☕️ GENERALLY FAT ☙ Wednesday, October 1, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Study linking jabs to cancer makes peer review & media; gov’t shutdown fizzles; fake superintendent sparks DOJ probe; Hegseth’s no-wiggle war orders rock generals; Trump rolls new MAHA wins.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Wednesday! It is also the first day of October, marking the commencement of the year’s final quarter and officially kicking off holiday season. Today’s post ran late and collided with an extended multi-lawyer zoom. Better late than never.

This week’s news pace is somewhere between frenzied and beyond berserk. In today’s off-the-charts roundup: yet another study finds cancer-jabs link, but the study was not only published, it survived peer-review, AND made it into corporate media’s transitional neighborhood; government shuts down and nobody notices; followup as fake superintendent spurs DOJ investigation of DEI school district; Secretary of War makes massive, not-politically correct policy announcement to literally the entire world and uncomfortable generals sit up straighter; and more MAHA news emerges from the Oval Office in kid’s cancer, AI, and a new most-favored-nation drug portal for American consumers.

🌍 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🌍

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Yesterday, the UK Daily Mail made history by running a story headlined, “Covid jabs ‘might raise the risk of cancer’, contentious study claims.” Somehow the new peer-reviewed study survived the editorial gauntlet, presumably by careening over the highway bridge and racing up the stormwater drain or something. Anyway, it’s out now, disturbing Daily Mail readers who’ve just awakened from comas and only remember that the government promised that the jabs were the most studied and safest vaccines ever made since Washington pricked his soldiers with something gross that came off a cow.

The article began with a mandatory mention that the latest covid variant “Nimbus” is even more infectious than the previous six hundred variants, each more infectious than the last, having become so infectious now that Nimbus actually travels back in time and infects your great-great-grandfather long before you were born. So if you don’t get your shot, you’re literally killing great-great-grandpa.

But then came the devastating bombshell, in the form of a new, peer-reviewed Korean study of the health records of 8.4 million South Koreans.

This news may shock you, but the researchers concluded that people who took the covid mRNA shots were significantly more likely to get loads of different kinds of cancers, making the shots equal opportunity killers that can qualify for various kinds of pro-social government grants.

Worse, the study only looked at the first year following the shots. So the real figures could be much, much worse.

As if to immunize itself from criticism about publishing “misinformation” that might make people “hesitate,” the article carefully quoted several sneering experts who dismissed the study, calling it ‘superficially alarming’ and warning that its conclusions were ‘hugely overblown.’ They didn’t provide any specifics, because they are experts and you’re not.

But the article also included the study’s more-than-superficially alarming chart showing rather actually-alarming dots and lines next to scary labels like: overall cancer, brain, thyroid, salivary, gastric, colorectal, lung, breast, and prostate— which are all things and places on the body where the last thing most people want is a strange new growth.

Both the article and the related study were careful to point out that they only detected a statistically significant connection between COVID-19 jabs and cancer. But as they tell us whenever they don’t like the implication, correlation does not prove causation. You never know. The cancers may have caused people to take the shots before they got cancer. Or maybe people who are going to get cancer have a sixth sense and are more likely to have gotten vaccinated for some reason. Stuff like that.

After that, the Mail’s story trashed Dr. Aseem Malhotra, discussed a 2023 study finding deaths related to jabs that was later withdrawn (for some reason), and extolled how many lives the jabs allegedly saved, according to pharma models.

But —here’s the important thing— the Mail still reported the study. Which the Mail could have ignored. So far, the article remains an outlier, an n=1 situation. And the Daily Mail is the closest thing the UK has to a supermarket tabloid, with its covid-cancer story nestling between headlines like “Nicole Kidman sexually exhausted after filming new movie” and “Cruise becomes nightmare after 70 passengers contract norovirus.”

But even though the Daily Mail is corporate media’s red-headed stepchild, it’s still in the family. So this story marks the first breakthrough of a solid study linking the mRNA vaccines and cancer. We’ll wait and see whether this is the canary in the media coal mine signaling that somebody forgot to change the bird cage again and now it is an unholy mess.

In other words, the dam may be starting to crack.

🔥🔥🔥

The public’s favorite perennial drinking game arrived just in time for the nascent holiday season: government shutdown. Under the rules, you must drink if you can detect that anything has changed. To help you play, Politico ran its article as a handy resource, headlined “Government shutdown 2025: A guide to what’s still open, what’s closed and what’s fuzzy.” Jokes aside, something does feel different this time.

Without even a hint of irony, Politico began with this short, declarative sentence: “Much of the federal bureaucracy is now officially dark.” You’d think confused bureaucrats were wandering around inky hallways using their phone flashlights to find the stairwells.

Not really, though. The truth is that the federal government is almost impossible to kill. Even when ‘shut down’ —a laughable oxymoron in this case— the government keeps inexorably crawling forward and consuming its victims. It’s like a zombie accountant! You can bury it underground, and it will claw its way out of the grave and get right back to calculating your income tax penalty.

All that usually happens is that several “non-essential” workers in the Bureau of Land Management are “furloughed,” which is the Cherokee word for “paid vacation.” But more interestingly, certain emergency powers become available to the President. The White House Office of Management and Budget begins any ‘shutdown’ by sending non-essential agencies officially worded notices that they should start orderly shutdowns.

That memo went out last night, and not like usual, it also directed all agencies to “consider reductions in force.”

🔥 The media’s favorite shutdown game is called How to Blame Republicans. Especially whenever a Republican president occupies the Oval Office. Unfortunately, as Politico noted, President Trump is a shutdown veteren. He “presided over the nation’s longest government shutdown during his first term, and it didn’t turn out to be an obstacle to him returning to the White House.” Politico scored an interview with Trump, who last night told them flat out he wasn’t worried, “because people who are smart see what’s happening: The Democrats are deranged.”

In fact, so far as I can tell, President Trump seems to have sought this shutdown. As the deadline loomed ever closer, Trump seemed blithely unconcerned about trying to negotiate with Democrats and, with hours to go yesterday, he was posting memes and A.I. videos to his Truth Social stream that were openly mocking top Dems like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.

There was no deal, and the government “shut down” at midnight. But Democrats should have voted for the Republicans’ ‘clean’ continuing resolution anyway, like they did 90 days ago. The impediment was that they had their tender bits caught in a nutcracker. That tiny trickle of cooperation with the Trump Administration three months ago infuriated the Democrat activist class.

Senator Schumer —who could have just told Democrats in the Senate to stand down and not filibuster, found his vanilla beans wedged firmly between a rock and a political hard place.

So the truth is, both Democrats and Republicans wanted the shutdown, albeit for different reasons. Voilá, as the French say whenever their government shuts down, which is every second weekday after lunch.

As for “blame,” the betting line is that Democrats will be blamed, since the majority of Americans want less spending, and the Democrats’ demands were explicitly for lots more spending on public healthcare which, as you know, is neither public nor healthcare. It was for weird procedures like chopadictomies and addadictomies, and amounted to an extra $1.5 trillion dollars, which sooner or later adds up to real money.

Over the last week, President Trump has repeatedly and often warned that, if the Democrats opposed the continuing resolution, he would use the furlough to fire more federal workers. Yesterday, when asked how many federal workers could be laid off, Trump mystified reporters, saying, “We may do a lot.” He continued, “We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for Democrats and irreversible by them.” Trump added, “Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”

Democrats might like cutting off their kids’ genitals, but they don’t like cutting grants for transgender operas in Uganda.

Trump’s promises seem to be a legit threat. One Senate Democrat who broke ranks yesterday and voted to end the filibuster, Angus King (D-Maine), explained, “The irony, the paradox is by shutting the government we’re actually giving Trump more power. And that was why I voted yes. I did not want to hand Donald Trump and Russell Vought and Stephen Miller additional power to decimate the federal government.”

🔥 Nobody knows what Trump has planned. He’s kept it secret. But everyone seems to believe he does have a plan (as do I). While it is true that Democrats’ demands for their cooperation were unserious, it is also true that President Trump and Senate Republicans did not even bother negotiating.

So, this may be the first time in living memory that the federal government “shut down” on purpose by all sides. In other words, we might be about to see something surprising, unexpected, and new.

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Next, a follow-up to yesterday’s post. Yesterday, News Nation ran a story ignored by corporate media headlined, “DOJ investigates Iowa school for DEI after superintendent arrested.” The DOJ announced its new investigation in a letter addressed to the Des Moines Public Schools’ brand-new interim superintendent. Welcome to the job.

Last night, the Des Moines school board blamed (2:52) former not-so-superintendent Ian Roberts for deceiving him. He’d claimed to be a citizen, school board chairlady (and Senate candidate) Jackie Norris said, and he’d provided a driver’s license to prove it. And he was so handsome and well-spoken and gave Ms. Norris a tingle all up her leg whenever he was around.

On Friday, the school board asked Roberts to document his legal status, but he apparently had misplaced it and failed to make yesterday’s deadline, but resigned instead. So the board has now “accepted” his resignation and canceled his contract.

Now, terrific DOJ Civil Rights Division Director Harmeet Dhillon (a superstar pandemic lawyer) has commenced an investigation into DMPS’s hiring practices. The investigation is certain to be thorough. Bend over and try to relax. Americans have questions about whether Des Moines District hired this undocumented Guyanese scam artist just because he was black.

If the DOJ finds a pattern of illegal hiring, DMPS could wind up under federal supervision. So.

In just over 24 hours, the tone on BlueSky has shifted dramatically from furious cries of “ICE is a fascist agency that kidnaps American citizens off the street!” to more muted questions like, “why didn’t ICE handle this better and avoid confusing everybody?”

Let’s see what DOJ comes up with, shall we? I, for one, can’t wait.

🚀🚀🚀

How off-the-chain has the week’s news cycle already been? Well, on Monday, President Trump announced a historic war-ending plan and teased “eternal peace in the Middle East.” On Tuesday, he addressed every general and admiral in the country and teased using the military as “practice” in America’s crime-ridden blue cities. And that was just the beginning. CNN ran the story below the headline, “Hegseth orders military culture overhaul: ‘if you don’t agree, resign.’”

Some of you super-scrollers have already watched the spiciest clips, but I recommend you watch the full 45 minutes of delicious elite takedown if you haven’t seen it yet. You’ll love the whole thing.

“From this moment forward,” Secretary Hegseth told the assembled generals, “the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: war fighting, preparing for war, and preparing to win. We are not the WOKE department.” Then he delivered an incandescent speech that can only be described as the most un-politically correct address the generals have heard in 20 years. It was both profoundly patriotic and deliberately offensive, at least in traditional woke terms.

For instance, he informed the commanders, “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions… We are done with that with sh—t.” Hegseth said goodbye to “beardos” (weird-looking facial hairstyles), and sneered at “politically correct, overly sensitive, don’t hurt anyone’s feelings leadership.”

“Today,” Hegseth stressed, “the era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.”

“We became the woke department,” Hegseth explained to the generals, who sat stony-faced, not applauding or even moving a muscle. “An entire generation of generals and admirals were told that they must parrot the insane fallacy that ‘our diversity is our strength.’ Of course, we know our unity is our strength. They were forced to put out dizzying DEI and LGBTQI+ statements. They were told females and males are the same thing, and that males who think they’re females is totally normal. They were told to kick out Americans who refuse an emergency vaccine.”

Then he dropped the rhetorical bunker-buster: “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and fat admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It’s a bad look,” he advised the crowd of mostly fit war leaders, who were sneaking glances up and down the rows to see who Hegseth’s fat-shaming gun was aimed at. Several quietly dropped their complimentary donuts.

Then the bunker buster exploded. Hegseth said, “So whether you’re an airborne ranger or a chairborne ranger, a brand new private or a four-star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass your PT test.” Oh, boy. And just as they were reeling from that news, Hegseth announced he was canceling soft standards for female combat troops. There’ll be one standard for everyone. And drill sergeants will be allowed (again) to curse at and “put their hands on” new recruits.

Hegseth said the military would be returned to the “1990s standard.”

“Simply put,” the Secretary concluded, “if you do not meet the male level standards for combat positions, cannot pass a PT (physical training) test, or don’t want to shave and look professional, it’s time for a new position or a new profession.”

🚀 There was much more, such as refocusing the military on war preparedness instead of woke DEI objectives, ending a “poisonous culture of risk aversion,” and embracing what Hegseth called a risk-seeking “warrior ethos.” Following the meeting, Hegseth issued a flurry of new War Department orders unwinding two decades of woke policy. Cue the corporate media backlash.

MSNBC, last night:

Axios, yesterday:

The Washington Post, yesterday afternoon:

People Magazine, yesterday:

But, out of the dozens of articles I reviewed, there was very little criticism from the troops, even from anonymous officers. One female officer told the Atlantic that she agreed with a uniform standard for men and women (but added she hoped it would apply to generals as well). Several unnamed officers called Hegseth’s proposals out of step with the culture and worried it might depress recruiting. A small number of retired generals groused it could have been done in an email.

Apart from those kinds of minor quibbles, the harshest criticism came from progressive civilians.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the reporter class —made up of 20-somethings who wouldn’t know an MRE from an unfinished latrine— were the most upset by Hegseth’s speech. It was mean, they seemed to cry in unison. He hurt their feelings.

🚀 A couple of observations.

First, the reason why nobody in the room complained about hurt feelings or meanness is because those soldiers know that, if they can’t handle a mild chewing out from their superior officer, how can they possibly face armed insurgents devoted to killing them?

Second, many of the generals’ entire careers unfolded during the era of woke. Although their personal opinions probably vary widely, just like other Americans, their brains are wired to prioritize political correctness. It will take effort and time to de-program them.

Third, and most importantly, Hegseth’s live-streamed speech instantly made the military leaders accountable, and not just to him. To everyone. The Secretary of War spoke not only to his generals but to the entire nation. You better believe every soldier in every military branch was watching in rapt attention and heard the same instructions the generals received.

That speech was also meant for us, as a kind of public pledge and commitment. Now, every soldier and every citizen knows the standard— and knows what those generals and admirals are supposed to do.

It was brilliant. Can you see how well stage-managed it was? Trump and Hegseth teased the meeting by refusing to explain it in advance, making it seem mysterious and pregnant with possibility. Speculation ran rampant; retired generals suspected darkly that Hegseth might even make the assembled leaders take a Hitlerian loyalty oath. Even the generals who attended had no idea what to expect or what might happen. Maybe a mass firing?

So media —smelling a huge potential story brewing— demanded answers that were not given. It made everyone curious and millions tuned in. Anything could happen! Then Hegseth laid it out, and it was just a policy change. Had the media known, it would have assiduously ignored the event. But because of the drama, millions heard Hegseth’s policy speech, and everyone heard the same message.

The War Secretary left the generals with no wiggle room; no spin zone; no fudge factor. They’re locked in now.

There was more. I haven’t even gotten to Trump’s speech, which followed Hegseth’s. Trump playfully trolled the media (and the generals), and it will be fun to discuss tomorrow, but it wasn’t nearly as newsworthy.

As remarkable was an engineered goverment shutdown and a military transformation on the same day, the day had more to give.

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Two massive health-freedom stories emerged yesterday. First, CNN ran an encouraging story headlined, “After cuts to research funding, Trump pledges millions for pediatric cancer initiative involving AI.”

Four years ago, President Cabbage J. Biden, alternating between whispers and oddly timed shouts of exclamation, excreted an announcement about his so-called $1.8 billion “Cancer Moon Shot.” That’s the last we ever heard of it; presumably, a bunch of well-connected pro-jab doctors got lucrative but practically useless “cancer research” grants.

Biden’s Cancer Moon Shot crashed into a comet. Pediatric cancer is now the leading cause of disease-related death for American children, and it has steadily increased by over 40% since 1975. Especially lately.

What is different about Trump’s much more modest $100 million program aimed at childhood cancer is that it will explicitly focus on identifying environmental causes; like, say, vaccines. He enshrined the new program in a presidential memo titled, “Unlocking Cures for Pediatric Cancer with Artificial Intelligence.”

As the title suggests, it also focuses on developing effective ways to use artificial intelligence in cancer research. But more practically, it orders HHS to make previously private health databases available to researchers (while protecting patient privacy). It doesn’t mention any particular database by name, but of course the federal government tightly controls vast troves of data from Medicare/Medicaid —including vaccination records— which could be used to find previously unrecognized trends and associations.

You’ll recall this news comes right on the heels of Florida’s announcement of $60 million devoted to researching repurposed drugs (like ivermectin) for use in cancer treatment. Not only does it appear Florida and the federal government are on the same page, but this new practical approach to solving cancer couldn’t come at a better time.

💉 As if all that weren’t enough, yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a story headlined, “White House Unveils ‘TrumpRx’ Drug-Buying Site and a Pfizer Pricing Deal.”

In a dramatic Oval Office meeting with his health cabinet and Pfizer’s cobra-like and oddly twitching CEO Albert Bourla, President Trump announced a new government portal expected to launch in early 2026 at the url TrumpRx.gov. It will let consumers buy drugs directly from manufacturers at steeply reduced prices, bypassing traditional middlemen like pharmacies, and paying in cash— thereby bypassing insurance channels and related costs.

Trump said Pfizer agreed to offer some of its most popular drugs on the platform at steep discounts, ranging from 50% to 100% off.

Also and separately, President Trump announced that Pfizer would now offer its drugs to the government at its “most favored nation” price, meaning the lowest price that any other country pays. And Pfizer must invest $70 million in new domestic R&D facilities. In return, Pfizer only got a 3-year waiver of new national security tariffs.

“This is something Democrats have wanted for 20 years, Republicans have wanted for 20 years,” Secretary Kennedy said during the meeting.

At some point during the announcement, though everyone including Bourla was smiling and nodding, one got the distinct impression that Pfizer was being punished for something. The MFN deal could cost the company billions.

However, Pfizer’s stock rose +6.8%, probably reflecting the market’s relief that Trump wasn’t planning on crushing the covid jabmaker’s snakey head. Reassuring investors, Pfizer did not update its financial guidance ahead of the meeting, suggesting it does not expect losses. It may, for example, plan to increase drug prices charged in other countries to offset the new domestic costs. Or, by selling drugs direct-to-consumer, and thereby avoiding pharmacies, pharma companies may net higher profit margins even though consumers see lower prices.

The sad truth is Pfizer is too big to kill; it makes hundreds of important drugs and is one of the biggest and most critical drugmakers in America.

Trump said the administration is working with other drugmakers to soon secure “similar agreements,” at one point mentioning Eli Lilly. “I said if we don’t make a deal, we’re going to tariff them an extra 5, 6, 7, 8 percent,” Trump said of negotiations with drug companies. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said drugmakers who offer price concessions or move manufacturing to the U.S. would be eligible for his agency’s new voucher program that speeds drug approvals.

Carrots and sticks.

One party complains about the high cost of healthcare and petulantly shuts down the government. The other party negotiates most-favored-nation drug prices and launches a direct-to-consumer pharmaceuticals website all in the same day. Am I crazy, or are we missing something?

Have a wonderful Wednesday! We’ll return tomorrow morning with more essential news and commentary.

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