The curling cheating scandal that has rocked the 2026 Winter Olympics has the Canadian team accusing Sweden of illegal filming.

Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs defeated Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin 8-6 on Friday, but the win included a viral moment that had the internet ablaze with cheating allegations.

‘I know we’re not the only team that they’ve done that to.’

Canadian Marc Kennedy had an intense altercation with Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson, who accused him of double-touching his stone after releasing it at the official line, called the hog line.

Photos and videos circulated online showing Kennedy’s pointer finger appearing to commit the foul, but the intent and his finger’s ability to influence the approximately 42-pound object has been up for debate.

Now, Kennedy has told reporters that he believes Sweden was setting his team up.

“They have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line,” Kennedy told reporters, per the National Post. “This was planned, right from the word go yesterday. From the words that were being said by their coaches and the way they were running to the officials, it was kind of evident that something was going on, and they were trying to catch us in an act.”

RELATED: Skier Hunter Hess changes tune after saying he has ‘mixed emotions’ about representing USA: ‘I love my country’

Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen claimed Sweden took video that violated filming rules in Olympic venues, citing that only Olympic Broadcasting Services is allowed to take footage. He said the allegedly incriminating footage was “outside of OBS rules.”

OBS said it did not produce the footage, but that anyone who is properly accredited with broadcast rights can film inside the venue.

Canadian Coach Paul Webster said the “game was afoot” and accused a “Swedish fan or Swedish official” of possibly filming from the stands.

“So they’ve got people up there videoing, and that whole thing was premeditated and planned,” Webster added.

“They were there, ready at the hog line, video recording.”

Sweden’s Eden reportedly replied to the allegations and said “absolutely not.”

“We’ve been saying this for maybe seven, eight years or something,” Eden went on. “The media crew decided to place the camera on the hog line to see what was happening, to explain it to the people watching. It was Swedish media. The people covering the game that did that, we were told, at least. I have no idea, but that’s what we were told afterwards.”

RELATED: Team USA women’s hockey hands Canada its worst loss in Olympics history

On Sunday, Canada’s women’s team was hit with a double-touching violation in their match against Switzerland, prompting even more rumors.

“Apparently everyone knew that Canada was cheating,” sports podcaster Dan Katz said on Monday, citing insider reports. “Sweden had their own broadcast cameras basically set up on the hog line to catch them in the act. Then they called them out on it.”

Canada’s Kennedy added fuel to the fire, saying, “I know we’re not the only team that they’ve done that to,” in terms of filming. “So I think this was — I don’t know what the word is for that — but like a premeditated plan to try to catch us.”

Coach Webster also claimed Sweden “actually had videos for the Italian team as well.”

Great Britain has since been accused of the double-touching violation.

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​Fearless, Curling, Olympics, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Winter olympcis, 2026 olympics, Cheating, Sports 

A Utah mother murdered her 11-year-old daughter in a Las Vegas hotel room, then committed suicide during a cheerleading competition trip, according to authorities.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that officers were dispatched for a welfare check of a mother and daughter at 10:43 a.m. Sunday at the Rio Hotel & Casino.

‘There are no words for the loss we all feel. Our hearts are completely shattered for the family and friends of Addi.’

Police officers knocked on the hotel room door several times but did not get a response; they left the hotel because “there was no belief that either was in danger” based on the details at the time.

“As the day progressed, security personnel got additional requests to check on the mother and daughter,” according to the press release.

Police said “security personnel” from the hotel entered the room at approximately 2:27 p.m., and they “located the two females unresponsive.”

The news release said the mother and daughter were “both suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.”

Both were pronounced dead at the crime scene when police arrived, according to the statement.

Police stated, “Based on the preliminary evidence at the scene, detectives were able to determine the mother shot her daughter before shooting herself.”

Police Lt. Robert Price revealed there was a note left in the room but did not specify what the note said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Price added, “This is a sad and tragic incident, and our hearts go out to the family.”

According to KSNV-TV, the Clark County Coroner’s Office confirmed the identities of the deceased as 34-year-old Tawnia McGeehan and 11-year-old Addilyn Smith — also known as Addi.

A spokesperson for the Rio Hotel & Casino told KTNV-TV, “We are aware of the incident that occurred at the resort.”

RELATED: What was to be fun Florida trip ends in ‘cold-blooded’ triple murder: Elderly tourists dead, suspect earlier beat murder rap

The New York Post, citing court documents from McGeehan’s divorce, reported that the girl’s parents “went through an ugly custody dispute” in 2015.

Court docs added that McGeehan and her ex-husband, Brad Smith, spent nine years fighting for custody of Addi after their divorce.

The couple were “ordered to park their cars five spaces apart during custody handovers at Addi’s school, and she was made to walk between the parents’ vehicles by herself,” the Post reported.

When Addi didn’t go to school, both parents went to the Herriman Police Department in Utah to exchange the child, according to court documents.

The Review-Journal in a separate story citing Provo District Court records reported that Addi’s parents had “disputed about a number of things, including custody, child support, and where the girl would attend school.”

The situation escalated in 2020 when a judge granted Smith sole custody of Addi after revelations that McGeehan had “committed domestic abuse in the presence of the minor child” and was “subjecting the child to behavior on the spectrum of parental alienation,” court records said.

According to the Review-Journal, “A year later, the court required that McGeehan’s visits be supervised by friends and relatives.”

The paper noted, “Much of the case file is sealed from public view, making it unclear which parent had physical custody of Addi at the time of her death.”

Addi was a cheerleader for Utah Xtreme Cheer, which was “heartbroken” over the “devastating news.”

Utah Xtreme Cheer released a statement:

With the heaviest hearts, we share the devastating news that our sweet athlete Addi has passed away. We are completely heartbroken. No words do the situation justice. She was so beyond loved, and she will always be a part of the UXC family. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers and continue to send them love as they navigate this unimaginable loss. We ask that you respect their privacy during this time. Addi, we love you tremendously.

The cheerleading group also noted that all classes and open gyms “will be cancelled for the remainder of the week” as they attempt to “navigate through this difficult time.”

The Black Diamond Gym said on social media:

There are no words for the loss we all feel. Our hearts are completely shattered for the family and friends of Addi. The cheer world will never be the same, the hole in our hearts will never be filled, we are absolutely devastated by this loss. Addi was a longtime athlete of Fusion and current athlete of UXC, I can’t imagine what they are going through. We love you so much and are so sorry for your loss.

The Salem Police Department in Utah said in a press release that Addi was the niece of one of its sergeants.

“While the details of this loss are difficult to process, we are coming together as a department to support Sergeant Smith and his family during this unimaginable time,” the statement read.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched by Addi’s uncle to help pay for funeral expenses.

“My brother Brad is facing an unimaginable loss after his daughter Addi was tragically taken from our family,” the crowdfunding page said.

“This heartbreaking event has left the family in deep shock and grief, struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of Addi in such a way,” the GoFundMe campaign stated.

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​Las vegas, Las vegas crime, Tawnia mcgeehan, Addi smith, Addilyn smith, Murder, Murder suicide, Suicide, Crime, Cheerleading trip, Mother and daughter 

Jeremy Carl, Trump-appointee and author of “The Unprotected Class,” faced a grilling at the United States Senate when Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tore into his beliefs on “white identity.”

“You’re now retreating to ethnic identity. You don’t speak about ethnic identity. You speak about white identity. So tell me the values that stitch together white identity and that make it different than black identity,” Murphy asked.

“I would say that the white church is very different than the black church in terms of its tone and style on average. Foodways could often be different. Music could be different, if you look at the Super Bowl halftime show, which was not in English this year,” Carl explained.

Murphy responded, “So our ability to access white churches or white food or white music is being erased?”

“I am concerned with the majority common American culture that we had for some time, that through particularly mass immigration, I think has become much more balkanized, and I think that weakens us,” Carl said.

BlazeTV host Jonathan “Lomez” Keeperman is of the mind that Carl is right.

“On second viewing, I mean, I watched this live, and by the way, in the context of this hour-long Senate hearing, he was just getting grilled from all directions … he was being accused of anti-feminism, he was being accused by [Sen.] John Curtis of Utah [R] for not being, like, sufficiently loyal to Israel. And then there was this white thing,” Lomez tells BlazeTV co-host Christopher Rufo on “Rufo & Lomez.”

“And I think what we saw there was him a little bit stumbling through the answer, but it’s actually the right answer. I mean, he gives the right answer, the specific details,” Lomez continues.

Lomez points out that there are different parts of American culture, and different races have their own piece.

“I’m not saying this, by the way, just to please a liberal listener. It’s all true, OK? This is all deeply embedded in our culture and the common culture as well, but it is predominantly what we might call ‘white,’” he explains.

“When you turn on Netflix or something, or like Hulu, or just turn on the TV, there’s BET. There’s Black Entertainment Channel, and there’s black stories to enjoy with your family on Hulu, and then there’s Asian stories, and you know, you get the whole diaspora of all these different groups,” he continues.

“There’s no white channel, there’s no white story section … because … that is the baseline culture that these other things are kind of orbiting around and existing within. And what Jeremy is suggesting here is that we are losing that common culture. We are losing that common white culture,” he adds.

Want more from Rufo & Lomez?

To enjoy more of the news through the anthropological lens of Christopher Rufo and Lomez, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Camera phone, Sharing, Video, Free, Video phone, Upload, Youtube.com, Rufo & lomez, Chris rufo, Jonathan keeperman, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, White culture, White identity, Jeremy carl, Whiteness, Black culture, Native american culture, American culture 

My Ash Wednesday message for 2026 comes with an assist from the recently deceased Jesse Jackson.

In 1977 — just four years after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling — he wrote:

Even if one does take life by aborting the baby, as a minister of Jesus Christ I must also inform and/or remind you that there is a doctrine of forgiveness. The God I serve is a forgiving God. The men who killed President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. can be forgiven. Everyone can come to the mercy seat and find forgiveness and acceptance. But — and this may be the essence of my argument — suppose one is so hard-hearted and so indifferent to life that he assumes there is nothing for which to be forgiven. What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person, and what kind of a society, will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually? It is that question — the question of our attitude, our value system, and our mindset with regard to the nature and worth of life itself — that is the central question confronting mankind. Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth.

Obviously, I can’t know where Jackson’s heart finally landed when his Maker came for him. But if you’re shocked that he ever wrote something like that — given his later career as a Democrat presidential candidate — take it as a cautionary tale about cutting deals with the spiritual forces of this world.

Unlike Jackson — who, by all appearances, grew less bold as he chased worldly gain — we must become bolder, no matter the cost.

Jackson went from writing one of the strongest arguments you’ll ever read against casual abortion to serving, in effect, as a son of Moloch. That turn required choices: the old temptation to “be like God,” to treat gifts and platforms as personal property, to barter them for worldly influence. And after making that bargain, he ended up with an affair, a child out of wedlock, and a political career that finished in disgrace.

We love to play God. We love to fancy ourselves “the people we’ve been waiting for,” as Barack Obama once put it. And in the process, many start to believe — through misplaced worship and inflated self-regard — that no God exists at all.

Believe me, I know. I’ve stood on the edge of that same abyss. I’ve asked myself the stupid question: Is the stove really too hot to touch?

Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. But hell is hotter.

By God’s grace, I remembered — in my own season of spiritual dying — that I am a sinner who needs mercy before I became too proud to believe God and His truth didn’t exist. So the things of heaven are on my horizon as I prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Israel and await the birth of my second grandchild.

RELATED: ‘Force of nature’: President Trump responds to the death of Jesse Jackson

Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

I chose Easter in the end. But all of us, at some point, play Good Friday roulette with our salvation because we know God is merciful and mercy triumphs over judgment. True — but mercy does not cancel judgment.

Christians have argued for 2,000 years about whether a person can lose salvation. Fine. But the goal of the faithful should include this: Stop living like we exist to keep that argument going. Do you even narrow road, bro?

Finish your race, my friends. The consequences of not doing so are eternal.

So unlike Jackson — who, by all appearances, grew less bold as he chased worldly gain — we must become bolder, no matter the cost. That leap of faith is the toll for walking the narrow road. That is discipleship.

Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. Thus saith the Lord.

​Opinion & analysis, Jesse jackson, Salvation, Christianity, Religion, Faith, Presidential election, Presidential candidates, The world, God, Eternal judgment, Abortion, Roe v. wade 

The head of the Federal Communications Commission said at a media conference that “The View” is under investigation for possible violations of the equal time rule.

The FCC changed the equal time rule last month to include talk shows like “The View,” which forces them to provide the same coverage to all candidates in a campaign if they spotlight one.

‘The idea is that if you’re a partisan political actor under the case law, then you’re likely not going to qualify under the bona fide news exception.’

The women of “The View” had James Talarico on their show, a Texas state representative who is vying for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate against Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas). They also had Crockett on the show.

“The FCC has an enforcement action underway on that, and we’re taking a look at it,” Carr said Wednesday. He did not elaborate on how “The View” may have violated the rule.

The admission comes as the FCC is facing criticism from Stephen Colbert after he was told by CBS not to air an interview with Talarico to avoid violating the rule.

Carr went on to explain the change in the rule.

“People can come forward with their own showings and a petition for declarative ruling, but this is something that will be explored as part of the FCC case law,” he added. “The idea is that if you’re a partisan political actor under the case law, then you’re likely not going to qualify under the bona fide news exception.”

Colbert had accused Carr of not applying the rule to right-wing talk radio, and Carr addressed that criticism as well.

“We haven’t seen the same issues on the radio side,” he said. “We’ll take a look at anything that arises at the end of the day.”

RELATED: Stephen Colbert melts down after CBS pulls Dem interview just months before his show ends

Carr went on to criticize the media for running with censorship claims made by Colbert that were contradicted by CBS.

“There was no censorship here at all,” he told reporters.

“I think you guys should feel a bit ashamed for having been lied to and then just run with those lies,” Carr said. “I think it was an embarrassing episode for the media.”

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​The view vs trump, Fcc vs the view, The view under investigation, Equal time rule, Politics 

“Boy Meets World” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” actor Matthew Lawrence has some knowledge to drop: Hollywood’s superficial obsession with “inclusion” and “compassion” masks one of the most ruthless businesses in the world — especially if you’re a child star.

As Lawrence’s brother Joey might say, “Whoa!”

Matthew made the comments in a recent conversation with older brother Joey and younger brother Andrew on the thespian trio’s “Brotherly Love Podcast.”

‘They just literally toss them to the wolves, taking no responsibility.’

Fame shame

Lawrence noted that the pressure of sudden fame and wealth is harder for child actors, for whom success comes “before you actually know who you are.” How to navigate that is something the industry “quietly stopped teaching” its youngest employees, Lawrence claimed.

Lawrence, who landed his first recurring television role at age 4, said the industry had a certain “responsibility” to child actors. His brothers, both of whom entered showbiz before they were 6, seemed to agree.

RELATED: ‘Silence of the Lambs’ star sorry for vilifying transgenderism: ‘It’s f**king wrong’

– YouTube

Tossed aside

Speaking of the highly publicized drug problems of troubled celebs like former Nickelodeon child star Tylor Chase, Lawrence put some of the onus on an industry that discards them once they’re no longer useful.

“I feel like they haven’t failed. I feel like the business has failed them,” he said, while observing the disconnect between such callousness and the image the business likes to project:

Hollywood always talks about how they’re the most compassionate, inclusive, amazing community, and they eat their own. Literally eat their own. They put these kids in movies. They build them up and talk about how incredible they are and throw money their way, [only] to pull the rug from them as soon as something doesn’t work or as soon as they have outgrown that moment, and they just literally toss them to the wolves, taking no responsibility.

RELATED: James Van Der Beek’s message about finding God resurfaces after death: ‘I am worthy of God’s love’

Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Guilted cage

As for Hollywood activism, Lawrence suggested it’s mostly motivated by guilt.

“They do have this inherent thing where they feel bad that they are sitting on top of a mountain of cash and fame.”

This doesn’t always translate into a good grasp of the issues, Lawrence noted.

“They always seem to pick and choose, like, the ‘in’ topic, when all this crap is going wrong with the world that they just look right over.”

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​Align, Hollywood, Elites, Child actor, California, Brothers, Entertainment 

A female tennis player says she is retiring from the sport because of its “hostile” culture that has resulted in death threats, insults, and poor self-esteem.

Destanee Aiava announced she is leaving the sport at the end of the season, after having peaked at No. 147 in the world in 2017, when she was just 17 years old.

‘… a culture that’s racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anyone who doesn’t fit the mould.’

The Australian departed with a scathing post on her Instagram page, criticizing her soon-to-be former sport for taking away her family, her health, and her self-worth.

“2026 will be my final year on tour playing professional tennis,” the 25-year-old wrote.

After asking if everything she sacrificed for the sport “was actually worth the cost,” the tennis player listed all the reasons she has kept playing over the years despite of her distress, concluding, “In other words tennis was my toxic boyfriend.”

“It also took things from me,” she continued. “My relationship with my body. My health. My family. My self worth. Would I do it all again? I really don’t know.”

Then Aiava got even more direct and a lot more vulgar:

“I want to say a ginormous f**k you to everyone in the tennis community who’s ever made me feel less than.”

RELATED: Liberal reporter frustrates American tennis stars by asking the same tired question

“F**k you to every single gambler who’s sent me hate or death threats. F**k you to the people who sit behind screens on social media, commenting on my body, my career or whatever the f**k they want to nitpick,” Aiava went on.

The tennis player, who is of Samoan descent, launched into criticisms of her sport, seemingly giving it every negative label she could.

“And f**k you to a sport that hides behind so-called class and gentlemanly values. Behind the white outfits and traditions is a culture that’s racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anyone who doesn’t fit the mould. “

Aiava broadened her explanation in an interview with Australia’s “ABC News Breakfast” and host Catherine Murphy.

RELATED: ‘I don’t think that’s relevant’: American tennis star shuts down reporters fishing for anti-Trump answers

“I experienced a lot of racism from parents, people I was playing; just comments at the back of the court and even to this day, I’m still getting racist comments [in] DMs and everything. So yeah, it just, it was never-ending,” Aiava told the host. She added that when she was a young girl who was simply “doing her best,” she faced “constant comments that are racist” as well.

Aiava expanded on her body issues as it relates to tennis, which she said were based on the people around her and “seeing other girls in this sport.”

She noted that she has always had issues with food, and being “not really surrounded by many women” like herself, her bad relationship with food only got worse.

The tennis player concluded by agreeing with the host when asked if governing bodies in tennis need to “fight harder for female players.”

Aiava blamed the governing bodies for prioritizing making money from major tournaments over the needs of tennis players.

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​Fearless, Tennis, Racism, Australia, Women’s sports, Misogyny, Hate speech, Sports 

WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of leaked emails from the personal account of John Podesta, former President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, in late 2016.

The decentralized army of sleuths that subsequently combed over the leaked emails found not only damning insights into Hillary Clinton and her doomed presidential campaign but odd messages about pizza, hot dogs, ice cream, and other foods.

‘842 occurrences of the word pizza, which seems like a lot.’

The recurring references to food in non-culinary contexts prompted some to theorize that they were code words related to pedophilia and human trafficking — a theory that the mainstream media and so-called fact-checkers emphasized was “dangerous,” “fake news,” and, in essence, a “moral panic.”

New York Magazine, one of the publications that strenuously criticized the so-called Pizzagate theory nine years ago, suggested in the wake of the new Jeffrey Epstein documents’ release that “pizza” might be a code word, after all.

Dan Brooks, writing for New York Magazine, noted that the latest trove of Epstein files published by the Department of Justice “contains 842 occurrences of the word pizza, which seems like a lot. By comparison, the word hamburger appears only 190 times, while the phrase ‘sex with children’ appears 20 times.”

Brooks admitted that “some of the pizza-related material seems pretty weird.”

RELATED: Gov. Pritzker’s cousin steps down at Hyatt over Epstein relationship

Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Not only did Epstein appear to have automated alerts reminding him to deliver a certain individual pizza, but he was asked on more than one occasion if individuals could have a “quick pizza” together in his absence.

One email said, “I wanted to let you know that the crew really enjoyed the pizza today. Thank you for letting us do that.”

Another message from a redacted sender stated, “This is better than a Chinese cookie! Let’s go for pizza and grape soda again. No one else can understand.”

Additional emails carry subject lines such as “The Pizza Monster!” and include more peculiar uses of the word.

“You mean radiating a soft glow with the look of bliss and excitement. Yeah, that’s the pizza…” one message reads.

“These recent Epstein materials do make the financier seem strangely interested in pizza and unusually committed to having it delivered to other people,” added Brooks.

There are also recurring references to “pizza and grape soda” in the child sex offender’s texts and emails.

Despite the strangeness of the exchanges, a photograph in a text conversation between Epstein and his urologist appears to indicate that on at least one occasion, they were actually discussing pizza and grape soda.

While there has been plenty of speculation in recent weeks about the pizza references, particularly because they appear in both the Epstein and Podesta files, the term “cream cheese,” which appears 196 times throughout the Epstein messages, has also raised eyebrows.

In one exchange, a participant wrote, “Lol, I don’t know if cream cheese and baby are on the same level,” alongside discussions of scheduling activities that some observers say raise further concern. The phrase also appears in other unsettling contexts, including “cream cheese baby.”

The use of cheese and pizza imagery in reference to pedophilia and child abuse is not limited to so-called Pizzagate conspiracy theorists.

In 2020, the Telegraph, a U.K.-based newspaper, reported that a parents’ group working to curb the dissemination of child sex abuse material online allegedly found that cheese and pizza emojis were being used as stand-ins for “CP,” meaning “child porn.”

The founder of the group, a London woman identified only as India, indicated that in some cases, individuals using the emojis shared images of children scraped from parents’ social media accounts.

“There are pictures of little boys aged 5 or 6 on the beach in their swimming trunks and chances are that picture was taken by their parents on their holiday,” said India. “Somehow that picture has gotten into their hands.”

Brooks, prickled by recent declarations by Redditors and others that at least one core Pizzagate claim might have been accurate all along, stated, “If Epstein and his friends did use pizza as a code word for sex, that wouldn’t mean that the original Pizzagate conspiracy theory was correct — even if it was also the case that pizza was a sexual code word in the Podesta emails.”

After spending the bulk of his article entertaining the possibility that “a syndicate of pedophiliac celebrities, financiers, and their urologists,” equipped with code words, committed “unimaginable acts of cruelty,” Brooks spends his final paragraphs attacking those who made similar claims nearly a decade ago.

The NY Mag contributor suggested that such “conspiracists” — not the allegedly vampiric cosmopolitan elites who might refer to their preferred victim types with fast-food references — are “one of the most terrifying forces in 21st-century America.”

Having turned his ire away from the dead pedophile and his associates to those Americans searching for justice and accountability, Brooks concluded his article by smearing American democracy as a “well-documented conspiracy of morons.”

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​Pizzagate, Wikileaks, Podesta, Clinton, Jeffrey epstein, Epstein files, Epstein, Pedophile, Elites, Billionaire, Rapists, Sex offender, New york magazine, Liberal media, Media, Politics 

Vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer made record profits pushing experimental drugs during the pandemic that were nowhere near as “safe and effective” as marketed.

Although their vaccines allegedly left some Americans badly injured and allegedly killed others, Big Pharma giants were largely protected from civil lawsuits as the result of special liability protections that were repeatedly extended by the Biden administration.

‘When it comes to vaccines, and in many cases the COVID vaccine, the rules are rigged.’

Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) introduced legislation last week that would amend the Public Health Service Act to strip the liability shield from vaccine manufacturers.

“If a drug hurts someone, you can sue the company in court,” said Paul, a licensed doctor of medicine. “You can hold them responsible through the normal legal process. But when it comes to vaccines, and in many cases the COVID vaccine, the rules are rigged: You’re funneled into a federal no-fault program that limits damages, restricts your options, and — in many cases — leaves people without real justice. That’s cronyism.”

Presently, persons seeking compensation for injuries sustained as the result of a covered vaccine must file a petition with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which is touted as a “no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury petitions.”

Those specifically injured by one of the experimental COVID-19 vaccines — which were in many jurisdictions required to remain employed, eat in public, stay in school, or visit loved ones — must file a petition with the related Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program.

RELATED: Finally: Vaccine guidelines that make sense for parents

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Parents, legal guardians, and legal representatives of those individuals who were killed by the vaccines — the U.S. Food and Drug Administration admitted in December that “at least 10 children have died after and because of receiving COVID-19 vaccination” — can file on behalf of the decedents.

The catch is that suffering an injury or dying around the time of the receipt of a COVID jab “is not sufficient, by itself, to prove that an injury is the direct result of a covered countermeasure.”

Since there is a high bar for proving causation, few Americans’ petitions are successful.

‘Pharma giants are hiding behind legal protections to avoid being sued.’

CICP data shows that as of Feb. 1, a total of 14,102 COVID-19 claims have been filed, 10,944 alleging injuries or death from COVID-19 vaccines and 3,158 alleging injuries or death from other COVID-19 countermeasures.

Of the total, 6,556 were rejected outright. Of the 6,649 for which decisions were made, only 93 claims were found eligible for compensation — and of the 93, only 44 petitioners have actually received compensation.

Sen. Paul’s End the Vaccine Carveout Act, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and serves as a companion bill to the legislation of the same name introduced in the House in July by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), would reform the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program by allowing vaccine-injured individuals or the legal representatives of those killed by vaccines to pursue direct civil action in state or federal court without having to first try their chances at the no-fault federal system.

Presently, vaccine-injured Americans are generally required to file a petition through VICP before seeking judicial relief. The Republican bill would eliminate that barrier to possible justice.

The bill would also exclude COVID-19 vaccines from the definition of “covered countermeasures,” thereby ending the immunity shield that has for years protected vaccine manufacturers, distributors, and administration from vaccine injury claims.

Lee stated, “Pharma giants are hiding behind legal protections to avoid being sued by Americans experiencing serious vaccine side effects.”

“Many of these patients were forced to get vaccinated or lose their jobs during the pandemic and are now dealing with permanent and very serious complications,” Lee continued. “Our bill will end these unconstitutional vaccine carveouts so that all Americans can receive the justice they deserve and hold Big Pharma accountable.”

Weeks after the 2024 presidential election, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra extended the liability shield for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers through Dec. 31, 2029.

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I recently ran a rather grueling race in Cape Town, a city ranked the world’s most stressful place to visit. By the end of my stay, I understood why.

Race morning brought cold Atlantic air. Table Mountain stood like a fortress. The scene was impossibly beautiful. Then the warnings began.

Julius Malema, the deranged leader of the openly Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters, has led crowds in chanting ‘Kill the Boer,’ the Afrikaans term for farmer.

“Stay where the crowds are after you finish,” an organizer told us.

A gray-haired runner, tying his never-before-worn Asics, gave me a knowing look, the kind that said “enjoy yourself, but stay alert.” The gun fired. We surged forward. And Cape Town revealed itself in fragments.

The route hugged the ocean. Waves crashed against huge rocks. Sunlight rippled across the bay. Spectators shouted encouragement from spotless sidewalks. Cyclists zipped by in neon helmets. In Sea Point and Camps Bay, Cape Town looks effortlessly affluent: palm trees, clean promenades, and cafés filled with people sipping espressos. You could be forgiven for thinking the warnings were overstated. They weren’t. If anything, they were understated.

Razor wire on the Riviera

South Africa’s “Mother City” lives with staggering levels of violent crime. Armed robberies are frequent. Carjackings happen in broad daylight, averaging more than four an hour. Drivers slow at traffic lights but leave space ahead, ready to bolt. Doors lock automatically. Security companies advertise response times the way pizzerias advertise delivery. Sexual assault remains widespread, not just among women but also among children. In the Western Cape alone, nearly 2,000 sexual offenses against minors were recorded in a single quarter last year. The numbers are sobering; the anxiety is constant.

Security is everywhere. High walls ring homes like fortresses. Electric fencing hums overhead. Razor wire catches the light. The message needs no translation.

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Gang warfare

A few hours before I arrived in the so-called cultural capital, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the deployment of soldiers to help fight criminal gangs, a clear sign that police can no longer contain the violence.

And violence is everywhere. Between April and September last year, an average of 63 people were murdered each day. In parts of the Western Cape, especially around Cape Town, gang warfare has become part of daily life. Children are caught in crossfire. Streets fall under the influence of savage syndicates. The gangs, armed with high-powered weapons and machetes, have grown bolder. Why wouldn’t they? Ramaphosa himself noted that soldiers aren’t trained for community policing. Their deployment now underscores the depth of the crisis.

In Gauteng province, illegal miners known as zama zamas run riot. Armed and operating in abandoned shafts, they have built criminal networks around illicit gold extraction. Residents describe intimidation, forced displacement, and operations typical of paramilitary units, not opportunistic gangs.

Existential threat

Ramaphosa has called violent crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy.” He’s right. It is. When criminal groups control territory, extract revenue, and outgun police, the problem is no longer confined to law enforcement. In truth, it becomes a contest over authority itself — an existential struggle South Africa knows all too well, a divided nation once again on edge.

These divisions didn’t appear overnight. Apartheid enforced separation with clinical precision. Its architects portrayed the system not as hatred but as “separate development,” claiming that divided populations couldn’t share power without conflict.

Whites were a small minority, and universal suffrage meant irreversible political defeat. Afrikaners carried the memory of previous conflicts, including the concentration camps in which thousands of their women and children died. They watched postcolonial upheaval unfold elsewhere in Africa and reasoned that without firm control, the country would descend into all-out anarchy.

Set aside outrage and judgment for a moment, and the logic reads as cautious, defensive realism. They believed strict separation would prevent barbarity, preserve a functioning economy, and protect a vulnerable minority from domination. In their minds, it was a matter of survival, not ideology. It’s easy to dismiss the apartheid movement as pure racism, a low-IQ explanation that fits neatly on a placard. But it overlooks the deeper dread that shaped it.

Farmers under siege

History didn’t end with apartheid’s fall. The country remains marked by mistrust, hatred, and absolute terror. Last year, President Trump suggested that white farmers were facing vicious reprisals. Violence against farmers is real and terrifying for those who live beyond the reach of towns and patrols. Farm attacks — home invasions, assaults, and killings — occur with regularity. Many farmers live far from towns or patrols, isolated and vulnerable when attackers strike.

Julius Malema, the deranged leader of the openly Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters, has led crowds in chanting “Kill the Boer,” the Afrikaans term for farmer. Thousands raise their hands like guns as they echo the refrain. Supporters describe it as a chant from the struggle era. Others, a little more grounded in reality, hear something far more dangerous. They hear language that calls for genocide. After all, what is being proposed is the elimination of people defined by a particular skin color. When I asked a white taxi driver whether such fears were exaggerated, he answered without hesitation: “No.”

At the crossroads … again

South Africa is a beautiful country, arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth. Yet it can feel deeply intimidating, largely because it is. A tension hangs in the air, present even in the quietest moments. In many communities, it’s considered reckless not to keep multiple loaded firearms at home, ready to be used at any moment, day or night. Safety is discussed in near wartime terms. Even a simple trip to the store can feel like a roll of the dice, especially for white families.

Does South Africa have the capacity to weather the mounting unrest? I hope so, but I wouldn’t bet on it. A nation intimately familiar with bloodshed once again stands at a crossroads.

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