Somebody think of the Acronyms

The Australian Vaccination Network repeatedly lies about the ownership of it’s official Facebook page by claiming that the page is owned by their fans. In order to further push this lie they have now renamed the official Facebook page from “Australian Vaccination Network” to “Fans of the AVN” but they can’t change the username of the page, which is still avn.living.wisdom 

So there is no denying that this is the same page owned by the same cretins. But their choice of name is an interesting one. Because there is more than one organisation going by the acronym A.V.N.

In the absence of “The Australian Vaccination Network” the only AVN on Facebook is Adult Video News, a trade magazine for the porn industry. That’s them in the 3rd and 4th search result on Facebook appearing just below Fans of The AVN.

Adult Video Network

I would like to congratulate Meryl Dorey and her Fans of the AVN and await the inevitable confusion and hilarity that is bound to follow from this poorly planned re-branding of a Facebook page. Thinking is something anti-vaxxers never do well, but sometimes they’re good for a laugh.

Boycotting Indonesia over #Bali9 reeks of hypocrisy.

Last night two convicted Australian drug smugglers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by firing squad in Indonesia. In response to the executions two hashtags #BoycottBali and #BoycottIndonesia have started to gain traction by people opposed to the death penalty.

Although I don’t support the death penalty as a form of punishment I think it’s important to point out the hypocrisy of boycotting Indonesia over the death penalty while continuing to use services from the United Sates, which also has the death penalty in 32 states.

I have been asking people to boycott the United States by deleting their Facebook and Twitter accounts since both services are based in California, a death penalty state. However rather than having the integrity to uphold their imaginary position on the moral high ground the left make endless excuses for continuing to use United States based service providers.

There is no such thing as “Defacto Abolitionist” California still has the death penalty on its books a long with 31 other states. In fact the United States has executed 10 people this year already without any moral outcry from Australia. Therefore expressing outrage over the execution of two Australian criminals to the point of boycotting the executing country only to then refuse a boycott of the United States over the death of ten US criminals is to place a higher value on the life of an Australian Citizen then on the life of a US Citizen. 

The old “not as bad as” fallacy even makes an appearance from the left.

It’s true that the United States reserves the death penalty for more severe crimes, such as murder. However the Innocence Project shows us that the United States does occasionally put innocent people on death row. See: Innocence Project Cases

At least Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were guilty of the crime they were punished for. While their guilt doesn’t make the execution right neither does it make the Indonesian death penalty any better or worse than the US death penalty. If you’re going to boycott Indonesia for the death penalty then it stands to reason that you will also delete your Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts and refrain from using Google or watching Hollywood movies.

Unsurprisingly while the political left are happy to boycott Indonesia for the death penalty they will not boycott the United States because it causes them too much inconvenience. Some people only have principles so long as it’s not too hard.

Anti-vaxxers refuse to apologise for comparing vaccination to rape.

Last week I wrote about the Australian Vaccination Network repeating their comparison between vaccination and rape. Over the past week they have been been taken to task for it by the Australian media.

Sydney Morning Herald: Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network compares vaccines to rape.

News.com.au: Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network compares vaccines to rape in Facebook post.

9News: Anti-vax group slammed for comparing vaccines to rape.

Herald Sun: Opinion: Comparing vaccination to rape is ‘revolting’

Daily Mail UK: Anti-vaccination group slammed after they compare immunisation of children to rape before claiming their advert is ‘just honest’

The Guardian: Campaign comparing vaccination to rape ‘repulsive’, health minister says.

The Independent: Anti-vaccination group defends advert comparing immunising children to rape

Of course rather than apologising for making the post the AVN simply denies having made it.

This is clearly an outright lie because the image was posted by the user/pagename avn.living.wisdom and the post stating “We do not own the page it was posted on” is the same page that posted the offending article. You can’t claim not to own the page page/account that you are currently posting to. That would be like me writing a blog post to explain that I don’t own this website. It’s just in my name, and under my management.

Of course the lying and back peddling doesn’t end there. The lie has also been repeated by Meryl Dorey who despite no longer being the official president; is still pulling all the strings.

 

Seriously, if you’re going to claim not to own the page you could at least refrain from doing so under an administrator account on the same page. As for the claim “I agree that the image was very much in-your-face and should not have been posted here”. That’s a stark difference from a few years ago.

So what happened? In the past the anti-vaccination lobby would never have backed down in the face of a media shit storm. This time they go running for shelter and claim not to own their official Facebook page. They are of course no less vile than they were a few years ago, but their resolve seems to be severely weakened in the past year. This is surely I sign that we are gradually winning our campaign to prevent them from spreading fear, lies and hate onto the community.

Of course after five years (and a lawsuit) I’m not not in the least bit surprised that they have chosen to blame an anonymous individual who just happens to have administrator access, rather than simply apologise for making the post in the first place.

Anti-vaccine campaigners obsession with rape.

Back in 2011 MerylDorey, then president of the Australian Vaccination Network made her now infamous Facebook post likening vaccination to rape.

After being repeatedly condemned by the media and society in general it would be expected that even the most moronic half-wit would have learned their lesson about making such absurd comparisons. However anti-vaccination campaigners it seems are not quite as intelligent as moronic half-wits because even after years of condemnation they are still making such comments.

Just a few hours ago the Australian Vaccination Network made the comparison again. Because some people never learn.

 However, unlike fours year ago the AVN is now coming under fire from within.

Even confirmed anti-vaxxers don’t want anything to do with it.

With Facebook posts such as this the AVN is quickly alienating the few remaining friends it still has.

Anti-vaxxers co-ordinate Denial of Service Attack against Federal Government

If you’ve seen the news lately then you’ll know that the Abbot government has recently announced plans to strip anti-vaxxers of welfare payments for refusing to vaccinate their children.

Australian parents will lose thousands of dollars of childcare and welfare benefits if they refuse to vaccinate their kids.
The “no jab, no pay” plan, announced by the federal government today, has bipartisan support. Thousands of families could lose payments, with the government estimating about 39,000 children under seven have not received immunisation because their parents are vaccine objectors. But Social Service Minister Scott Morrison said it’s not fair for taxpayers to subsidise parents who choose not to immunise. –The Australian

Australian welfare payments have certain conditions that must be met before you can claim a hand out from the taxpayer. For example the Disability Support Pension is only available for people who have a disability. Student welfare payments, called AusStudy in Australia can only be claimed by people undertaking a “full-time study load” who do not earn money via paid employment. While people claiming the New Start job seekers allowance must be looking for work.

 

Other welfare payments such as The Family Tax Benefit part A and the Child Care Benefit. Also have requirements that need to be met before a person is eligible to claim the benefit. In this case it is a requirement to immunise your children to be eligible for payment. However there was a loophole that allowed parents who neglect to vaccinate their children to still claim welfare payments despite not meeting the eligibility requirements. However there was an exemption in place that allowed people to claim “Conscientious Objection” to vaccination that would allow them to claim welfare payments despite failing to meet the immunisation requirements.

 

For years, anti-vaxxers have claimed “Conscientious Objection” to life saving medicine in order to claim a welfare payment they do not meet the requirements for. This is welfare fraud, albeit a legal one. The government has now closed this loophole to prevent tax payers money being spent on people who wish to endanger the community.

Unsurprisingly the Australian Vaccination Network, an extremist anti-vaccination lobby group that is no stranger to committing criminal acts. Is now encouraging members to partake in a “Phone Jam” whereby they attempt to flood the phone lines of Social Services Minister, Scott Morrison.

The idea was first posted on No Vaccines Australia with the stated intention of clogging up the phone lines.

However attempting to “Clog up the phone lines” is a crime in Australia as it is in effect a Denial of Service Attack.

477.3  Unauthorised impairment of electronic communication

(1)  A person is guilty of an offence if:

(a)  the person causes any unauthorised impairment of electronic communication to or from a computer; and

(b)  the person knows that the impairment is unauthorised; and

(c)  one or both of the following applies:

(i)  the electronic communication is sent to or from the computer by means of a carriage service;

(ii)  the electronic communication is sent to or from a Commonwealth computer.

 

Penalty:  10 years imprisonment.

-Criminal Code Act 1995, Part 10.7—Computer offences, Australia

For some reason anti-vaxxers,especially The Australian Vaccination Network like to think they are above the law and free to engage in harassment and abuse as they see fit. So far the Australian Vaccination Network has tried the following (and rapidly growing) list of tactics.

 

This is only a small list of abhorrent or at the very least, questionable behaviour that I have documented on this site over the past 5 years. I know there is a significantly enormous amount of bad behaviour that I haven’t written about yet. Mainly because I haven’t had the time to write a whole encyclopaedia.

Google Play should delete The Whole Pantry

I spoke previously about how Belle Gibson used her story of cancer survival to raise money for charity though The Whole Pantry and how the money was never handed over. Following revelations that Ms Gibsons likely faked her cancer in order to garner support for her business, Apple has since deleted her “The Whole Panty” app from it’s stores.

Global tech company Apple appears to have buckled to mounting pressure to end its partnership with Melbourne social media entrepreneur Belle Gibson, with her top-rating app vanishing from its smartwatch and iPad promotions. 

…

The Whole Pantry app has already been pulled from the Apple Store, and Ms Gibson’s book deals have been scrapped by her Australian and international publishers. Customers who purchased the app and cookbook have also demanded refunds. –Sydney Morning Herald

Her book by the same name was also canned by publishers in the United Kingdom.

A blogger who gained a huge online following after saying she was beating brain cancer through “nutrition and holistic medicine” rather than conventional treatment has had her book withdrawn from publication after doubts were raised about her claims.

Belle Gibson’s recipe book, The Whole Pantry, was due to be published in the UK by Penguin next month. But the publishing house yesterday revealed it had shelved publication after failing to receive “sufficient explanation” from the Australian author about doubts being cast on her story.

–The Independent

Publishing of The Whole Pantry has also stopped in Australia.

Publisher Penguin Random House has stopped printing The Whole Pantry amid uncertainty around whether its author, Belle Gibson, had cancer.

The success her book and smartphone application, which advocates natural therapies, has been largely credited for her high profile as a cancer survivor.

“Despite our best endeavours, we have not received sufficient explanation from Ms Gibson, author of The Whole Pantry recipe book, in response to recent allegations,” Penguin said in a statement.

“As such, we have been left with no other option but to stop supplying the book in Australia.

–ABC News

The Whole Pantry is now only available in the Google Play store. Everyone else has stopped selling it due to the fraudulent business of it’s author. The Whole Pantry is such an integral part of the charity scam that deleting it is the only ethical thing to do.

Google’s social media team are active on twitter and do respond to people. However they have not responded to my tweet regarding The Whole Pantry still being on sale. I will continue to push them through other avenues until I at least get a response.

See also: The Whole Pantry Charity Fraud.

Anti-vaxxers continue their Facebook censorship campaign.

Let’s be clear about this. Censorship is the tool of the coward and so it comes as no surprise that anti-vaccination campaigners always attempt to suppress criticism rather than address it. Their most popular tactic is to abuse the Facebook reporting feature to get their critics kicked off Facebook.

There is a group on Facebook called Anti Vax Wall of Shame (AVWOS) which mocks and ridicules the absurd claims of anti-vaxxers on Facebook in public groups. So rather than simply ignoring AVWOS, or better yet refrain from saying stupid things in public. The anti-vaxxers have decided to play their trump card; Facebook censorship.

The plan is to bombard Facebook with complaints until Anti-vax Wall of Shame is removed. The anti-vaxxers have learned how to exploit Facebook’s automated tools and have a well established history of using it to silence anyone they don’t like. Of course if the plan doesn’t work they have a conspiracy theory all lined up ready to go.

When questioned by other members about freedom of speech they just repeat one of their favorite lies about critics.

You’re asking for proof from anti vaxxers? Good luck with that.

I really hope this is true because it will certainly be a lot of fun. The last anti-vaxxer to accuse me of hacking was ordered by the court to pay my legal costs. It should come as no surprise that lunatic conspiracy theorists don’t tend to fare so well in court.

Anti-vaxxers also oppose the use of virus scanners. For the love of all viruses.

Flooding Facebook with false complaints for the purpose of punishing your critics is harassment. This is a deliberate orchestrated campaign to have people banned from Facebook for daring to post screenshots that have been taken from a public group.

This is not the first time anti-vaxxers have resorted to these tactics and probably won’t be the last. It all started back in 2012. See: Why does Meryl Dorey fear free speech?

The Whole Pantry Charity Fraud.

Belle Gibson claims to have survived cancer and has used the story of her miraculous survival to raise money for charity by creating The Whole Pantry, an electronic cookbook full of recipes to promote a healthy lifestyle. However despite raising over $300,000 for charity Ms Belle has instead kept the money rather than handing it over.

Melbourne businesswoman Belle Gibson, founder of food and health app The Whole Pantry, solicited donations from a loyal following of 200,000 people in the name of at least five charities that have no record of receiving money from her. –The Age

When confronted by angry members of the public The Whole Pantry started spewing all sorts of pathetic excuses for the charity swindle. Their favorite being that their books are being brought up to date.

The Whole Pantry also states on its Facebook page: “TWP, is a for-profit company, but has great, enthusiastic intentions of giving back as much as possible to the organisations and charities which the TWP team and community support, respect and are passionate about.” This claim to be a non-profit company is quickly refuted with a search of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission records.

The Whole Pantry is not a company, or any other type of legal entity. Instead it is the business name of Belle Gibson who runs The Whole Pantry as a sole trader. There is of course nothing wrong with this particular business model, but why lie and pretend to be a company when you are not. I can only speculate that this may be to take the heat off her co-conspirators who have referred to her as “Belle, our previous Managing Director,“. Or it could be the fact that individuals face prison time, while a company only faces a $28,000 fine.

Not only did Belle Gibson/The Whole Pantry fail to pass on the money she raised for charity but now there are doubts about her having ever had cancer. In fact she now seems to be covering up all claims of having ever had cancer.

SOCIAL media entrepreneur Belle Gibson appears to be erasing her stories of terminal illness from the internet, as further evidence emerged yesterday casting doubt on her claims to have survived a terminal brain tumour for five years without treatment. Ms Gibson, who began an internationally successful “wellness” business on the back of her claims, failed yesterday to respond to a report in The Australian that revealed her history of unusual and contradictory claims of terminal illness. –Herald Sun
Belle Gibson built her little business empire with story of her cancer survival and if she hadn’t swiped the charity money chances are nobody would question her health claims. After all who’s going to take the risk of falsely accusing a cancer patient, of anything.

US Anti-vaxxers praise the murder of Polio workers.

Gunmen opened fire on a team of polio vaccinators in Pakistan’s restive southwest on Wednesday, killing four of them and forcing authorities to halt an immunisation drive, officials said.

The incident happened on the eastern outskirts of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province. –News.net

 Anti-vaxxers have reacted to this news of murder with delight and celebration. On a Facebook group called Vaccine Resistance Movement. 

Henry Carling of South Bend, Indiana writes: Sad but think how many children were saved. No worse than bombing an abortion clinic.

 

 Lou Ine writes: too bad bill gates wasn’t there

 

Michael Kohloff of Riverside, California writes: I can’t really fault them. Self Defense.

 

Haven DeLay writes: Can you blame these people in India for being angry? I think not. Bill should make a visit to India. Bet they would just love to see him there. I just have no sympathy for child poisoners.

 

Rose Love from Reno, Nevada writes: Epic Karma!! If someone came in and killed, sterilized or paralyzed 47,500 of my children and friends and families children I might be tempted to do the same.

Murder is Epic?

Could the anti-vaccination movement become any more unhinged? My prediction; yes.

Anti-vaxxer silences The Spudd

A favorite tactic of miscreants seeking to silence their critics is to threaten a lawsuit in the hope that the website owner will cave into the threat and remove the criticism from the internet.

TheSpudd.com a satire site that pokes fun at alternative health cranks has become the latest victim of this tactic.

Yes folks for the first time, and presumably not the last, The Spudd has been threatened with libel action about a recent post. The post has since been taken down and we will not be divulging any details about the person responsible. –The Spudd

Unfortunately the Spudd did cave into the threat and the material that the anti-vaxxer wanted removed is now gone. In my opinion handing the anti-vaxxer an easy victory like this only encourages them to continue the activity against their critics. Not only has the requested content been removed but the decision not to name the anti-vaxxer means there can be no Streisand Effect either.