vaxxed
"Let's see, Mr. Reporter. You received an undercover recording of a medical researcher confessing his crimes. You posted the recording and wrote about it. You're the one who is guilty of a crime. Next case!"

"Wait, Your Honor! That recording is vital information for the public. It shows that a vaccine considered to be safe actually causes brain damage in children."

"No. It shows you violated the law by posting the recording. It was illegally made, and you aided and abetted and forwarded that crime. As I said, next case!"

Buckle up.

The shocking film Vaxxed (trailer) is drawing audiences all over the country. It details the confessions of a CDC researcher, William Thompson, who states that he and his colleagues buried data in a key study on the MMR vaccine.

In the study, the vaccine was given a free pass, with assurances that it didn't increase the risk of autism in children—when, in fact, the data showed it did increase that risk.

***The key moments in Vaxxed are audio recordings of CDC researcher Thompson confessing his sins.

But wait. Now we have a bill, AB 1671, up before the California legislature. If it passes, it could make it a crime to screen Vaxxed or even write an article about it.

Those recordings of Thompson could be labeled "undercover," and "illegal," and therefore make them the target of AB 1671.

Furthermore, AB 1671 specifically seeks to protect "healthcare providers" from "exposure" via "undercover recordings" documenting their crimes. Certainly, by stretching the definitions a bit, the CDC, for whom Thompson works, and Thompson himself, could be considered such healthcare providers. Lawyers could argue that position until the cows come home and hang up a case in various courts for years—while an injunction prohibiting the screening of Vaxxedremains in force.

Nick Cahill, at the Courthouse News Service, reports on AB 1671 ("Abortion Clinic Sting Videos Sprout Free-Speech Battle", Thursday, August 11, 2016):
"The bill would criminalize publishing undercover video footage of 'health care providers' and subject third parties, including journalists, to penalties for reporting and distributing the illegally recorded footage." [My comment: It appears criminal penalties could be applied to anyone who posts the videos and comments on them, online. Not just reporters. And surely, audio recordings, as well as videos, would be banned.]

Cahill continues: "Under AB 1671, a journalist receiving and posting footage from an anonymous source could be punished by the state as well as be opened up to potential civil lawsuits. Whistleblowers would not be exempt from the proposal either, regardless of how they obtained the illegal footage."
In the case of Vaxxed, the film makers received or obtained the recordings of CDC researcher Thompson and used them to make their case: Thompson was confessing to crimes he and colleagues committed at the CDC.

But if AB 1671 passes, releasing those recordings and commenting on them, in a film, could be considered a crime, punishable by fine, jail—and the film makers could also be open to lawsuits.

And of course, Vaxxed could be banned from all theaters in California.

As bizarre as it seems, AB 1671 isn't just targeting people who make the undercover recordings. Its focus is on reporters who receive those recordings and then use them, post them, and write about them.

This lunatic attack on free speech coordinates tightly with the infamous 2015 California law, SB277, which made vaccinating California school children mandatory.