BACK ON COLUMBUS TV – KINDA/SORTA

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No, you’re not imagining things. That really is me popping up on Fox 54 in Columbus talking about high school football. The whole situation is, as those personal status reports say on social media, complicated.

When I was hired by Tires First a year and a half ago, there was an understanding that if Mark and Wes decided to revive their dormant TV and radio ad campaigns, I would be the face/voice of the store. I started doing radio spots a few months ago, and there was a good response.

WXTX Sales came along and proposed that I do a three-minute weekly high school football preview that would air during Fox 54 newscasts. Mark liked the idea, and co-sponsored the reports along with Glynn Smith Chevy/GMC from Opelika. I also did a 30-second commercial for Tires First as well as promo spots for the reports.

WXTX isn’t a Gray TV station. Fox 54 is owned by American Spirit Media, a company based out of Charlotte that owns or operates stations in six TV markets. American Spirit supplies a general manager and sales staff, while Gray supplies the rest through what’s known as a shared services agreement (SSA).

That’s where it gets complicated. My lawsuit against Gray TV makes producing the reports a little more interesting. WTVM is providing video they shot from football games for the report, but we’re recording at an area production studio since I’m not allowed in WTVM’s building for obvious reasons.

The response has been great. There’s buzz around town about me appearing on TV in Columbus again, and that’s really gratifying. A lot of folks come into the store and tell me how great it is to see me on TV again doing sports stuff. It’s nice to be remembered, and it’s fun to get back in front of the camera.

I suspect it makes the folks at Gray TV a little uncomfortable, especially considering the viewer response, but that’s not my concern. I’m just trying to do a good job and promote the store properly. If it makes Gray ponder about what they did to me and to so many others, all the better.

I have plenty going on media-wise. I’m still doing play-by-play for Pacelli football webcasts, DJ Jones and I will co-host a fundraiser for the Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home on Thursday night, and I’ll be talking about high school football with Richard Holdridge on his podcast next week.

PROFESSIONAL MALPRACTICE

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In times of crisis and uncertainty, what is the one thing we need and deserve from our leaders and our television stations?

INFORMATION.

More precisely, ACCURATE information.

Gray TV’s bread-and-butter is their local news operations, which are for the most part the top rated sources in each market. The most basic tenet of journalism is to confirm stories, no matter the source, and to get both sides of issues that are in the public interest.

And that’s what makes the handling of the COVID panic by the broadcast industry as a whole nothing short of professional malpractice.

Gray TV then compounded this industry-wide failure by implementing an illegal and unconscionable COVID injection mandate, which is what spawned my lawsuit.

This complete failure to do due diligence is one of the counts in the lawsuit, labeled quite appropriately, “Negligence.”

The initial reporting, citing government sources straight-up without casting a critical eye in the early stages of the COVID drama can be excused. The official version of things predicted great doom and had most everyone on the run. But as time passed, and when conditions on the ground didn’t match the proclamations coming from those official sources, Gray stations did virtually no digging on the COVID story, no double checking of claims made by the government, no coverage of doctors that disputed assertions made by the CDC and other “official medical experts.”

Medical professionals who carried long track records of success, both in patient care and in the research labs argued that all was not what it seemed, but their evidence and testimony was ignored. The presence of those red flags that indicated that the official narrative could be 180 degrees from reality demanded that those statements now in question be re-examined – but in a huge disservice to the American people, the vetting never happened.

Gray takes great pride (justifiably so, in my opinion) in their special Investigative unit led by Lee Zurik. But they never turned Zurik and his crew loose on the claims made by either vaccine proponents or critics, and never examined claims about antivirals such as Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine despite the obvious high public interest and importance of proving or disproving claims.

It takes guts to do investigative journalism when one of the groups you need to investigate is one of your top advertisers. There’s a well-known video on YouTube that illustrates the problem.

It takes moral courage to bite the hand that feeds you. Of course, moral courage has been in short supply in the corporate world.

But it extended way beyond what could be termed professional malpractice. Instead of being the watchdog envisioned by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, Gray TV as a corporation jumped on the bandwagon and mandated untested an untested and unproven experimental medical procedure on their own employees, a procedure morally objectionable due to the use of aborted fetal tissue as a key factor in its development. Gray took it one step further, blowing off any questions about the moral ramifications or employee safety issues as unworthy of their time or attention.

Talk about high-handed treatment of the people that make your company successful! The arrogance is absolutely breathtaking.

Dozens of corporations made the same demands, bludgeoning employees with a threat of economic devastation to blackmail them into taking part in this experiment against their will. There have been virtually no repercussions for this wholesale violation of Constitutional and basic human rights, at least so far. But their day of reckoning is coming.

I’m one of the tens of thousands of victims of this incredibly breathtaking corporate arrogance. My lawsuit, along with a handful of others, is an attempt to fix THAT.

This legal action has gotten to be incredibly expensive. That’s not a surprise when you consider what the stakes are for Gray and the rest of Corporate America that participated in this mandate insanity.

I’m asking for help in what has become an existential battle. You can be part of the fight. Go to https://www.givesendgo.com/daveplattalegalfund/donate . Please donate whatever you can to help. A win here would move the needle for everyone.

GETTING BACK IN THE GAME

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It’s time to get back in the game.

I’ve been on a hiatus from social media for the past four or five months out of necessity. The stress I’ve been under since my professional world blew up 22 months ago has been all-consuming, and it started to overwhelm me and my family. I had to step away to clear my head.

There were some awesome things happening, too. The birth of my granddaughter was certainly a source of great joy. There are also some professional media things in the works right now. We’ll see how they play out in the near future.

As for the lawsuit, things have been in somewhat of a holding pattern. There have been behind the scenes moves made that are arcane and boring, but nonetheless crucial in the grindingly slow legal process.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll delve deeper into the things that make the lawsuit so crucial to what’s going on in this country and our culture, and why bringing to account the people who disregarded basic human rights is so important for the future of our country and our cherished freedoms.

And I’m going to be doing something that I’m incredibly uncomfortable with each and every time I post, and that’s asking for financial help with the lawsuit. Taking legal action is expensive, and when you’re taking on the Powers That Be, it becomes insanely expensive.

This lawsuit is a battle versus a multi-billion dollar corporation in an area of unsettled law, with other even bigger corporations holding a vested interest in seeing our efforts fail, a literal David-versus-Goliath battle. I would call it an uphill battle, except that it understates the gravity of things. The hill we’re scaling is a mountain. Anything you can give would be greatly appreciated. Please donate at https://www.givesendgo.com/daveplattalegalfund/donate .

WARNING! Big Pharma’s Stealth mRNA End Run

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This might be the most important thing I’ve ever written – and not for just this website. And this may be the most important thing you’ve ever read.

It’s been all quiet on the lawsuit front here lately, which is why I haven’t been posting all that much. All of the preliminaries in the case are moving quite slowly, but they are moving nonetheless. But outside forces have inserted themselves into this whole controversy, and you need to be alerted.

There are millions of us who said no to the COVID injections and avoided having our bodies contaminated with mRNA. All the news of bad reactions and lifelong illnesses due to these shots have confirmed the wisdom of resistance – even when that resistance came at high cost, including the loss of careers and jobs.

But there’s more than one way to get mRNA distributed to the general population and a big red flag just went up in the state of Missouri.

The state legislature is considering a bill known as House Bill No. 1169 that would require labeling on any food, cosmetic, or soap that contains mRNA substances, fully informing the public of potential ingestion of “gene therapy products”. However, reportedly there has been strong pushback from members of both political parties in an attempt to kill the bill in committee.

According to Tom Renz, lobbyists for the cattleman and pork associations in several states have indicated that use of mRNA vaccines will begin to be administered to animals as early as this month. The argument is that it won’t affect the meat because the material injected into the animal is digested and excreted, making it safe for consumption, but the claims that the COVID shots wouldn’t leave the vaccination site and be transmitted around the body have been proven false. The request “trust the science / trust me” fails at all levels as far as I’m concerned. And now there’s a Chinese study that says that the mRNA is indeed absorbed when ingested as food.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says the claims are false since none of the mRNA livestock vaccines have been approved by the FDA, but again, Merck is pushing a swine shot called Sequivity while researchers at Iowa State University are working on a jab for cattle. It’s a thing, and it’s coming to a supermarket near you, and without your knowledge, unless something is done.

There have also been a lot of research done and effort made to make what they’ve called “edible vaccines” for at least a decade, which includes getting mRNA materials into produce.

This is frightening. Avoiding the injections took a lot of resistance to one of the most intense propaganda campaigns inflicted upon the public. Having this poison introduced into your body by stealth is unconscionable.

This must be stopped. Help inform others of what’s going on, and contact your state legislatures to get something accomplished ASAP. The clock is running on this, and we have to stop this before that clock reaches zero and we head into something tragic.

A SIGN FROM ABOVE

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The legal process moves at a snail’s pace, which makes it excruciating for someone who’s used to meeting a dozen hard deadlines every day. It’s one of those “the process is the punishment” deals for someone who’s high-energy.

Every morning when I’m doing the Rosary I ask for patience, but I also ask the Lord for a sign that I’m doing the right thing. Today I got one of those signs.

I was working out at the gym (shoulder day for anyone who’s interested) when someone came up to me and thanked me for holding my ground on the corporate mandate. Turns out he was going through the same thing and was going to stand firm as well. He told me my example was his sign that he was doing the right thing. Thankfully, his corporation did the right thing and accepted his religious accommodation request.

His story gave me energy for the rest of my workout. What I did back in September 2021 gave others affirmation and helped steel their resolve. Thank you to all the others that also stood firm.

Now we take the fight to the courts of law. We will prevail.

Ecce venio ut facerem voluntatem tuam, Domine.

LAWSUIT UPDATE NO. 1

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Thursday, March 2, 2023

Things are starting to move in the lawsuit. On Sunday, an amended complaint was filed with the court, adding what’s known as a “Bivens Claim” to the suit.

In the weeks before Gray TV did the mandate, President Biden and other government officials were applying public (and  in some cases, private) pressure on corporations with threats subtle and not so subtle, and because of this, the assertion is that Gray TV was acting as a government agent, or in partnership with government agents, in demanding all employees submit to the COVID injections.

The amended complaint also opens up the possibly of having a trial in Columbus, since that’s where the civil rights violations occurred and where a large number of witnesses live.  The judge would have to agree to a change in venue if this were to happen.

On Monday, Gray TV’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss, but the judge ruled that the motion was moot since they were responding to the original complaint, not the amended complaint that is now in play. They have 14 days to respond to the new complaint.

This whole thing is moving in slow motion, which is frustrating to someone who’s used to go-go-go all day long. Patience is in order – not my specialty.

The one thing that keeps me going is all the kind words from everyone. Thank you for keeping me upbeat. It means more than I can express.

THE THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS

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I’m not a theological scholar, and I certainly didn’t play one on TV, but it’s clear to me that shot mandates go against Catholic doctrine, the teachings of all forms of Christianity, and against the very essence of the American concept of liberty.

For starters, there’s the fruit-of-the-poisoned-tree aspect. Tissue from a baby aborted in the Netherlands was instrumental in testing the mRNA shots. This isn’t disputed or questioned in any way – they just come right out and admit it with no moral qualms. Right there, hands down, that makes it out of bounds. To knowingly partake in something with a profoundly evil base is Sin with a capital S. Catholics never believe that the “ends” justify the “means.” That single fact is enough to exempt anyone from being forced to participate in a shot mandate under U.S. Code and International law as well. I will not defile my body with this stuff and I have a right, and still further, an obligation to follow my own conscience on this conviction.

Secondly, you have the inherent God-given right to choose your own medical treatment path. The COVID shots being administered in this country are considered by law and acknowledged by the bureaucratic apparatus to be a medical experiment, which means you have the right to decline to participate. There’s talk of an approved shot, but it’s all talk. The approved version isn’t available here and hasn’t even gone into production in the USA. Even with the so-called approved shot, the drug company that makes it was required in the approval letter from the FDA to continue to gather data and treat it as medical experiment. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. And this thing looks like quackery all day long.

People have been forced to take part in medical experiments against their will in the past. World War II illustrated the evils of forced medical experiments and some Nazis were hanged for this very issue at Nuremburg.  But it wasn’t just our opponents in that war that were committing these vile acts. It happened here as well. One word for you – Tuskegee. I will not passively allow Tuskegee 2.0 to continue.

I’m taking a profound risk with the lawsuit. Going up against billion-dollar corporations with untold political influence and power can leave you as a literal grease spot on the legal and economic highway. I could just write this off, take the L, and move on with my life — you know, be practical because the adversary is just too big.

Except I can’t. I just can’t do that. I’ve spent a lot of time in prayer on this subject, and it’s been made clear to me I can’t just walk away without fighting.

What happened to me happened to thousands of others. Many of them lost careers in fields that are much more vital to humanity than mine. You have first responders of all stripes – doctors, nurses, police, fire fighters, the military – but it should never happen to anyone, anywhere, ever. Compelling someone to violate their religious beliefs and surrender their rights just to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads is vile. All forms of Christianity teach that we were created in God’s image and that even the least of us carries that divine spark with innate dignity and worth. To force someone to participate in something of this nature is profoundly wrong at its core.

When principles are challenged in this manner and the reasoning used to sanction it is an inversion of the Good, the Beautiful and the True, the word adversary needs to be capitalized because that’s who/what we’re fighting. The Adversary.

I’m not the only one trying to take the fight to the legal system, but I’m one of the ones at the front of the line. Taking the fight public to expose the fundamental wrongs that have been committed is vital to turning this thing around. Each separate victory chips away at the monolith, and brings us one step closer to having it crumble to dust under its own immoral and unconscionable weight.

The True Root of Media’s COVID Failure

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The legacy media’s coverage of the whole COVID pandemic and the COVID shot mandates has been a disservice to their viewers / listeners / readers. They weren’t doing any kind of real journalism at any point – they were simply acting as a megaphone for the “official” narrative, with virtually no honest examination of the claims put forth by the government and corporations involved in the whole mess.

There were plenty of dissenters from the official narrative. Many were doctors and medical researchers with impeccable records and expertise, but their voices were silenced, shadow banned, or met with ridicule and threats of regulatory repercussion for their rebellion.

This is where local media could have stepped in as a counterbalance, since you’re talking about hundreds of outlets run by a wider variety of media companies. But it didn’t happen. Some of that could be attributed to younger and more inexperienced reporters and producers. But there’s another factor that’s seldom considered, and that’s economic survival.

Most TV stations try to do some sort of investigative stories and series but there’s one thing that’s totally taboo, and that’s investigating your biggest advertisers. It makes some sort of sense, since you have to pay the electricity bill.

How much of the advertising revenue these days comes from pharmaceutical companies? How much money rolls in from ads touting this new medication or that revolutionary pill? “Brought to you by Pfizer” pops up an awful lot, doesn’t it? But there’s another issue that crops up, and that’s cross ownership of publicly traded media companies.

Gray TV was the largest local broadcast group to enforce a COVID shot mandate, with over 190 stations and more than 8,000 employees. Who owns Gray stock? It turns out that as of February 13, 2023 that 71.06% is institutionally owned, which gives those institutional investors huge clout. Blackrock, Inc. (third largest, 6.10%), Vanguard Group, Inc. (sixth largest, 4.96%), and State Street Corp., (17 th largest, 1.99%) together own 13.05% of Gray.

Let’s talk Pfizer stock ownership. The biggest three are Vanguard (8.79%), Blackrock (7.71%), and State Street (5.12%), a 21.62% ownership stake in the company that has produced the most widely administered COVID shot on the market. These three interlinked companies also are the most influential financial holding companies in the U.S., giving them huge clout on the national policy level. What could go wrong?

That was rhetorical, of course. We already know what could – and has – gone wrong. Now we have to make sure those that caused the failure of one of the bedrock institutions that our society has depended up pay the price for their willful dereliction of duty.

Wait, what? Madness at the CDC

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You could see it coming from a mile away, but it’s still hard to believe they actually did it. The CDC added COVID shots to the routine childhood shot schedule on Thursday. They’re calling for a two-shot series first at six months, then at age 5, then at age 12.

Wait, what?

Yes, it has been listed as routine despite the fact that clinical trials aren’t even close to being completed. The drug companies are required to continue clinical trial protocols for at least ten different studies, listed in order of completion as outlined in the FDA letter to BioNTech, starting on page 5:

Pediatric study for 12-15 yr. olds                   May 31, 2023

VA patient study                                            June 30, 2023

Pediatric study for 6 mo-12 yrs.                     Nov. 30, 2023

Subclinical myocarditis 5-15 yr. olds              Nov. 30, 2023

Lower dose 12-30 yr. olds                              Nov. 30, 2023

Myocarditis/pericarditis history                     Mar. 31, 2024

Pediatric study for under 6 mo.                     July 31, 2024

Myocarditis/pericarditis occurrence              June 30, 2025

Pregnant women/infant effects                     June 30, 2025

Myocarditis/pericarditis long-term                Dec. 31, 2026

These aren’t even long term effectiveness and safety studies – these are initial trials.

Madness.

Under U.S. Code and under International Law, no one can compel anyone to take part in a medical experiment through force or coercion, but they’re trying to use a head fake to con people into believing that this has the force of law. The CDC can’t mandate anything, but individual states can, and you know some of them will, federal and international law be damned.

This is why I’m suing Gray TV, and this is why it’s going to be the biggest fight of my life. Billions of dollars are at stake, along with the political muscle to attempt to force people to do whatever they’re told and trashing their individual rights. I expect things to get dicey, but I can’t back down. If they’re not stopped on this, you can count on more of the same involving just about every facet of life.

I’m going to need all the help I can get, both spiritually and temporally, to see this through.

Prayers requested, please. And I mean prayers for every single one of us who are fighting this fight.

Huge Day at the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame!

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Saturday was a big day for me and my family. Being inducted into the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame was quite an honor. 

I spent 36 years doing my best to cover sports in Columbus and the surrounding area, and the outpouring of love and support this past weekend was absolutely amazing. There were a lot of old friends there to thank me for the work I did, but honestly I feel more like I should thank them for all the good they’ve done. 

Having to give a speech to a live audience was certainly a little intimidating. I’m used to talking to inanimate objects like cameras, to be honest. I tried to have a little fun with the presentation, treating it like it was a sportscast. 

The best part was getting to do the goodbye speech I never got to give on air. That made the day extra special. To everyone involved, I can’t thank you enough. 

https://youtu.be/YexzL_9stCU

–Dave