HR- 6666

Once again, we are seeing unnecessary fear-mongering in "you-tube" videos making their way through social media.

The most recent video is regarding House Resolution, HR-6666. Now naturally, a few people are upset with the number used to identify this bill. Let me get this out of the way right from the get-go. This is NOT the first time there has been a House Resolution with that number. In 2011, the 112th Congress also created a bill with the same number. It was in regard to health and obesity. So it is nothing unusual, or anything to worry about. Let's not even go there.

Now. For the important stuff. This House Resolution is reportedly a mere 5 pages long and is extremely easy to read. I printed it out and it was actually only 3 pages. You can read the entire text here.

The goal of the bill:

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to eligible entities to conduct diagnostic testing for COVID–19, and related activities such as contact tracing, through mobile health units and, as necessary, at individuals’ residences, and for other purposes.

It is known as the TRACE Act - "Covid 19 Testing Reaching and Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act." It was created and brought to the House on May 1, 2020. It is in regard to contact tracing, which brings concern for many people. And I suppose that concern could be justified in an abusive administration. But the fears have been exaggerated about what is contained in this bill. Contact tracing is simply a means to helps us understand who might be infected and with whom those people may have come in contact. This is certainly not the first time contact tracing has ever been used in our society. In fact, it has been used for preventative medicine and public health for decades. It was used as far back as the smallpox and polio outbreaks. A bit more recently, in the 1980's, it was used for HIV/AIDS. And it was used during the outbreak of SARS in 2003, as well as the Ebola epidemic in 2014. And truthfully, contact tracing is even used for food poisoning outbreaks on cruise ships, restaurants and convention events. Again, this is something for which we shouldn't be too fearful. In fact, HR-6666 provides precautions for privacy.

e) Federal privacy requirements.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any Federal privacy or confidentiality requirement, including the regulations promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–191; 110 Stat. 2033) and section 543 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2).

But let me address the video that is now spreading through social media from Dr. Rashid Buttar. I have linked it below. Watch with a careful eye. I cannot find it available on "you-tube", only on the Facebook page of Dr. Buttar. So you will have to click on this link and probably be signed into Facebook in order to view it. That should be a red flag. https://www.facebook.com/DrRashidAButtar/videos/554900395460372/

It seems there is absolutely full-blown, unnecessary fear-mongering going on in this video with a surprise entrance by Mikki Willis at the end of the clip. Willis is the producer of "Plandemic" and so many of the other short videos we are seeing make their way through social media. They clearly wanted their connection with each other to be known. Maybe they thought with the "success" Willis' videos have had it would lend credibility to this one. In truth, they are bringing alarm and misinformation. (Surprised, not surprised.)  

Let's break this down.

Now this may be a bad bill; I don't know, entirely. I do have concern that so far there is only one Republican sponsoring it. It is sponsored by 44 Democrats and only one Republican.  I think it is probably good to contact our Representatives, to let them know our concerns and so they will know we are being attentive to exactly what is going on. But it is also very important to know this bill has very little chance of ever being made into law. Only 4%, by some accounts.  It must pass the House, first; and then the same bill must be passed in the Senate, which due to the partisan nature of it, I am sure will never happen. It would then still need to be signed by the President. All highly unlikely. But, I am all for people being in contact with our representatives about this. I always think it is good to have communication with them and remind them for whom they are working.

The main author of the bill is Bobby L Rush Congressional Democrat from Illinois serving the 1st Congressional District (Chicago area). He was first elected to Congress in 1992 and has served consecutive terms ever since. He is 73 years old and was a civil rights activist in the 1960's. It concerns me that he was the co-founder of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. Let's hope he has mellowed since then. He has also been a pastor with a Master's degree in Theology and he is a United States Army Veteran. BUT!  He is a proud liberal advancing every aspect of that agenda.

Below, and at this link, is his statement from his website, promoting the bill.

"This bill would provide $100 billion in grants to faith-based organization, clinics, medical centers, and other organization which perform testing for COVID–19, tracing of exposure to COVID–19, or services for individuals who are isolating at home. The funding could be used to pay their staff or purchase personal protective equipment to protect their staff. 

No provision in this bill would make testing or quarantining mandatory. The bill includes privacy protections for the medical information of individuals that would limit how grantee organizations could share information collected with the federal government. (A large-scale disinformation campaign has made absurd claims about this bill.)

Really, there is not too much more to this bill. It lines out use of the funds, it provides funds for personal protective equipment and other supplies, and it provides funds for hiring people to test and trace. I suspect Republicans oppose it out of concern for tracing. But as I have said, we have done that for years. I am not endorsing the resolution. I oppose it simply for the fact of who wrote it. It does have language identifying "medically underserved community" which appears to demonstrate a bias that wise legislatures would not want to support. And it is a whole lot of money, that certainly should be justified. I oppose the bill for those reasons. But it is certainly not the danger that is being spread through media by these antagonists - for lack of better word.

Now there are other issues in several Democratic states such as Washington and Michigan, whose governors are absolutely doing things that should bring concern to many. But those things are not mandated in this bill. This is something entirely different than what is occurring in some of our blue states with heavy-handed governors - some with a whole agenda of their own.

That aside, we absolutely need to ask ourselves why the people making these videos continue to misrepresent so much information. We need to ask, what is their agenda? Is it truly that they are afraid, and their fear is causing them to misunderstand what is taking place? Is it that they are purposefully deceiving to advance another agenda? Are they using an old Saul Alinsky tactic known as "stirring the masses" to create problems among our citizens. What is it, exactly, that is taking place here? This has happened so many times, creating such a stir that we really need to find out exactly what the motive is from the people purposefully distorting facts.

I have already blogged about Mikki Willis. So I won't do it again. You can read my thoughts about him here.

But let me share a little information regarding Dr. Buttar.

To simplify things below is a quick quote from Wikipedia. It is all easily verifiable with other sources and even with the doctor's own website. Though there is plenty of controversy surrounding him, there is nothing controversial about this description:

"Rashid Ali Buttar is an American osteopathic physician, conspiracy theorist, and anti-vaccine proponent from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is known for his controversial use of chelation therapy for numerous conditions, including autism and cancer."   

I am not surprised. Truthfully, for me, that is all I need to know. Again, another anti-vaxxer promoting false information. I have written many times about the anti-vaccine connection and these popular fake videos making the rounds on social media. I do encourage you to research him further, if you have questions. Personally, I have seen enough.

This video is scaring people about "false positives" pointing out that people could receive an inaccurate test and it would then be used against them by authorities. Dr. Buttar attempts to scare people about the government removing children from their homes. It is infuriating to me. Especially once learning who is behind it.

Let me address the identification label on the video: "Center For Advanced Medicine." It is a well known fact that many fake videos have been altered with a realistic looking logo running across the bottom of the video as a credit making it look like it came from a credible source. So, I wanted to be sure to check this out as a starting point to find more out about Dr. Buttar. I originally researched the wrong clinic. I have removed that information and I am doing an update.*

This link is instead his website and his clinic is called "Center for Advanced Medicine and Clinical Research". It is located in Mooresville, North Carolina. Below is a quick synopsis from their "About Us" page. It is difficult to determine legitimacy. His page appears to be a bit gimmicky, with books and movies for sale, as so many of these sites do, but I can't say that it is fake. Perhaps, he is someone simply promoting his own agenda. Regardless, he is offering phony information about this House Resolution. I also find it interesting that he has a form on his site with a link to oppose HR 6666. And he has a form asking all kinds of private information, that I would certainly never answer without knowing more about this doctor, his website, clinic and his agenda. Curious. This is the quote from his site.

"Our clinic was founded in 1996 with the goal to give those with “untreatable conditions” an opportunity to recover. Over time, we acquired the reputation of specializing in “treatment failures”, ie, patients that had gone to other medical facilities but had failed all conventional treatments as well as “alternative” treatments. Soon, patients were driving long distances, many flying across the country, and others traveling from distant parts of the world to get help for their previously “unsuccessfully treated” medical ailments.

We acquired this reputation by emphasizing a complete and holistic approach to healing, recognizing the interdependence of the body’s various organ systems and the body’s need for balance. By utilizing any and all necessary conventional, traditional, as well as integrative and alternative medical treatments, we have been able to restore this essential balance and reestablish health and vitality in the vast majority of our patient population."

The bottom line in all of this, is we have got to get to the root of these fake videos. Time and time again, they lead back to the anti-vaxx agenda. I am not looking to find that agenda! It is just always there, upon researching! Maybe these people are creating these theories, because they think it will lead more traffic to their websites and they will be able to better promote their products. Maybe that is as sinister as it gets. Honestly, I don't know. But "anti-vaxxers" really need to consider if they want to continue to be aligned with people who are spreading a false narrative. They have been continually debunked, shown to use unnecessary drama and statements that are not factual. It is not helping their cause, but rather it is something that is in reality creating a distrust in everything else they claim. It is my opinion, that they are being used by the people stirring these controversies. The "anti-vaxxer's" distrust of the government and their anti-government positions make them an easy target for anyone that claims "the government is out to get us". Classic examples are the many conspiracies concerning the coronavirus and Bill Gates. As well, the 9/11 conspiracy theories also continue to grow. They all blame our government and take our focus off the real enemies: Communist China and radical Islam, respectfully.

 

And finally, let me say, this has nothing to do with the vaccine/anti-vaccine debate. That should be argued and researched with other methods, at another time. This has to do with people who are deliberately lying for what ever agenda they may be trying to promote. It is absolutely anti-government beliefs at the root. And they are without doubt using those people who have the tendency to already have a distrust of our government. We absolutely must consider the end gain. These fake videos are doing harm to the trust we have in our President and ultimately the government our Founders took such God-ordained care to create. Now I don't think we should put much trust in polls, but there are polls that the President's numbers are dropping. I have watched comments from people on social media who are the administrators of certain pages, that have noticed the same thing. They have been trying to alert people to the danger of not standing with President Trump.

I simply do not understand such blind trust that we are seeing from conservatives and especially conservative Christians. There have been many articles and podcasts speaking about the gullability of Christians. It is first and foremost a bad witness. Christians are also influencers with people that watch us for the right path to follow and to see how we handle situations. We are blowing it. We absolutely need to put an end to this if we are ever to be effective in our goals, our politics, and especially our faith. This absolutely affects the credibility of everything.

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I am going to include Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" here. I wonder if anything seems familiar in what we are seeing with these fake videos.

 

Rules for Radicals

1. "Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have."
2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people."
3. "Whenever possible go outside the expertise of the enemy."
4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."
6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
7. "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."
8. "Keep the pressure on."
9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
10. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition."
11. "If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside."
12. "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
13. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

Certainly something to think about...especially in regard to numbers 5, 6, and 9.

 

 

 

Text of the bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6666/text?r=2&s=1
 

Co-sponsors of the bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6666/cosponsors?r=2&s=1



*Updated and edited for correction May 12, 2020 at 4:38 PM.