DOJ says Phoenix Police Target Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans: Cops Subject Non-Whites to Unlawful Detention, Excessive or Deadly Force and Purposefully Delay Medical Aid to People They Harm

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From [HERE] Phoenix police discriminate against Black, Hispanic and Native American people, unlawfully detain homeless people and use excessive force, including unjustified deadly force, according to a sweeping federal civil rights investigation of law enforcement in the nation's fifth-largest city.

The U.S. Justice Department report released Thursday says investigators found stark racial disparities in how officers in the Phoenix Police Department enforce certain laws, including low-level drug and traffic offenses. Investigators found that Phoenix officers shoot at people who do not pose an imminent threat, fire their weapons after any threat has been eliminated, and routinely delay medical care for people injured in encounters with officers.

The report does not mention whether the federal government is pursuing a court-enforced reform plan known as a consent decree — an often costly and lengthy process — but a Justice Department official told reporters that in similar cases that method has been used to carry out reforms.

Interim Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan said in a statement that they need time to thoroughly review the findings before considering any next steps. A top police union official, meanwhile, called the Justice Department investigation a “farce,” and warned that a consent decree would hurt officer morale.

“The Department of Justice is not interested in making local police departments and the communities they serve better,” said Darrell Kriplean, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents about 2,200 officers. “This action demonstrates that they are only interested in removing control of local police from the communities that they serve through consent decrees.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland called the report “an important step toward accountability and transparency.” He said in an email that it underscores the department’s commitment to “meaningful reform that protects the civil rights and safety of Phoenix residents and strengthens police-community trust.”

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement that city officials would meet June 25 to get legal advice and discuss next steps.

“I will carefully and thoroughly review the findings before making further comment,” Gallego said.

The Justice Department said Phoenix officers enforce certain laws — such as low-level drug and traffic offenses, loitering and trespassing — more harshly against Black, Hispanic and Native American people than against white people who engage in the same conduct.

Black people in the city are over 3.5 times more likely than white people, for example, to be cited or arrested for not signaling before turning, the report says. Hispanic drivers are more than 50% more likely than white drivers to be cited or arrested for speeding near school zone cameras. And Native American people are more than 44 times more likely than white people — on a per capita basis — to be cited or arrested for possessing and consuming alcohol.

Officers investigating drug-related offenses also were 27% more likely to release white people in 30 minutes or less, but Native Americans accused of the same offense were detained longer, the department said. And Native Americans were 14% more likely to be booked for trespass, while officers cited or released white people accused of the same offense.

There is “overwhelming statistical evidence” that the disparities are due to discrimination, the Justice Department said.

Phoenix has a population of 1.6 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Race and ethnicity figures show 2% of the population is Native American, 7% is Black, nearly 43% is Hispanic and 41% is non-Hispanic white.

Of the more than 2,500 officers who work for the Phoenix Police Department, 68% are white, 21% are Hispanic and 4% are Black.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who leads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, criticized Phoenix for “over-policing” homeless people, including arrests without reasonable suspicion of a crime. More than a third of the Phoenix Police Department’s misdemeanor arrests and citations were of homeless people, the report says. The DOJ investigation began in August 2021.

Litigation is an option if the Justice Departments' efforts to secure a consent decree are unsuccessful.

“We remain very hopeful that we can build on the track record of success that we have had in other jurisdictions across our country and put in place a consent decree that contains the strong medicine necessary to address the severe violations identified,” Clarke said.

Similar DOJ investigations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Baltimore and elsewhere have found systemic problems related to excessive force and civil rights violations, some resulting in costly consent decrees that have lasted for years.

NYPD Much Better at Surveilling and Stopping Law Abiding Black People than Protecting Them from Crime: 92% of All Jaywalking Summons’ are Issued to Blacks in City Controlled by Elite White Liberals

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The NYPD must be forced to stop ticketing pedestrians who cross against traffic signals because cops are currently "unfairly targeting Black and Hispanic individuals," says a Brooklyn Council member who wants to end enforcement of so-called "jaywalking."

Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, whose bill to decriminalize the practice will get its first hearing on Tuesday before the transportation committee, said the city's own statistics show that the NYPD is unjustly and selectively enforcing the "crime."

In 2023, of the 463 summonses written for crossing a street against a signal, 92 percent, were written to Blacks or Latinos. In the first three months of 2024, according to new numbers crunched by Streetsblog, 96.5 percent of the 227 of the tickets where the race of the perpetrator was known were handed to Blacks or Latinos.

"The recent statistics for jaywalking tickets from January to March 2024 paint a troubling picture of racial disparities," Narcisse told Streetsblog in a statement. "This makes it abundantly clear that the current enforcement of jaywalking laws disproportionately affects communities of color. Jaywalking should not be a criminal matter that disproportionately impacts certain groups based on race or ethnicity. [MORE]

Racial and Ethnic Inequalities in Household Wealth Persist [the Operating System of Racism White Supremacy Continually Refines Itself while most Black sheople are Oblivious to its Existence]

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the operating system of racism white supremacy is thriving - as it goes on continually updating and refining itself while most Black sheople are oblivious to its existence, continue to live in a reactionary state and have become politically powerless, “complicit in their own political emasculation,” and kept in a continuous state of checkmate.

WHEN YOU SAY RACISM DO YOU MEAN BAD WORDS, DISRESPECT AND BIGOTRY OR RACISM WHITE SUPREMACY

From [HERE] Disparities in wealth are pronounced across racial and ethnic groups in the United States. As part of an ongoing series on inequality and equitable growth, we have been documenting the evolution of these gaps between Black, Hispanic, and white households, in this case from the first quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2023 for a variety of assets and liabilities for a pandemic-era picture. We find that real wealth grew and that the pace of growth for Black, Hispanic, and white households was very similar across this timeframe—yet gaps across groups persist. 

Data Sources 

For this analysis, we rely on the quarterly demographic wealth distributions published in the Federal Reserve Board’s Distributional Financial Accounts (DFA), which are estimated using microdata from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), and aggregate financial data from the Fed’s Financial Accounts series. Due to sample size concerns, we have omitted Asian and Pacific Islander households and households from smaller groups. Hereafter, references to the “study population” refer to Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic white households. We define wealth as net worth (assets minus liabilities). 

We had previously written on racial and ethnic differences in wealth in a February 2024 blog post (as well as differences by age) and found a decline in the aggregate real wealth of Black households after 2019. However, some questions about the data, related to the sample of Black households, came to our attention after that post and we decided to revisit the analysis at the household level rather than the aggregate level.

At the beginning of 2019, Hispanic and Black households constituted 11 percent and 16 percent of households in the study population, respectively, yet they held just 2.7 percent and 4.9 percent of total wealth of that population. Meanwhile, 73 percent of households in our sample were white and held 92.4 percent of the wealth. In 2019 dollars, the average Black household held $253,000 in wealth, the average Hispanic household held $205,000, and the average white household held $1.06 million. The data allow us to calculate wealth estimates for average households by group but not for median households, so we report only averages. [MORE]

[racism is about Domination not mean words or hate] 'Racists Didn't Steal Slaves. They Stole Scientists, Doctors, Architects, Entrepreneurs, Astronomers, etc and Made Them Slaves'- Kyrie Irving

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Kyrie Irving took to Instagram to set the record straight on the Black community and their subject to slavery.

The Dallas Mavericks guard posted a story about how the modern system took the skilled Black people and is using them as slaves as opposed to noticing them for their skillset that could make a difference to the world.

Irving has been an advocate for social change and a strong supporter of the community for years now and is now spending his offseason educating the masses about the trials the Black community goes through even during a period where discrimination is prevalent. [MORE]

Study Finds Racial Disparities in Dementia are Determined by Social Factors Not Genetic Ancestry ["race" is a political classification, a political system. The purpose of race is to practice racism]

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From [HERE] Racial disparities in dementia are due to social determinants of health, with genetic ancestry playing no role, according to a new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The study, which was based on a long-running population-based survey in four Latin American countries, helps explain why people of predominantly Native American or African ancestry have a higher prevalence of dementia: Study participants were more likely to experience social contexts and health conditions that raised their risk of cognitive decline, such as lower education levels, rural residency and high blood pressure. Once such factors were accounted for, ancestry added no additional risk.

"Marginalized racial and ethnic groups have higher rates of dementia in many countries, and disentangling the biological from the social contributors has been challenging," said corresponding author Jorge Llibre-Guerra, MD, an assistant professor of neurology.

"Latin America provides a unique framework to separate the two. It is the region with the largest mixture of genetic ancestries, plus it has profound social inequalities. This study clearly shows that poor cognitive health is part of the legacy of the racial caste system. It's not family ancestry that is putting people at risk. In a way, the findings are reassuring, because social determinants of health are modifiable."

The study is published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia. [MORE]

Study Finds Racial Disparities in Youth Psychiatric Inpatient Admissions - Black Children get Boarded in Emergency Rooms Indefinitely w/No Meaningful Treatment

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From [HERE] According to new research published in JAMA, there are concerning disparities in the boarding rates of both children and adolescents who are in emergency departments for severe mental health symptoms. These findings illustrate a significant need for targeted resources that will reduce boarding while promoting an equitable access to care.1,2

For this cross-sectional analysis, data from May 2020 to June 2022 that included youths aged 5 to 17 years who boarded in a Massachusetts emergency departments for 3 or more midnights while awaiting inpatient psychiatric care. The purpose of this study, according to the investigators, is to summarize characteristics of youth—including age, gender, race or ethnicity, insurance, diagnosis, and barriers to placement—who boarded the emergency departments to test for any disparities in boarding lengths and inpatient admission rates following boarding. Additionally, the investigators also evaluated whether statewide demand for inpatient psychiatric care had any associations with individual outcomes.2

A total of 4942 boarding episodes from this dataset were identified. Of these events, 2648 were for cisgender females (54%), 1958 (40%) for cisgender males, and 336 (7%) for transgender or nonbinary youth. Additionally, the investigators observed that 1337 youth (27%) were younger than 13 years of age, with depression being the most common diagnosis (n = 2138, 43%).2

The findings demonstrated that from the total number of events, approximately 56% (n = 2748) resulted in inpatient admission, of which 171 transgender and nonbinary youths (51%) and 1558 cisgender females (59%) received inpatient care (−9.1%; 95% CI, −14.7% to −3.6%). Transgender or nonbinary youths were also boarded for a mean (SD) of 10.4 (8.3) midnights compared with cisgender females, who were boarded for 8.6 (6.9) midnights (adjusted difference: 2.2 midnights; 95% CI, 1.2-3.2 midnights). Further, there were fewer Black youths who were admitted into inpatient care compared with their White counterparts (n = 382, 51% and n = 1231, 56%, respectively; adjusted difference: −4.3%; 95% CI, −8.4% to −0.2%). The authors also observed that for every additional 100 youth boarding statewide on the day of assessment, the percentage of youth was approximately 19.4% lower (95% CI, −23.6% to −15.2%) and boarding times were 3.0 midnights longer (95% CI, 2.4-3.7 midnights).2

“The experience of boarding—of being stuck in 1 emergency department room, under 24-hour, 1-on-1 supervision, for days or weeks at a time, with little definitive mental health treatment and not knowing how long you’ll be stuck there—is detrimental to children’s wellbeing,” said Lindsay Overhage, MD/PhD student and researcher, department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, in a news release. “In fields other than psychiatry, the sickest person in the emergency department gets admitted first for inpatient care. But many inpatient units don’t feel equipped to deal with kids who have the most severe psychiatric symptoms, so by default these kids end up languishing in emergency departments.”1 [MORE]

Congressional Puppeticians Order State Department to Cover Up Israel’s War Crime Death Toll from Gaza Holocaust

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From [HERE] On June 26, the United States House of Representatives passed an amendment barring the State Department from citing the Gaza Health Ministry’s death toll statistics for the Israel-Hamas war. Once signed into law, it will effectively halt discussions of the war's deaths.

The House voted 269-144 for a revision to the Department of State appropriations bill proposed by a bipartisan group led by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). A group of 62 Democrats joined all but two Republicans in voting for the measure. The provision "prohibits funds appropriated by this act to be made available for the State Department to cite statistics obtained from the Gaza Health Ministry."

The health ministry has been cited by the department and news agencies for decades amid conflict in Gaza. Its daily death toll during the current conflict that began in October has served as a primary source for understanding the war's impact on Palestinians in the territory. It is the only official entity tracking death data in Gaza.

Palestinian-American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib slammed the vote in Congress, which critics allege is an attempt to hide the scale of the devastation wreaked on Gaza by Israel. "Since 1948, Mr. Speaker, there has been a coordinated effort, especially in this chamber, to dehumanize Palestinians and erase Palestinians from existence," Tlaib said in a speech addressing the House before the vote. "My colleagues want to prohibit our own U.S. officials from even citing the Palestinian death toll."

The Michigan representative reminded her colleagues of the tens of thousands killed by Israel in Gaza, highlighting the number of children among those dead. "Six children are killed in Gaza every single hour. But Palestinians are not just numbers. Behind these numbers are real people, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters who have had their lives stolen from them and their families torn apart and we should not be trying to hide it," she added and then slammed the anti-Palestinian racism in their chamber. [MORE]

Washington lifts 'hold' on shipment of 500 Pound Bombs for Israel to Continue US Financed Murder, Genocide in Gaza

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From [HERE] The US government has lifted a two-month hold on shipments of 500-pound bombs for Israel, according to US officials who spoke with Reuters on 10 July.

In early May, the White House announced a hold on a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs to Israel, citing “concerns” these would be used to flatten Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had taken refuge at the time.

Nevertheless, despite earlier warnings from US President Joe Biden and EU states that a full-scale military operation on Rafah would be considered a “red line,” the Israeli army has destroyed the city with impunity, killing scores of Palestinians along the way.

When pressed by reporters whether the devastation unleashed on the overcrowded city crossed Biden’s “red line,” White House officials claimed they “[had] not seen Israel smash into Rafah.”

“Everything that we can see tells us that they are not moving into a major ground operation in population centers in the center of Rafah,” US national security spokesman John Kirby said in late May. 

According to the Washington Post, Wednesday’s decision to lift the hold on the 500-pound bomb shipment followed a “pressure campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and pro-Israel lobbyists … including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), demanding the resumption of all weapons shipments regardless of their lethality.”

Officials who spoke with the US daily claim that the “500-pound bombs were never a serious concern for the Biden administration.” [MORE]

Terrorcrat Netanyahu to avoid Europe on way to US in Fear of ICC arrest warrant

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From [HERE] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will avoid stopping in Europe over fears about an impending arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his role in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, according to reports in Israeli media.

The premier’s office recently “reviewed” whether or not to stop in Europe when he heads to the US capital to deliver a speech before the US Congress on 24 July.

Israel’s Kan broadcaster revealed that, after considering several options, Netanyahu decided to take a direct flight to Washington with a limited number of passengers on board, as the so-called “Wing of Zion” is unable to make a transatlantic flight while carrying a full load.

Other options included requesting to stop in countries “closer” to Israel, such as the Czech Republic or Hungary. However, Netanyahu preferred to abstain from layovers altogether and fly directly to Washington.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, including the starvation of civilians as a weapon of war, wilfully causing great suffering, wilful killing, intentional attacks on a civilian population, and extermination, among other charges.

Many of Israel’s closest allies – including Germany – have confirmed they would enforce an ICC arrest warrant against the prime minister if he visits the country and the warrant is issued. [MORE]

[consent to take medicine obtained thru misinformation is Fraud, Battery and/or Murder] Gov Authorities, “Vaccine” Makers and Media Had No Safety Data to Claim COVID Shots Safe for Pregnant Women

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consent obtained by lies, halfTruths, non-disclosures, fraud, coercion is not lawful consent - it is induced consent, which is unlawful.

A plaintiff cannot ordinarily be regarded as actually consenting to the defendant's conduct if the plaintiff assented to the conduct while mistaken about the nature and quality of the invasion intended by the defendant. Likewise, an overt manifestation of assent or willingness would not be effective apparent consent if the defendant knew, or probably if he ought to have known in the exercise of reasonable care, that the plaintiff was mistaken as to the nature and quality of the invasion intended.... The decisions in this area have involved assent induced by fraud, in the sense that the defendant was either aware of the plaintiff's mistake or ignorance and failed to disclose the truth, or the defendant induced the mistake with representation which he knew was false. Prosser and Keeton on Torts § 18, at 119-20 (5th ed. 1984).

The failure to provide informed consent is a basis of medical malpractice. But it also may be the basis of a lawsuit for an intentional battery (murder), negligence or fraud.

Battery is an intentional, unwanted or offensive touching by another. A lawsuit for battery increases the likelihood of punitive damages and unlike a claim for negligence, no proof of injury or harm is necessary. A lawsuit for battery generally has a shorter statute of limitations than a claim for negligence.

From [HERE] British Columbia attorney Lee Turner joins Rebel News to unpack disturbing findings uncovered by freedom of information requests, proving the 'safe and effective' COVID-19 vaccine narrative told to pregnant and lactating women contradicts what's written in the government's confidential contract with Pfizer and more.

However, as recent as December 2023, Health Minister Mark Holland confirmed in an order paper question response that “the safety and efficacy of these vaccines in pregnant women have not yet been established.” The ministry further disclosed that “Health Canada has not approved any safety claims with regard to pregnant and lactating women.”

Such statements directly contradict what public health officials previously promised Canadians, including B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, who professed that she could “say unequivocally these vaccines do not affect fertility in women or boys or young men” back in 2021. [MORE]

After decades of Dr. Stanley Plotkin and his vaccinologist disciples insisting vaccines are the most well studied products on the planet, they just admitted exactly the opposite

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After decades of Dr. Stanley Plotkin and his vaccinologist disciples insisting vaccines are the most well studied products on the planet, they just penned an articleadmitting precisely the opposite.

They just admitted vaccines are not properly studied—neither pre-licensure nor post-licensure. They admitted, for example, “prelicensure clinical trials have limited sample sizes [and] follow-up durations” and that “there are not resources earmarked for postauthorization safety studies.”

That is an incredible reversal. But let me provide context so nobody is fooled at what they are clearly up to:

For decades, the medical community insisted vaccines are the most thoroughly studied product ever; for example, Dr. Paul Offit said, "I think we should be proud of vaccines as arguably the safest, best tested things we put in our body.”

For decades, parents of vaccine injured children, vaccine injured adults, and other stakeholders contested these claims only to be shunned and attacked by the medical community and health agencies. [MORE]

On July 4th NYPD Race Soldiers Politely Warned WF's About Using Fireworks but Tackled a Black Woman Holding a Sparkler. Video Shows Cops Punch a Black Man who Dared to Question Their "Public Service"

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LET FREEDUMB RING WITH LEFTS & RIGHTS FROM LIBERAL AUTHORITIES. From [HERE] A viral video showing several NYPD officers beating a Black man on the Fourth of July began when the cops first approached a white man shooting off fireworks and spoke to him in a cordial manner about the legalities of fireworks under New York state law, according to Hawk Newsome, who co-founded Black Lives Matter of Greater New York.

But the same cops became much more aggressive when they spotted an 18-year-old Black woman wearing a hoodie holding a sparkler in her hand – which happens to be illegal in New York City.

“They tackled the girl because they saw a Black person in a hoodie and thought it was a gangster,” said Newsome, who is helping the victim’s family pursue legal action against the NYPD.

However, a relative of the young woman, Shaquan Davis, demanded to know why they had assaulted her, which resulted in the cops attacking him.

Now Davis, 27, who had never been arrested in his life, is facing several charges, including felony assault on a police officer as well as resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, disorderly conduct, harassment and assault with the intent to cause physical injury, according to a spokesperson from the New York City Police Department.

The incident took place around 9:30 p.m. in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn as people throughout the country were celebrating Independence Day.

New York City has some of the toughest laws against fireworks in the country, where “all consumer fireworks, including sparklers, are illegal to use, buy, sell, or transport,” according to a city-run websitethat encourages residents to report their neighbors.

That night, the NYPD was making its rounds to prevent people from using fireworks when they pulled up on the block where several residents of all ethnicities and colors were celebrating Independence Day.

They first approached a white man shooting fireworks and began talking to him in what Newsome describes as a “cordial way.”

And the video was posted on Instagram by Newsome and his sister, Chivona Newsome, who co-founded Black Lives Matter of Greater New York with her brother.

But they then turned their attention to the young woman wearing the hoodie while holding a sparkler and ran up and tackled her.

“No command to put down the firework, nothing of that sort. They just ran and tackled her,” Newsome said.

Newsome said the cop apologized after realizing that she was a girl and decided not to arrest her but then was approached by Shaquan, who demanded to know why they had tackled her in the first place.

That was when they pounced on him and began punching him in the face repeatedly, which is when the video starts, according to Newsome.

The video shows two police officers holding Davis as they take turns punching him while another male civilian tries to intervene and block the blows from landing. However, the situation escalates when a third officer grabs Davis, allowing one of the others to pull out a Taser on the other civilian and third man who tries to plead with officers to let Davis go.

“Get the f–k back!” one of the officers warns.

After the men back off, the officers push Davis to the opposite of a van, where the violent interaction started, and continue to rough him up before apparently arresting him.

Several bystanders could be here off camera screaming and expressing outrage over what they were witnessing. The video was reposted by other activists and influencers online, leading to widespread outrage.

Newsome said they transported Davis to the 61st Precinct and kept him locked up for 24 hours, and he believes racial profiling is at the root of it all.

“This whole thing was over fireworks, but when the family got to the precinct to find out what was going on, there were white people across the street from the precinct shooting off fireworks,” he said.

Not ‘Saving Lives’ but Intentionally Killing People: COVID Injections Linked to Increase in All-Cause Mortality, Italian Study Shows

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From [HERE] COVID-19 vaccines were linked to an increase in all-cause mortality in a new peer-reviewed study that analyzed data from the Italian National Healthcare System.

Based on their analysis, a team of Italian researchers verified what they called “the real impact of the vaccination campaign” by comparing the risk of all-cause death among vaccinated and unvaccinated residents of the Italian province of Pescara.

In their univariate analysis, the researchers found the risk of all-cause death to be over 20% higher for those vaccinated with two or more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine compared to the unvaccinated.

In contrast, prior research done in the same region suggested those with three or four doses had a lower risk of all-cause death.

“We also found a slight but statistically significant loss of life expectancy for those vaccinated with 2 or 3/4 doses,” they said in the report, which they published June 30 in Microorganisms.

Dr. Peter McCullough told The Defender, “These findings call for an immediate halt of COVID-19 vaccination across the globe and a thorough investigation of what went wrong during the COVID-19 vaccine campaign.”

McCullough wrote on Substack that the paper’s main point is that “COVID-19 vaccination did not ‘save lives’ as so many in Washington have proclaimed without evidence.”

Alberto Donzelli, one of the Italian study’s authors, told The Defender the study is “an important advance” because it looks at all-cause mortality broken down by vaccination status, and accounts for confounding variables that may have affected earlier reports on COVID-19 vaccination and all-cause mortality.

Very few studies in the world have successfully done that, he said.

McCullough also told The Defender the study’s findings are “cohesive” with those of a recent German study — currently available as a preprint —  which found COVID-19 vaccination was linked to increased all-cause death in 16 German states.

Researchers undertake study to correct for bias

For their study, Donzelli and his co-authors used the same data analyzed by other researchers in an earlier Italian study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness.

The earlier study — which followed up with people two years after the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign — found that those who received one or two doses had a significantly higher risk of all-cause death, while those who received three or more vaccine doses had a lower risk of death.

However, these results were likely distorted due to “immortal time bias,” Donzelli and his co-authors said.

Immortal time bias is a common study design flaw that can throw off statistical estimations between an exposure (such as a COVID-19 shot) and an outcome (such as an increased risk of death), according to the University of Oxford’s Catalogue of Bias.

Donzelli said the bias “afflicts most observational studies on mortality from COVID-19.” So he and his co-authors took the necessary steps to correct for the bias and reanalyzed the same data.

They looked at vaccination records from Jan. 1, 2021, through Dec. 31, 2022, for people ages 10 and up.

They also looked at follow-up data collected from Jan. 1, 2021, through Feb. 15, 2023, for these people, as long as they hadn’t tested positive for COVID-19 on the date of the follow-up.

They also looked at other variables, such as pathologies other than COVID-19, that may have affected people’s health.

“The results are startling,” wrote McCullough, after doing calculations using the report’s data. “COVID-19 specific deaths were not reduced with vaccination, however there was a U-shaped trend of note when COVID-19 deaths were adjusted per 1000 population: unvaccinated 1.98/1000, one dose 0.27/1000, two doses 1.08/1000, and 3/4 doses 3.5/1000.”

Additionally, Donzelli and his co-authors in their multivariate analysis found that those who received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine had a hazard risk ratio — which is a statistical estimate of risk — of 2.4 for all-cause mortality, meaning they were much more likely to die compared to the unvaccinated.

“Those vaccinated with two doses showed an almost double hazard ratio of death: 1.98,” Donzelli pointed out.

These numbers are significantly worse than what was reported in the original study that hadn’t corrected for the immortal time bias, he said. Correcting for that bias changed the results for those who were vaccinated with three or more doses, too.

The original study authors had claimed that being vaccinated three or more times reduced the risk of mortality more than four-fold. Based on his and his co-authors corrected analysis, Donzelli called the claim “implausible.”

He said of the multivariate analysis, “Those vaccinated with three or more doses turned out to die at the same rate as the unvaccinated.” However, taken together with univariate analyses and life expectancy estimates, all COVID-19 vaccine dosing regimens show an overall increase in all-cause mortality.

CDC: COVID shots ‘save lives’

The Defender asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) if it planned to modify its statement that “COVID-19 vaccines save lives” in light of the study’s findings.

A CDC spokesperson told The Defender that the CDC “does not comment on findings or claims by individuals or organizations outside of CDC.” The spokesperson declined to provide studies or data supporting the agency’s claim that the vaccines save lives.

“CDC research has continuously found that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective,” the spokesperson said.