In a highly unusual move, federal Judge Edward Smith on Wednesday put on hold a $250,000 fine of Pennsylvania Amish farmer Amos Miller “until further order of the court.” Smith’s dramatic action came shortly after a phone hearing requested by Miller’s lawyers to follow up on filings they had made arguing that Miller had come into compliance with the main federal court orders regarding the slaughter and sale of meat by Miller’s farm to its many hundreds of food club members. The hold came just a few days after the potentially crippling fine came due, though Miller reported that he has already paid more than $13,000 of USDA expenses added on to the fine.
Judge Smith had in court hearings over the last five-plus years that this case has been going on pushed both Amos Miller and USDA regulators to come to an accommodation that would allow the farm to continue providing food to its many hundreds of members around the country, while also putting Miller into compliance with USDA regulations regarding the slaughter and inspection of the meat it sold. In more than 20 years of operations, there has never been a complaint by a member or an allegation of illness from Miller’s meat. “I have no desire to put this farm out of business,” Judge Smith declared on more than one occasion.
Since the $250,000 fine was officially levied by Judge Smith in mid-July, there has been an outpouring of support for Miller. Two GoFundMe campaigns for Miller have raised $133,000 of the $250,000 fine; one campaign launched by Miller has raised more than $78,000 from nearly 700 donors and a second campaign launched by Nikki Adamkova, a manager of one of Miller’s food clubs in Florida, has raised more than $55,000 from nearly 650 donors.
In addition, Miller says his business has surged with orders from existing members,. He’s also been inundated with many dozens of new members since the fine became public and the GoFundMe campaigns were launched.
What role the avalanche of public support played in pushing the judge to reverse himself on the fine will never be known for sure, but Amos Miller is convinced that Judge Smith took note of it. “He’s been between a rock and a hard place,” Miller told me today. “He knows how important this food is to people. He doesn’t want to be the person putting them into possible starvation. He knows the customers are watching him like a hawk.”
Miller said he’s not certain what he will do with the funds raised on his behalf in the event the fine reversal becomes permanent, but he says at least some of the money will likely go to paying the substantial legal fees he has been racking up defending himself against the USDA’s lengthy and sustained attack on his farm.
Miller isn’t entirely out of the woods. Judge Smith has scheduled a followup hearing for September 27 to determine where Miller stands in working with the USDA.
For now, though, Miller has scored a huge victory in convincing a federal judge to reverse an order for a huge fine.
as Nobel Laureate Bobby Zimmerman aka Dylan, put it
“you’ve got to serve somebody”
This is wonderful news!
Excellent news! I was around when they first started harassing Mr. Miller, and I am so happy to hear this latest news. Will continue to pray and work toward a final beneficial end to this entire fiasco for Amos – they have been at him, turning his life (and those of all of his friends, family and customers) for far too long.
Thanks so much David, for all you have done these past (near) 2 decades, and all you continue to do! We are all blessed to have you!
concern for animal welfare is one of the main drivers for interest in REAL MILK. These faux socalled “milks” won’t last.
Vancouver’s Bettermoo(d) is fighting for a dairy-free future, one product at a time
The company hopes its milk alternative can halt our reliance on cows
Across North America, sales of dairy milk have been declining for some time. That’s not a surprise to anyone who’s been in a grocery store lately and seen the numerous options for almond and oat milk occupying shelves.
Vancouver-based Bettermoo(d) has spent about a year working on joining the ranks of the likes of Almond Breeze and Earth’s Own with its proprietary blend of herbs and oats.
The company’s slogan—“what a cow eats and a human needs”—informed the way it developed its product, which is based on the herbs and vegetables that cows ate before the time of mass livestock production.
“We thought we could do something really unique here and try to incorporate a lot of those flavours from the natural growing cows,” says CEO Nima Bahrami. “What they eat really does impact the flavour of the milk, and their environment plays a role. So we wanted to come up with a brand that can bring you that unique flavour and taste without that damage to the environment and the animals themselves.”
Bahrami is looking to get Bettermoo(d)’s shelf-stable (meaning it doesn’t need to be refrigerated before opening) Moodrink in stores by fall. But his plans to advance a dairy-free future don’t stop there.
“One thing we thought would be a unique thing about our company is that we don’t want to just be another alternative milk provider,” says Bahrami, who was born in Tehran and moved to Vancouver with his family at the age of nine. “We want to be a dairy replacement brand that’s able to provide consumers with all their needs for dairy products, but plant-based.”
Moodrink is the first step in that quest, but Bahrami is developing a yogurt (Moogurt) and butter (Buetter), as well as cheese, ice cream and sour cream alternatives.
The Bettermoo(d) founder has an MBA from Cardiff University in Wales and is working alongside a team of advisers and food scientists to manufacture the company’s products in Canada.
“We’re trying to make it inclusive for everybody, and not just necessarily targeting vegan people,” he says. “Anybody that wants to make a change for themselves or the environment, animals, all the various reasons people have for that.”
These plant-based dairy substitutes will get bigger before they decline. Beyond Meat, which has built up tens of millions in sales of plant-based burgers has filed for a trademark for “Beyond Milk.” In its application, it talks about milkshakes and coffee creamers. According to this article, other big-food companies are planning dairy substitutes.
https://www.fooddive.com/news/beyond-meat-files-for-trademark-on-beyond-milk-name/605085/
Successful raw milk producers like Mark McAfee, Amos Miller, and Ed Shank will need to creatively highlight the special benefits of raw milk as they deal with the expanding competition from plant-based products, and the allure of plant-based diets.
t’s not the cow, it’s the how = excellent article
Nicolette Hahn Niman was an environmental lawyer who became a cattle rancher, and didn’t eat meat for 33 years. For both the ecosystem and human health, she argues, it’s how animals are farmed that matters
she wrote the book “Defending Beef”.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/aug/30/its-not-the-cow-its-the-how-why-a-long-time-vegetarian-became-beefs-biggest-champion?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=%5BRuminations+vol++32%5D+HM+in+a+Communal+Context&utm_campaign=Savory+Monthly+News+-+August+2021
Going forward Raw Farm by Opdc is launching a major raw milk marketing and outreach campaign. You will begin to see the first waves in the coming months.
When low risk… raw milk and other raw products have no competition. It is the original. It’s the ultimate immune system building gut friendly first food of life! Lab potions don’t stand a chance.
The real raw dairy is emerging strong. Little by little. More and more producers are getting RAWMI trained and Listed.
These farmers are a class act. RAWMI is listing a Dentist from Arkansas and a veterinarian from British Columbia.
Hey Mark, this makes earthquakes and drought seem mild by comparison… https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/jerseys-largest-dairy-farm-destroyed-tornado-79859798
A little reality check.
I have two close family friends that are pulmonary intensive care doctors at one of local trauma centers. They are 120% of capacity with ICU beds overflowing with non vaccinated patients. They have zero vaccinated patients in their ICUs.
The ER is over flowing with Covid patients that are not vaccinated. Family members are threatening doctors saying “ I will kill you if you don’t care for a family member that is waiting for care” police officers are stationed in the ERs???? There has been violence inside the hospital!! Non vaccinated people demanding care! When doctors tell them if you want care then go get vaccinated! It’s to late now.
It’s a real shit storm. It is the perfect storm created by a population with poor health compounded by non vaccination.
The math is very simple. The ICU are filled with non vaccinated patients. All the patients waiting desperately are all non vaccinated.
Nothing more to say. Darwin is actively sorting things out. It’s a tragic set of circumstances.
My friends in Denmark can not believe what America has done to itself. Trump was vaccinated near the beginning? They boo him when he encourages vaccination??
What’s up with the anti vax movement? They are very confused.
What do they say when all the ICUs are filled with non vaccinated people.
How do you answer the hard data?
“Israel has been a global pioneer in covid mass vaccinations as well as in introducing the highly controversial “vaccine passport” (Green Pass). Nevertheless, since late August 2021, Israel has been reporting the highest coronavirus infection rate in the entire world…. On the positive side, Israeli data confirms that natural immunity, acquired through previous infection, is much stronger and long-lasting – providing a protection up to 27 times higher than vaccination – thus opening up a realistic perspective to end the pandemic… In addition, Israel was the first country to confirm the rather troubling safety profile of covid vaccines, reporting a “murky wave of heart attacks” and an increase in all-cause mortality – even in young people – already back in March and April 2021. By now, serious and fatal cardiovascular and neurological covid vaccine adverse events have been well documented.”
https://swprs.org/israel-hignest-infection%20-rate-in-the-world/
“Despite 95% vaccination rate, Cornell today has five times more COVID cases than it did this time last year”
https://www.thecollegefix.com/despite-95-vaccination-rate-cornell-today-has-five-times-more-covid-cases-than-it-did-this-time-last-year/?fbclid=IwAR2eneoP1L9ZoFIW5xz5WQAlATwoAe2QM7uDHJs7Ows8C3d23wyoVhPWRg4
Indeed, as the article points out, “If the goal is to prevent infection, the 95 percent COVID-19 vaccination rate on Cornell’s campus has not accomplished that”.
Rate of infection is not rate of hospitalization! I agree that vaccination does not prevent getting Covid, but it has become exceedingly clear that being vaccinated prevents becoming severely ill and hospitalization.
Aside from the hot topic of vaccination, it is so clear that Americans eat like crap. I was at a local youth football game yesterday.
I am not exaggerating!! Not one little bit exaggerating!
99% of the adults over 18 years old were very obese. At least 50-75 pounds over weight or even more. Big butts and big bellies everywhere.
What were they eating? Preservative filled Processed garbage. Pepsi, Gatorade, Sugar drinks. Chips with ingredient lists that run on for a long paragraph.
That’s the killer in the room. If the world could get Covid and have that high antibody titer… that would be awesome.
Reality is much different in the USA.
I agree with you with respect to your take on the poor eating habits of North Americans… Indeed, habits that are a precursor to ill health. To suggest however that that injecting toxic genetically engineered foreign substances into the human body bypassing natural censoring mechanisms is a constructive way of compensating for that ill health is absolute nonsense. All of these tyrannical measures (censorship threats and coercion) are a measure of the abject failure of the disease and vaccine paradigm…
It’s oh so tempting to seek out and grab onto absolutes about covid, when there are no absolutes. In fact, exactly the opposite. Remember, covid has been with us less than two years. Various societies have dealt with it in varying ways….with varying results. Our pharma companies came up with vaccines in record times….and with apparently varying results–as just one example, the Pfizer vaccine’s immunity seems to dissipate much more quickly than the Moderna vaccine, which could explain the difficulties in Israel. But as Mark points out, all the vaccines seem to significantly reduce the risks of hospitalization. The reality is that we are learning as we go, but for anti-vaxxers, for whom there is only one absolute (vaccines are harmful and don’t work), uncertainty and shades of gray are impossible to accept. Here is a report just out about Denmark, which bet heavily on established public health protocols and vaccinnation; it says in part:
“Some countries are setting records for daily coronavirus infections. Others are pursuing sweeping rules to mandate vaccination. But in Denmark, something like normal life has resumed.
“After nearly 550 days, the Scandinavian country has lifted the last of its domestic pandemic-era restrictions, declaring that the coronavirus is no longer a “critical threat to society.” Denmark appears to be the first European Union member to issue such a declaration, potentially providing a glimpse into the future of the bloc’s recovery — or serving as a cautionary tale of a nation that moved too quickly.
“The country’s leaders have pointed to its high vaccination rates — among the best in the world, with nearly 75 percent of residents fully immunized — as evidence that the step is justified, though they have not claimed herd immunity has been reached. Denmark also has one of Europe’s lowest levels of newly reported infections.
“Denmark was one of the first European countries to announce an initial lockdown, shutting schools and restaurants, and restricting public gatherings on March 11, 2020. Then, a little over a year later, it was among the first countries to roll out a vaccination pass system. Scientists around the world have also praised Denmark’s robust testing and sequencing infrastructure, which gave authorities an early and clear view of new outbreaks and variants.
“A lot of countries, they have had a third wave during this spring, and we haven’t had a third wave,” Tyra Grove Krause, of Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, said in late July. “I think that has been due to the extensive testing.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/denmark-ends-covid-restrictions/2021/09/10/6d6a762e-1210-11ec-baca-86b144fc8a2d_story.html
Indeed David, there are no absolutes… Unfortunately, indoctrinated absolutes with respect to vaccinations is what I and many others who have experienced the debilitating and fatal side effects of vaccines have had to deal with on an ongoing basis for many years …
This Los Angeles Fire Department employee understands what many vaccine apologists fail to comprehend… How many shots will it take” Israel is now recommending 4 shots, Canada’s up to 3 shots… Indeed, and as the LAFD employee states in the video above “when will this tyranny end…
https://healthimpactnews.com/2021/los-angeles-fire-department-captain-on-covid-vaccine-mandate-this-tyranny-stops-right-here-right-now/?fbclid=IwAR3KmKkCknOdNeZIPA2rLM3985ThNDGjYDqMHJJ2orgRwa4ruKF7jJXC-p4
Well Guys… it’s not tyranny.
I have family in Denmark. They trust their doctors. They trust their queen. They trust their scientists and they trust their government.
As a society they gathered their stuff and got their act together. They don’t fight each other. They don’t allow misinformation campaigns to lie to their masses.
Danes are one as a country.
We consider following a grand plan tyranny!! It’s no wonder we are falling off the cliff.
I am proud to be a guy in a family that eats a whole food diet with a strong immune system plenty of exercise but I also have Moderna on board. Never felt better. People dying all around me here in Fresno.
It is critical to separate hatred of Pharma from science. The ICUs are stuffed and over filled with critical patients. None are vaccinated.
Anti vac is a cult. It has lost its grip on reality and is following others over a cliff
Simple math. Simple math. Simple math.
I fully recognize that what might be best for the entire society may not be perfect for the individual. Denmark made that calculation and now they have normal for everyone.
Many folks in the Campaign for REAL MILK, eventually get around to farming according to what Rudolf Steiner advocated, known as BioDynamics.
It is worthwhile to recall what he said a century ago
“I have told you that the spirits of darkness are going to inspire their human hosts, in whom they will be dwelling, to find a vaccine that will drive all inclination toward spirituality out of people’s souls when they are still very young.”
Lecture 13 – the fallen spirits’ influence in the world – 27 October 1917
Mark,
That cult you refer to as “anti vac” is largely made up of former vaccine believers who paid the unfortunate price for that belief… And your accusation that that so named cult “has lost its grip on reality and is following others over a cliff” brings to mind a statement made by CS Lewis that suggest just the opposite, “When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” Indeed, it is the vaccinated masses who are following each other over a cliff and of course according to them, yourself included the unvaccinated minority “appear” to have lost their mind.
You would do well to listen to an ongoing series of interviews conducted by seasoned Investigative Journalist Christine Dolan titled, “American Conversations With Vaccine Injured”.
As well, the following article is worth considering and states in part, “A Detroit TV news reporter who was seeking stories of loved ones who died of COVID-19 after refusing to be vaccinated got a surprise when the station’s Facebook page was flooded with stories of loved ones who were injured or died after getting the jab… ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV in Detroit had received more than 39,000 angry and often heartbreaking responses as of noon Monday after posting the request Friday, reported the World Tribune”.
https://www.wnd.com/2021/09/4945913/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=wnd-newsletter&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=newsletter&ats_es=6cf0d312e24c118bbbe39489696dce35
Ken, you might want to actually read through some of the 39,000 responses of “stories of loved ones who were injured or died after getting the jab.” I began leafing through them and they follow the same pattern I’ve seen on other Facebook postings where people claim friends and relatives died from the vaccine–many are second or third-hand accounts of people getting sick sometime after being vaccinated, or claims that someone they knew who had heart or immune problems died sometime not long after receiving the vaccination. I’ve not seen any claims where the vaccine was ruled by doctors filling out the death certificate as a cause of death. Here’s a reality many of these stories fail to allow for: 180 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against Covid. Of those, some percentage are going to get sick or die as part of the natural cycle of living and dying we are all inevitably a part of. But there’s this obsession among anti-vaxxers to ‘prove’ the Covid vaccine (and every other vaccine known to man) kills and injures people. I saw one anti-vaxxer I know post on Facebook that a young highly reliable delivery driver clipped a car in her driveway while backing out–it must have been brain fog brought on by a recent Covid vaccination, she argued. Well, people have accidents, unfortunately, often for no verifiable ‘reason’ other than the fact they were distracted or tired or careless.
David,
My experience with vaccine apologist, their knee jerk reaction is to deny and attempt to discredit any data or testimony that shines a negative light on vaccinations. There is a growing consistency or “pattern” if you will with regards to the harm caused by these covid injections and officials are beginning to take heed. Namely, heart attacks, strokes, blood disorders, paralysis and menstrual changes.
The fact of the matter is beyond argument… when toxic, degenerative, adulterating substances are injected into the human body, bypassing natural censoring mechanisms, serious harm will result. To suggest that such a process is conducive to nurturing constructive immunity and good health is utterly inconceivable. To implement mandates and coercion tactics in an attempt to reinforce that process is clearly unethical.
With respect to the COVID-19 vaccines manufactures have been granted under the PREP Act full indemnity against injuries occurring. If you’re injured, you’d have to file a compensation claim with the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), which is funded by U.S. taxpayers.
Good luck with that… Do you really believe that vaccine manufacturers, considering their abysmal track record, are worthy of protection from liability let alone at the taxpayers’ expense?
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/16/covid-vaccine-side-effects-compensation-lawsuit.html
I should have said in my response (and I have said previously) that I accept the fact that people are injured and killed by vaccines. Saying that, though, doesn’t mean that every person who gets sick and/or dies a few weeks or months after getting a Covid vaccine can legitimately blame it on the vaccine, tempting as that might be. And I think that’s one of the big reasons the government has exempted vaccine manufacturers from liability suits–they would likely be flooded with such suits, many of which wouldn’t hold water legally, but would take so long and cost so much to resolve that pharamaceutical companies would be discouraged from entering the business. In the case of Covid, we needed action, and we needed it quickly, and we got vaccines that appear to be safe…. in record time.
Mark,
You state, “it’s not tyranny”… then I suggest you listen to this monologue by Neil Oliver. The definition for tyranny = “cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control”.
Tyranny is about oppression/control… and in the case of the following video biased oppression/control
https://www.rebelnews.com/police_move_in_to_force_health_workers_out_of_protesting_in_melbourne?utm_campaign=rb_9_27_21&utm_medium=email&utm_source=therebel
“One nurse who works at the vaccination hubs said, “ninety per cent of the people I’m vaccinating are there because they want their freedoms back… that’s not the right reason to make a medical decision”.”
Indeed, a large percentage of the public are agreeing to be vaccinated for the wrong reasons… I know of at least 6 people (one person who called me who was in tears) that do not want to receive the injection but are agreeing to it because they have no choice… they have to feed their children, pay the mortgage, pay taxes etc. etc. etc.
https://www.growingproduce.com/vegetables/growers-issue-two-different-parsley-recalls-this-week/
Greens strike again with Ecoli. But no evidence of the FDA limiting leafy greens being sold over this state lines.
Gordon, did you get the Evidence and affidavit ? For your trial ?
Mark
thank you
Yes, I got the Affidavit. It is brilliant = perfect for purpose of my Petition.
it is an excellent precis of the evidentiary basis for a judge to Declare that REAL MILK can be produced safely when done according to RAWMI protocol
I will tell people here on this forum the precise date when it’s set for hearing
Gordon, glad you got it. Thanks.