Greetings, Friends.
I’m long overdue for a communiqué to you all, but sometimes working for the Resistance means prioritizing mission over message. As I noted in an earlier update, we’re well into the “writing intensive” portion of the litigation. For whatever it may be worth, I compose dozens of “messages” for you all in my head that never wind up as electrons on a website principally for two interconnected reasons: first, writing assignments for our cases and related cases gobble up my time, and that frequently leads me to abandon “updates” I’ve written as they are OBE (“overcome by events”) and the passage of time.
The recent kerfluffle over whether or not the government actually has no-shit, FDA-licensed COMIRNATY is a good example of this. It was the subject of a whistleblower report to Sen. Ron Johnson – one of the few bright political lights in all of this madness – and I would encourage everyone to read it (if you already haven’t). The government attorneys have argued in several cases, including Coker v. United States (one of Brandon Johnson’s cases) and both Bazzrea and Wilson, that the presence of licensed product defeats jurisdiction and moots claims by military plaintiffs that rely upon the EUA statute (21 USC 360bbb-3) or 10 USC 1107a. Ultimately, we produced this and filed it in Coker v. United States because of the procedural posture of that case (as compared to Wilson and Bazzrea, which both have additional claims over-and-above the statutory EUA claim that Coker doesn’t.) Here is a link to a Court Listener page for Coker‘s entire docket; the docket entry is #120. (Court listener is a site where folks can host documents downloaded off of PACER and this particular site-page is something a concerned citizen put together on their own dime and time.)
I wrote several updates in my head for you in the middle of that, but by the time we got done with all of the writing and filing, there were Motions, Responses, and Replies due in Wilson and Bazzrea. Brandon had a hearing in his military chaplain case in E.D. Va (Alvarado v. U.S.), and poof! Now here we are. As a related aside, I should note that because of my history with the DoD’s shenanigans, I get a fairly steady stream of calls from attorneys to consult (or just help out on some obscure legal issue) in other “vaccine-related” cases. While I take no credit (nor blame!) for those cases, I can tell you that (a) having many other people in the fight is a good thing, and (b) discussing these issues in other contexts frequently helps our own cases by providing an opportunity to look at things from a slightly different vantage point… But, of course, it all costs time. And the one constant, whether you’re rich or poor, officer or enlisted, gay or straight, black or white or green or purple… is 168.
That’s the number of hours in a week and that’s all you get.
I have one final item to cover and it’s more of a cautionary note and free advice, so consider it in that context. There has been some media interest in our cases and in some of your stories. It’s nice to have the light of public attention shined onto your cases, but please do not get fooled about what that means. It is the extraordinarily rare instance in which that leads to some kind of concrete legal outcome for you. Judges don’t care about media frenzy as a general matter, and the DoD sure as hell doesn’t. No matter how much the Beast may flinch, this program hasn’t stopped yet, even in the face of the CDC’s own guidelines saying that there is no difference between the “vaccinated” and “unvaccinated.” It’s your right to decide how you want to handle that stuff, but just have your eyes open to the fact that a lot of people – even those seemingly supportive of this “cause” – are happy to use you for their own gain.
Eyes wide open – issues like this always attract good-hearted, well-intentioned people… as well as a lot of scammers, carnival barkers, and bumper-sticker salesman who always find a way to make a buck off of you with promises that ultimately yield nothing – and in many cases, are counter-productive, sometimes illegal, and often just plain stupid. I don’t care about people with yellow ribbon magnets on their minivans and so if I seem indifferent to folks who are pushing this or that “solution” or who claim to have a better way than I do of handling these matters. Whatever. Since I live near Missouri now, and my bride and in-laws hail from there, you’ll forgive me for adopting Missouri’s slogan as the “Show Me State.” In other words, I’ll believe it when I see it. Everyone always knows better, but I’ll be damned if I can find a written product or legal filing to back it up.
I hope you all will send prayers out to our Floridian friends in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, help if you can (and I know many of you Coasties are working extra shifts in support, so a tip o’ the cap to you all!), and continue to find laughter, love, and joy through these trials.
Fortitudine, my friends. Stay strong.
