Andrew Wakefield and I were both on the ConspiraSea Cruise in January 2016. By the last full day of the cruise, we’d had a few encounters ranging from standing in the same line for coffee to a fairly tense exchange during one of his lectures. I asked Wakefield after that lecture if he would answer a few questions regarding the so-called “CDC Whistleblower.” He consented, and this is the interview that resulted. Wakefield was aware that I was recording and that I am a critic of his position on vaccines and autism; he did not refuse to answer any of my questions.

This transcript is my own work, and I welcome any corrections. I’ve edited it slightly to make it more readable and remove irrelevant dialog. I have also added parenthetical comments to note where a statement is inaudible on the recording, which is not of high quality, and provide my best guess at what was said in a few places. I have not changed the substance of any question or answer.

Wakefield answered several questions before I turned the recording on. According to my memory and my notes, I asked him questions about the Thompson documents such as what specific deviations there were from the approved study plan (as he had alleged such deviations in two lectures). He referred me generally to his letter of October 2014, written with Brian Hooker and attorney James Moody, and directed to the federal Office of Research Integrity. He indicated both that he had documents from Thompson at the time he wrote that letter, and that Congressman Posey subsequently received additional documents from Thompson. At that point I began the recording.

I am not an expert in the documents Wakefield discussed. So in order to provide context for these answers, we have asked Matt Carey of Left Brain Right Brain to provide commentary. Carey is a published scientist, a parent of an autistic child, and extremely familiar with the Thompson documents. He has written an in-depth analysis of the Thompson documents and was able to provide an important counterpoint to Wakefield’s claims. Please read that excellent analysis prior to this interview if you are not familiar with the affair. The questions and answers will make little sense without context.

My questions are in black, Wakefield’s answers are in red, and Carey’s comments are in green. We welcome your own comments as well.

Continue reading →

This is Day Six in my seven-day series of updates from or about the ConspiraSea Cruise. You can read Day 1 here, Day 2 here , Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 Part 1 here, Day 5 Part 2 here, and an explanation for what I was doing here. We’ll have an index page up soon collecting these and future pieces.

Day Six was tough for me personally. The main reason is something I’ll write about for Day Seven, but it didn’t help that the seas were particularly high. I’d become seasick on a small-boat excursion the day before (thanks to Michael Badnarik who offered good advice for dealing with it) and even though the cruise ship was mostly very stable, my memories of the Saturday lectures feel like they’re covered with a thin, greasy film.

It also didn’t help that the first session of the day was listening to Winston Shrout give well-meaning people really terrible advice about how to handle their mortgages. That definitely added to my queasiness. I don’t know much about real estate, but I’m pretty sure that the Vatican hasn’t just released the necessary money to pay off everyone’s mortgages. And I’m pretty sure that Winston Shrout wasn’t involved in a multi-trillion dollar transaction that would have done the same thing if HSBC hadn’t sabotaged him. And I’m pretty sure that referring people to NESARA is, at best, a waste of their time. But more about pseudo-law on Day 7. Continue reading →

Colin is currently on the ConspiraSea Cruise doing research for a book on irrational beliefs. He is emailing summaries of each day’s experiences to me for posting here on Violent Metaphors. This is the fifth day’s report. You can read Day 1 here, Day 2 here , Day 3 here, Day 4 here, day 5 (part 2) here , and an explanation for what he is doing here.  If you would like to give him questions or advice, please comment on this post–I’ll make sure he sees it. –Jennifer

So that was the state of affairs going into Friday. I was generally aware of what happened, as were a lot of people on the boat; the reporters made it pretty clear that Thursday’s events were bizarre and alarming. As I’ve said, I haven’t ever felt unsafe on this ship. But I also haven’t been ambushed in any sessions, had anyone pop up by surprise, or been singled out and yelled at. (With one exception, which we’ll come to—and even that wasn’t in a threatening context.) I know the journalists have asked organizers whether they’ll be safe, and there’s been some discussion of having security available if it happens again. I would be surprised if it were necessary—but not quite as surprised as I would have been on Wednesday. Continue reading →

Just a few more days until the Conspiracy Cruise sets sail! Thanks to the support of everyone who backed my crowdfunding campaign I’ll be on board to conduct interviews and attend lectures by people like Andrew Wakefield, Winston Shrout, Nick Begich and Sherri Tenpenny.

The seminar schedule includes panels like Whistleblowing in the Public Interest (Andy Wakefield), Are GMOs and Roundup Causing Disease in Millions?, Vaccinations: Do You Really Know What’s Coming Through That Needle?, Conspiracy of the Court System, Conspiracy to Steal Your Body and Soul, Divine Wizardry, Competing Theories of Autism: Vaccines vs. Glyphosate (Roundup) Herbicide, Astral Possession, Psychic Vampirism, and Exorcism, How to Control the World with Mind Machines, All That Glitters Is Not God: Dangers of Psychic Roulette, and a Controlled Opposition Panel Discussion: Solutions to Psyops and Censorship with Wakefield and others.

I’ll try to post a nightly summary of each day’s events, but the seminar schedule and connectivity issues might keep me from doing that. If so, I’ll just post the nightly summaries in a batch once we’re back on shore. And I’ll write up a longer piece summarizing my thoughts on the conference as a whole. I’ll be posting everything here, and I hope you’ll share the links and leave your comments! In the long run my aim is to start conversations about these ideas, and this is a great way to do it.

In the meantime, please drop me a line with any suggestions or questions. I’ve already had some great suggestions for questions to ask (things like, “What’s your research methodology?”) and I’m happy to hear more. You can email them directly to me, or leave it as a comment here. I won’t be very responsive next week, as the ship isn’t a very connected environment, but I’ll respond as quickly as I can.

Some people have asked about whether it’s OK to share these posts, and if the cruise organizers will figure out who I am and why I’m there. It’s absolutely OK! And of course they’ll figure it out–I’ve been totally honest about this all along, and I don’t intend to change that. There’s no cover identities or secret agendas. I doubt anyone will care; the whole point of the seminar is to talk about their beliefs, after all, and I’m not going to be doing anything disruptive or disrespectful.

So get ready to peek behind the curtain! Bring a friend by sharing a link to Violent Metaphors or the crowdfunding campaign (donations gratefully accepted through Sunday). The most helpful thing you can do is join the conversation once the seminar is underway and the updates start going up.