there were 54 cases of measles, no encephalitis, and no death. In 2011, there were 22 cases of measles, and you guessed it . . . no encephalitis, and no death.

“I could go on, but you get the point.

“By and large, measles is unpleasant, not deadly.

“In comparison, the same cannot be said for the MMR vaccine. As of March 1, 2012 there were 842 serious injuries following the MMR vaccine and 56 deaths. Since 1990 there have been more than 6,058 serious adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). What’s even more sad is that only 1–10% of cases are actually reported ….”

Honestly. If you’ve seen Vaxxed, you know it does a great job of contrasting the Disney measles hysteria with the blasé attitude of mainstream media and medicine and the CDC and the NIH and HRSA and etcetera to the endless, increasing, debilitating, sometimes lethal autism epidemic and its allied catastrophes.

But of course kids will all be getting the MMR into perpetuity – now with one part that doesn’t work and spawns epidemics post-adolescence that are far more dangerous (mumps); a vaccine for a disease that is usually not serious and is no circulating (measles) but can have serious side effects, and one for which there can be an altruistic argument given the risk of congenital rubella syndrome, but also with serious risks. Put them all together, shake it up and voila -- the autism shot, as Jenny called it.

Kind of like the DPT – diphtheria doesn’t circulate, tetanus is not a serious risk, and certainly not to anyone but the person who might get it, and pertussis, for which we believe there is a case worth discussing.

Not to mention the deadly and disgusting HPV, the useless and dangerous Hep B, the useless and dangerous chickenpox.

This is why parental choice and no mandates are so important, regardless of one’s stance on vaccines overall. Too much autism, too many vaccines with too many side effects – but at least, thank God, no measles.
--
Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.

Mental illness, Rx drug treatment and abuse, side effects, black boxes... what is the state of mental health in 2019? Our Anne Dachel's site lossofbraintrust.com has been cataloging the demise of education around the world as children as young as preschool sink into the web of  behaviors, violence and Rx drug prescriptions.  Schools are faltering under the weight of having to teach students who are mentally or as we often call it, neurologically ill.  Toxic insults that affect the brain begin in utero.   This article from NPR's Terry Gross caught my eye.  The topic will only grow more urgent. We had yet another school shooting last week. Another violently angry, maladjusted young male. The shooters used to be disgruntled middle-aged men who lost their jobs. The "good" old days that spawned "going Postal" as a phrase for a meltdown. Today, it's young men. Is Pharma and our willingness to turn over our very brains and immune systems to their pills and needles the root?

Insurance that will cover prescriptions doesn't always cover talk therapy, a chance to work out your problems with expert guidance.  I think of a therapist like a tug boat.  Gentle assistance to move forward to your journey or into a safe harbor. During my divorce, a therapist gave me a sounding board, solid ideas that were mine to pursue or not, and moments of quiet that I needed. A pill that would have tamped down my anxiety over the process would have numbed me perhaps, and just put off the pain. No thanks.

Who is at fault? The doctors who allowed their unions to fall under the spell of pharma money, trips, incentives. Politicians who suck at the teat of pharma donations. And consumers - yes, us too. Consumers, who want a quick fix in place of hard work. Are pills always wrong? No, of course not. Nor are the a pillacea.....

###

From NPR's Terry Gross:

Historian and Harvard professor Anne Harrington believes that pharmaceutical companies have played an oversized role in determining how mental illness is treated in the United States — leading to a rise in the use of antidepressant drugs.

Harrington's new book, Mind Fixers: Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness, chronicles the history of psycho-pharmaceuticals, such as Prozac and Xanax, which have been used to treat depression and anxiety, as well as lithium, the first drug to treat what is now called bipolar disorder.

By Anne Dachel

Two stories out on April 22, 2019 make it clear that we are expected to accept ANY INCREASE, ANY RATE in childhood illness or disabilities, especially when it comes to the “A” WORD—AUTISM.

By an odd coincidence a piece from Scotland and one from Syracuse, NY both use the word “soaring” to describe increases in autism/special needs.

The report from Scotland defies reason.

Herald: Number of pupils with special needs 'soaring'

The number of pupils requiring support for mental health problems has more than tripled between 2012 and 2018, up 252 per cent.

Those with communication support needs have increased by 293% in the same period, while pupils identified as having autism spectrum disorder have more than doubled, rising by 101%.

Students needing help at school for physical health problems have risen by 98% in the six-year period, while those with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties have increased by 86%.

Students with dyslexia have risen 60% …

Then we are told that all these disabled children are merely due “to increased recognition and diagnosis of conditions, as well as improvements in recording.”

Note: Ginger Taylor wrote about this bill and a similar bill in Maine for AofA last night - Maine and Colorado Vaccine Exemption Removal Bills on the Ropes

From NewsCenterMaine.

AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Senate has passed a bill that would end non-medical vaccine exemptions, but voted to keep religious exemptions in.

The Senate debated L.D. 798 Thursday, passing the bill 20-15.

The bill, if enacted, would end philosophical opt-outs by 2021 for public school students, as well as nursery schools and health care facilities employees.

Senators did vote to keep an amendment that allows religious exemptions. According to the Bangor Daily News, Democratic Sens. Dill, Herbig, Luchini and Miramant, all sided with Republicans to keep the exemption.

The bill will now go back to the House for a vote with the religious exemption added. 

From KKTV Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the heart of the American West. Ginger Taylor wrote about this bill and a similar bill in Maine for AofA last night - Maine and Colorado Vaccine Exemption Removal Bills on the Ropes

###

After more than 24 hours worth of time was spent on a controversial vaccine bill during the legislative session, the bill died on Thursday according to Senate Republicans.

"HB 12-1312 (the controversial vaccination bill) was laid over until Friday, meaning it no longer has enough time to be passed this session," the Senate GOP tweeted out Friday at about 2:30 p.m.

Click here to read the entire bill summary.

PREVIOUS STORY 5/2/19:

A controversial bill that would make it harder for parents to opt out of vaccinating their kids to attend school has taken another step forward.

According to a tweet sent out by the legislature early Thursday morning, the measure passed a Senate committee by a vote of 4-3.

Colorado residents started reaching out to 11 News Wednesday night outraged over a set time limit put on public testimony. When the bill was brought forth at about 8:45 Wednesday night, supporters and opponents were told they'd each get two hours of public testimony.

by Ginger Taylor, MS

Maine LD 798, the bill to remove religious and philosophical exemptions passed the Maine House of Representatives last week, and was passed in the Maine Senate today, however after the passage an amendment to restore the religious exemption was passed.  

It will have to go back to the House for concurrence, so that both chambers are agreeing to pass the same version of the bill.  The House can either accept the Senate's version of the bill with the religious exemption available to Mainers, or send it back to the Senate with their language that excludes religious exemptions and insist that the Senate adopt the House language. The Senate is unlikely to accept it (as they didn't today). If the two bodies cannot agree, the bill dies completely. 

Both sides of the issue will likely fight for their version of the bill until all procedural options are exhausted, however odds are that Mainers will retain the right to an education.

Colorado's bill is meeting a procedural death.  From Colorado Senator Hobert:

Congratulations and thank you to all of the parents who stood for personal liberty and against House Bill 19-1312.

That bill will be laid over for Second Reading Friday, tomorrow, which means that it CANNOT pass Third Reading before midnight tomorrow.

Why? Because the state constitution REQUIRES that Third Reading occur on at least the next legislative day from Second Reading. And, there won’t be a legislative day after tomorrow. That means the bill is DEAD on the Calendar and WILL NOT BECOME LAW.

This outcome would not have been achieved without the hundreds of parents who advocated against the bill. While you didn’t get a victory in either committee hearing, you should embrace this delayed victory today.

Again, congratulations and thank you.

Note: "Thoughts and prayers" go out to the families of the dead. That's what we're supposed to say right?   Join us at AutismAges.org to start talking about these impossible issues related to autism and adulthood.  
By Kim Rossi

My Lord, the irony of this shooting to come on April, 30, the last day of Autism Acceptance month.

We have, in the past, tried to soften the possibility that these murderers (don't look to me for a sugar-coating) may be be autistic.  I went on CBS radio to tell listeners that Adam Lanza, was an aberration, not the norm.  I wrote a HuffPo post about Cho, the man who shot and killed students at Virginia Tech. You can call me angry. Just don't call him autistic. Tuesday's murders at UNC have no such shield from me. Trystan Terrell's father wrote a letter that soke of  his son's autism.  If the blog and the letter are accurate, Terrell has a medical autism diagnosis. Terrell's sister Chloe mentioned her father's description in a letter he sent her.  Take a look  below. 

From Heavy.com: Terrell’s father, Craig, wrote in a blog post in May 2016 that his son was diagnosed as being autistic at three years old. Craig Terrell said that when a nurse in a neurological doctor’s office asked him, “Has anyone ever mentioned the word autism to you?… Our lives got more complicated.” He went on to discuss the difficulty of researching autism online as the family was living in a rural part of Texas with only dial-up AOL internet access. Craig Terrell added that the nurse told him that there would be no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.

no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.
no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.
no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.
no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.
no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.
no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.
no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.
no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism.

This is exactly what I faced when Mia and Gianna were diagnosed at one of America's TOP pediatric neurology programs run by Dr. Max Wiznitzer in Cleveland Ohio.   I was told to make sure I got an IEP at school and NOTHING MORE. I know young parents who go to Yale's famous autism clinic and hear exactly the same thing 20 years after I got the news. Autism.

Measles got you scared? It's a game of peekaboo compared to the monster in the closet of a generation of young, healthy autistic males with autism who need so much more than we have been able to offer. An adulthood for which they are not prepared despite parental love, care, and harder work than most can imagine. 

Most of us do our level best to support our kids.  And as a community, we rally around each other - loathe to cast a shadow on autism as being a violent or dangerous diagnosis. Except when.... it is. What a painful sentence to type. More painful for our families who live it every day. We do not know what the Terrell family faced with their son, brother. Perhaps that will come to light as the case unfolds. No matter the outcome, if guilty, Trystan is not a monster, despite the monstrous act. Autism is no excuse, but it sure is a complex reason to act out.

My friends with sons at every spot on the spectrum are insane with trying to teach them self-protective skills like how to survive a police encounter, a date, something he might think is a date. There are so many pitfalls.  So many social rejections.  So much testosterone with no outlet. No hugs. No kisses. NO BANGING - there, I said it as bluntly as I can. Young men need SEX. Crave sex. Where does the testosterone go for those who have no or few opportunities?  These are the questions that are out there. Why did Trystan turn to violence? What more could his family have possibly done for him? Maybe nothing. How about his high school. The college. His peers.  Anyone. We can not do it alone.

The world has been told that autism is such a gift, a remarkable talent that there ARE NO SUPPORTS FOR FAMILIES. If your son or daughter can "pass" - you get no funding -  and once school ends? You fall off a cliff. 

Here in Connecticut, if you have autism and an IQ of 69, you get traditional, old fashioned funding for mental retardation. If you have autism and your IQ is 70 or over you may get approved for the autism waiver. There are 109 waiver spots in Connecticut.  109 in the entire state. All taken. With a wait list of 10 years as of now.

Every campaign to "Learn the signs" is a failure. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. "Learn how to PREVENT AND TREAT" is the only thing that matters. 

I'm sorry for the Terrell family. For a Dad who was told to go forth and seek your own info. For a sister whose brother is forever connected to the horror of American male school shooters. For the families of the dead and injured.

For all of us.

Note: This is a relatively balanced article about a topic that has been forever a one sided refusal to even entertain a conversation. Vaccine safety. Pharma drug safety. They two are the same. And yet, in the media, they are worlds apart. To many Americans, they are worlds apart. Pharma is the devil when it comes to drug safety and an angel when it comes to vaccines. If only the world were that black and white.  Our Dan Olmsted was a founding writer for USA Today when it launched. I wish he were here today to help us sort out the morass of vaccine safety reporting.  KIM

###

Bernadette Pajer doesn't trust the pharmaceutical industry. And she doesn't trust vaccines.

The founder of a Washington state advocacy group says her dual distrust shouldn't come as any surprise. She notes drugmakers have a "pretty poor record overall" on safety and transparency. Not to mention the opioid crisis, though Pajer often does. 

Pajer is not alone. As distrust of the pharmaceutical industry grows, so has the anti-vaccination movement. That is a critical issue as the number of measles cases in the USA surges. 

Vaccine supporters – which include federal, state and local officials, the public health community and most doctors – say it wasn't drugmakers' idea to require protection from largely eradicated deadly diseases. It's the government's doing.

It's also the government that shields drugmakers from liability when vaccines are found to cause injury. To vaccine skeptics, including drug safety advocate Kim Witczak, this suggests they may be hiding or at least getting away with something.  

When voters were surveyed in January about their feelings toward industries that benefit from the North American Free Trade Agreement, nearly half had an unfavorable opinion of pharmaceutical companies, up from about a third in 2008, according to the advocacy group Public Citizen and the research firm Citizen Research.

"The pharmaceutical companies in particular push the negative reactions off the chart, with nearly half giving the most intense negative response," says a summary by pollster Stanley Greenberg. “Just mentioning the pharmaceutical companies as benefiting is like throwing a bomb in every quarter of the electorate." Read more at USA Today here.

Jon Ashworth

By John Stone

"Jonathan Ashworth in his one specific example of social media misinformation has almost certainly misunderstood what he is reading. The cases he was reading about were almost certainly in the US where the Hep B vaccine is administered on the day of birth. Given that he himself seems horrified by the idea should not people be allowed to talk about it?"

(My comment in The Times, London)

Jonathan Ashworth, British Labour Party Spokesman on Health and Social Care, finds the idea of vaccinating an infant on the day of birth repugnant. He wrote in a Times of London editorial yesterday:

"The anti-vaccination content I’ve been able to find on Facebook in just a matter of minutes has been eye-opening. There appears to be a deep distrust in these closed groups of both the medical community and governments.

"I’ve found posts from terrified parents asking for advice on how to make sure their newborn babies aren’t taken away from them shortly after birth to be vaccinated.

"Other posts completely misinform the public about the science behind vaccinations. It’s why Tom Watson has called for a legally enforceable duty of care to be placed on these firms backed by hefty fines."

It is of course impossible know whether the other posts he read and felt challenged by were genuinely misinforming or whether he was just briefed to find them so, but in this instance what is almost certainly being referred to is the US practice of administering the Hepatis B vaccine to infants at birth, and it is quite interesting that he finds the idea - this does not happen in British hospitals - repugnant.

On a similar note I wrote to André Spicer, professor of organisational behaviour, Cass Business School (University of London)

Prof Andre Spicer

about his article last Friday in the Guardian(so far no reply):

With Facebook facing a possible 5 billion-dollar slap on the wrist by the Federal Trade Commission for privacy violations, a study just came out and guess where the data is from?  Yes, Facebook!

So it seems that a few years back, a large pediatric office, Kids Plus Pediatrics of Pittsburgh, put up a video on their Facebook page encouraging families to vaccinate their children against human papillomavirus, or HPV.  There are two vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, and the safety of them is a big concern with many parents .  As a result, hundreds of parents apparently commented negatively about this video.

From The Washington Post :

First, someone posted the claim that “the vaccine kills.” Within minutes, more anti-vaccine comments came pouring in. ….

From CNN :

Perhaps most significant, doctors and experts said, is that Kids Plus was able to figure out the social media attack was directed from inside closed anti-vaccine Facebook groups, in which members have to be approved to join. Together with the researchers’ analysis, the information provides the first systematic analysis of how anti- vaccine activists coordinate a harmful social media campaign, experts said.“We know they’re all coordinated,” said Erica DeWald, director of advocacy for Vaccinate Your Family, the nation’s largest nonprofit dedicated to advocating for vaccinations. “But this is the actual research piece that proves that.”Many health-care professionals are afraid of the impact anti-vaxxers can have on their business, according to DeWald. The online attacks often result in negative ratings and reviews on sites such as Google and Yelp.

Let’s pause and look at some of this information.

Hundreds of parents, most likely parents of children who have been INJURED or DIED due to vaccination, left comments on this particular pediatric business (yes, this vaccine “advocate” is being clear that it is a BUSINESS and that “health-care professionals” were concerned about the impact on their reviews, not the health of any children).  Interestingly, in this same CNN article, we are told that Pennsylvania is also home to Dr. Paul Offit, a long-time champion of vaccines (and patent-holder on a vaccine in which he made an estimated total of over 10 million dollars - probably much more but he won’t say).  Offit also tweeted about this so-called “study” .  Age of Autism has posted much about him over the years, like this well-researched article: Counting Offit’s Millions: More on How Merck’s Rotateq Vaccine Made Paul Offit Wealthy

Today is one of my daughter Gianna's favorite days. She has 24 such days a year. The last day of the month, and the first day of the month.  December 31 and January 1 are the biggest, of course. G is my calendar girl. She uses the dates and numbers to add structure and sense to her world. I admire her for it even if I have to listen to her tell me the date and how many dates are left in the month eleventy times a day! She made up a song for herself  to the tune of the REM Song End of The World as We Know It.  As you can guess, she sings, "It's the end of the month as we know it, and I feel fine." It's endearing really.

We made it through yet another blue autism month. I don't know if I've finally just tuned out most of the events or if the media is tiring of the blue haze of April for Autism. I didn't see as much as I have in the past.  This month has been focused on fear of measles. And even with all the attention to vaccine mandates, vaccination, anti-vaccination, I haven't heard "autism" too much at all. Interesting.

How about you? Did you attend any events or buy anything special?  How did you honor your loved one with autism?

I turned down making a donation to Autism Speaks at Marshall's.  And a Hilton hotel in which I stayed at JFK had an Autism Awareness banner and blue light bulbs on the tables. I've cut cable, so I don't watch over the air or cable channels as a rule. Perhaps I missed PSA announcements with handsome little boys standing in cul de sacs wearing Ralph Lauren togs.

And you know what?

I feel fine.

Kim

Below is a letter from a Jewish woman to her Senator regarding vaccination choice. The letter is anon for her safety. We live in a tenuous time. Jewish Americans especially. We had a shooting at synagogue on Passover in San Diego this past weekend. The media push to demonize those who do not have an MMR vaccination is dangerous in the extreme. To vilify Americans of faith is to open them to hatred and violence - for what, to fund pharma, political campaigns? We need to stop and think. Fear generates hatred. Hatred opens the door to death.

###

"Dear Senator,

I write to you about the bill to remove our rights to religious vaccine exemption. As a legislator who is involved with the Holocaust and Human Rights Center you must have affinity and an authentic appreciation for the "event", its lead up and its outcomes.

I am Jewish. I observe the laws of kashrut (kosher) that are articulated in Torah. I chose the philosophical exemption for my children years back because I carry a life long trepidation of "outing" the choices I make having foundation in being Jewish. I did not want record of my observance.

My grandma, mom's mom, got stuck in the progroms in Russia in the early 1900's. For too many years she lived a terrifying life very similar to Anne Frank. My Zeide, dad's dad, fought in the underground in Poland against the communists and the Nazis who both wanted us dead, years before the world was allowed any knowledge of what was going on there.

With what has transpired in NY and the exacerbation of anti semitic activity by the government and media focusing on orthodox Jews, my trepidation continues in this day. What the government has done gives my insides goosebumps. That this bill removes the G-d given right to observe the Torah is abhorrent to me beyond the words I have available to describe. Torah says no pig, no blood. My ancestors did not capitulate. They clung to the Torah and to G-d. They are my heritage. I am their legacy, as are my children. We will never take a vaccination.

That I will be unable to pursue educational advancement, as I continue getting older with less opportunity to pay for my own old age, or turn my back on my ancestors, my heritage, my faith, is heinous and an unforgivable choice that will be the result if this bill, in its current form, becomes law. It puts a disability on me personally and those like me.

I do not envy you as you have limited choice in what bills are presented. I appreciate your legislative service and the importance of your work. Please, consider what I have shared with you as time comes before you to vote.

Sincerely,
Your Constituent"

Hello, dear readers! Kim here.  I'm hitting  you up for a donation, so get ready. XOX

After a quiet weekend with my girls, I find myself at the computer on Sunday afternoon selecting content for you to read on Monday morning. AofA is a content hog - and I must feed the beast daily. So feed I do. With help from our wonderful Contributing Editors.  Our content reflects the state of the autism epidemic. Right now, we are measles heavy as vaccine mandate laws slash across the nation. Soon, we'll seem "political" as the Presidential election gets underway. We NEVER please everyone. Thank GOD. The day we make everyone happy is the day I log off and hit DELETE SITE. Our job is to tackle the uncomfortable. The difficult. It has cost us sponsor after sponsor. 

I am a Sirius satellite radio lover and I listen to a range of channels all day. I rarely watch TV. I cut cable when I moved in October to a new little house. I miss not a thing about TV news. I can listen to the major news channels on Sirius and I have the CBS app if I need to watch the NYC news during a storm, etc. But I digress, as usual!

As I bumped Miss Mia off my laptop, I was listening to the Siriusly Sinatra channel and the song playing was "Everything Happens to Me." I'd written about this song once before here at AofA. Why? Because of this lyric:

"I've had the measles. I've had the mumps. Everything happens to me."

Measles and mumps were  comm0n childhood diseases for decades in America. They did not induce panic, fear or discrimination. They were not used to fund politicians and pharma and public health  machines. They were a pain in the ass nuisance that pediatricians saw daily, and parents handled with relative ease. Measles and mumps were fodder for cartoons and sitcoms and pop songs.

Today, we face a real hit to our liberty, rights as Americans. Those of us with "under-vaccinated" children are being demonized. Our kids are being called threats to society. Imagine that. Healthy American children banned from school and elsewhere.  We face not only discrimination, but also censorship. We're being bumped from social media (our account was removed from Pinterest) and there's a push to shut us up.  Not likely. We speak out for OUR CHILDREN and the children even of those who claim to hate us.  Censorship?

NOT AT AGE OF AUTISM.

Our work, Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill's original mission, is more important then EVER.  We are donor driven. Your donations fund my ability to run AofA every day. With your funds, I pay to keep us online, I pay myself a small salary (less than I made 35 years ago out of college) and when funds allow, I try to help other autism Moms who also write. 

Please make a donation to us today. You can use the Bank of America merchant services donate button on our sidebar, or our new funding platform at Network for Good - which is also funding our NEW family member: www.AutismAges.org. More on the new site later this week.

If you prefer to send a check:

Autism Age
PO Box 110546
Trumbull CT 06611

Thank you. KIM

It's Saturday night chez RossStag (that's my clever way of saying Rossi Stagliano - moi and my 3 daughters). We're listening to music. Getting PJs on. Tidying up the kitchen. (Again.) And enjoying a really nice weekend together. Meanwhile, in Poway, CA, another place of worship is reeling from a shooting, during Passover. There was a deadly shooting in Sri Lanka days ago on Easter Sunday. And a few moments ago, I read this article about Dylan Roof, the boy who shot and killed nine worshipers in a Charleston church. He has been sentenced to death. He did not defend himself. He denied any psychological defense. He "sidelined" his lawyers. He wants to die. How is it that a young man like Dylan is so lacking in spark that his own life means nothing? He is committing suicide by mass murder. We're twenty years out from the Columbine shootings. What has happened to The American Boy?

The guilt of Mr. Roof, who coolly confessed to the killings and then justified them without remorse in a jailhouse manifesto, was never in serious doubt during the first phase of the proceedings in December. And by the time jurors began their sentencing deliberations on Tuesday, it seemed inevitable that they would lean toward death, not only because of the heinous nature of the crimes but because Mr. Roof, 22, insisted on denying any psychological incapacity, called no witnesses, presented no evidence in his defense and mostly sidelined his court-appointed lawyers.  NYT.

Note: I'm calling Mrs. Jameson Cathy Gaga today. Her message? "Just dance! It's gonna be ok...."  That happens to be my Gianna's favorite Lady Gaga song.  Enjoy this fun post! Autism month is almost OVAH!!!!

By Cathy Jameson

I had to wait until the end of April to create my Autism Action Playlist this year.  I usually have several songs queued and on replay by now.  But I gave up listening to music for Lent this year.  I’ve given up other simple pleasures before, but this year’s sacrifice really had me aching for my tunes.  With all the ridiculous measles stories popping up in my news feed this year and throughout this month, I wanted to drown out the madness with my music.  I didn’t want to break the Lenten fast though, so I stayed true to my promise.

I knew I’d made a good choice in picking giving up music when the kids expressed how much they missed having the radio on.  Ronan’s siblings love a good song just like I do.  They love to fill our house and car rides with songs that keep us all smiling, too.  Even though I decided to turn the music off, I could think about it.  Songs from my past, songs I had just started to like, and music that normally calms my soul were not too far from my mind these last few weeks. 

With Easter season now in full swing, it’s time for me to turn the music back on.  With that, here is this year’s playlist with a brief explanation of why I chose the songs I did.  Hear something you like?  Get up!  Shake your booty, and go dance in your kitchen.  That’s what the kids and I do when the music moves us. 

--

World Destruction – I first heard this song when I was running track back in the mid-80s.  A friend from high school turned me on to it.  I liked it so much that I taped it off the radio and played it on my knock-off Walkman right before my races.  The lyrics and the beat pumped me up and round and round the track I’d go!  I’ve heard the song only once on the radio since then, so I’ll play it online every now and then.  I find the message more appropriate today than when I was a teen.  Certain issues, including parental rights, are important and are absolutely worth fighting for.  The people who should give a damn about protecting them don’t though.  Heading for destruction, it pains me how messed up the world seems to be these days.   

In My Blood – Doom and gloom aside, we have options!  Even if …sometimes I feel like giving up… I won’t give up.  I can’t.  Ever!  It’s tempting, but that’s when I reach out to a friend to help me get back on track.  Things get better when people work together.  Even if the walls are caving in, as it sometimes feels they are lately, I know that we can make a difference.

Shawn Mendes - In My Blood (Terry Kingsley Remix) from Terry Richard Kingsley on Vimeo.

From an MSNBC report yesterday: President Donald Trump commented on the recent measles outbreaks, saying that people "have to get their shots" and called vaccinations "important."

Will the First Lady share her children's vaccination status, please? We would have like to have seen the Obama girls' records too. No partisanship here at AofA.  Both sides of a rotten apple with a pharma profit core.

Trump on Vaccination During Measles Outbreak MSNBC

Just look at this headline from a FB post yesterday! "Thousands May Have Gotten Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma From Monsanto Round Up"

LIARS!!! LIARS!!!! OVER-EDUCATED WHITE WOMEN IN FANCYPANTS WHO SHOP AT FANCYPLANTS! Desperate to blame someone and disparaging the MIRACLE of Round Up!!! Theses people are anti-pesticide and a threat to the entire plant AND animal Kingdoms, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and SPECIES!!!!! (Tongue meet cheek.)

RoundUpCancer Claim

A number of studies have found evidence linking the weed killer’s main ingredient, glyphosate, to serious side effects and certain types of cancer, including non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently found that glyphosate in Roundup is likely a cancer-causing agent. The IARC report linked the side effects of Roundup® to an increased risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL).

Scientific studies have shown a causal association between Monsanto Roundup® weed killer and an increased risk of certain forms of cancer.

I hadn't heard about this case until yesterday. It brings up so many questions for our community. Is this young man "one of ours"? The article says a psychologist testified that he is on the spectrum. What does that mean? I wonder if he had a 504 or an IEP in school. Was he functioning at a level that allowed him to study without benefit of assistance?

Does diagnosis matter when it comes to a well thought out if poorly (thank God) executed crime?  My friend John Robison wrote in his book Look Me In The Eye about pranks he played that involved explosives. I can't imagine it ever occurred to him to blow up people, with intent to harm. What has changed in our young people to bring out a need to hurt? Read the article and let's discuss. As the epidemic ages out into adulthood, many questions will arise. Most difficult to answer.

From FOX13Now Salt Lake City:

ST. GEORGE, Utah — A teen who brought explosives to Pine View High School has been sentenced to jail time.

Martin Farnsworth, 17, was ordered to serve 415 days in detention with credit for time served (which he has already served). He also was given 48 months probation, 250 hours of community service, and court-ordered treatment and any recommended medication by 5th District Court Judge Michael Westfall. He was also ordered to have no access to the internet or explosive materials or bomb-making components. He pleaded guilty in March to a charge of intent to commit injury with an incendiary device, a first-degree felony.

He was originally charged with attempted murder and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, as well as misdemeanor graffiti charges. The case was originally filed in juvenile court, but Farnsworth was later transferred to the adult court system.

Farnsworth was arrested last year after police said he brought a backpack loaded with a bomb to Pine View High. Prosecutors said he lit a fuse, but the bomb did not detonate.

Police also accused him of researching information about the terror group ISIS online. He was also accused of replacing an American flag at a school in Hurricane with a pro-ISIS flag.

“If I didn’t get caught from this, if people got hurt and I could get away from it? I would have laid low for a little while, kind of see what people’s reactions were, whether there were comments about it, etc. Then later on try to hang an ISIS flag somewhere like on a school or maybe on the freeway, make it look like ISIS is here. Then maybe after that try to contact ISIS, but I don’t really know how to do that. I need to do more research on that,” he told police, according to a court filing FOX 13 reported on last year.

A psychologist testified on his behalf that Farnsworth was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Volunteer Opportunity to Assist Dr. Martha Herbert (Harvard U) and the Documenting Hope team!

The Documenting Hope Project is a multi-year research and media initiative to scientifically demonstrate that children can get better from chronic conditions including autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma, autoimmune disease and many more conditions currently believed to be lifelong.  The research team is led by Dr. Martha Herbert with contributions from a diverse board of medical and scientific advisors.

The Documenting Hope Project aims to demonstrate how a data-driven assessment of environmental and lifestyle factors coupled with a personalized therapeutic approach can result in improved health outcomes and even total disease reversal.

Our friends at Documenting Hope/Epidemic Answers are now conducting  an important research study and they need volunteers. They are collecting critical data about children and their development, medical, social and environmental health history through a private, secure online survey. (The survey covers what children in the U.S. are eating, their chemical exposures at home, their exposures at school, industrial sites nearby, their medical history, prenatal and preconception health of parents, family medical history, and so much more.)

Epidemic Answers is asking parents to volunteer a few hours of their time to protect the health of current and future generations of children. You can volunteer by participating in Epidemic Answers’ CHIRP Study [CHIRP: Child Health Inventory for Resilience and Prevention]. A synopsis of the study can be found here: https://documentinghope.com/what-is-the-chirp-study/

Here’s how you can volunteer:

If you are the parent of a child between the ages of 1 and 15, take the survey! It takes several hours to complete, but you don’t have to take it all at once. It’s online, secure and your information is totally private and will be de-identified (personal identifying information is removed). Get started by filling out this form to see if you qualify to take the CHIRP survey!

Volunteers will receive a free personalized health report highlighting the environmental stressors in their child's life.

NOTE: The following is excerpted from the Corvelva website. Grazie mille a la nostra amici a Corvelva. Visit their site at Corvelva.it

###

We want to take stock of the situation together with you. Eight months have passed since July 2018 and in these lenght of time we have achieved extremely satisfying results. We have presented a ​research program ​and regarding the vaccines analysis we are able to make a point of reference, with the objectives achieved, those being finalised and those only planned for now.

To begin with, the analyses of 2 compounds for each vaccine have been verifyed by means of standards, using certified control standards with a concentration in the order of micrograms / mL. The compounds we have chosen are among those known for their critical hazard profile. We are talking about a cumulative quantity, a total amount of those recognized as identities and those to be identified, which can be estimated within the order of 50 micrograms / mL, in contrast to the EMA / FDA guidelines.

These tests have given positive results, therefore they fully confirm the analysis method! The contaminations observed are probably due to different and variable manufacturing process’ phenomena and topics. What has been observed in the course of the studies is an “inter-batches” variation of the composition, which makes us assume that there are some steps along the whole product manufacturing process that are difficult to control.

Summary table showing the results of analyses (Priorix tetra)

1. Antigens - 3 out of 4 attenuated viruses were identified and sequenced. Rubella was detected in a very low number of copies. Varicella, mumps and measles viruses have higher mutations, probably derived from the attenuation of a large number of minor variants (quasipecies).
2. Chemical Contaminants (signals) - 115-173 (29-43% known)
3. Chemical toxins - NO
4. Protein Contaminants - Sarcoplasmin calcium-binding protein, Actina e Vimentina
5. Free peptide contaminants - NO
6. Residual DNA/RNA deriving from cultured cells - Total amount of DNA: 1.7-3.7 μg/dose, the 80% of which was human (Human fetal DNA / RNA from the MRC-5 cell line). Other amount of DNA: chicken
7. Adventitious viruses - Human endogenous retrovirus K, Equine infectious anemia virus, Avian leukosis virus, HERV-H/env62
8. Other microbial contaminants - Proteobacteria, nematode-helminth
9. Processing residues of genetic material - NO

In-depth information on the vaccines analysed

Priorix Tetra (GlaxoSmithKline) ¹ Chemical composition profile study <sup>2

READ THE FULL REPORT WITH CITATIONS HERE.</sup>