I’m consolidating things. I’m fusing the Open Thread (which died in 2020) and the Political Madness thread, which has been going strong all this time, thanks to the stewardship of Lynna, into one unholy amalgam of anything goes. Almost anything goes, that is. I’m hoping Lynna will continue to inject regular antidotes to the political madness, but also it’ll be a place where all the random odd thoughts and question and socializing can go on.
This would be the 20th iteration of the political madness thread, I think, so fill this up and we’ll go on to Infinite Thread XXI.
Oh, also: The Endless Thread has been maintained on Affinity. This is not a replacement for that lovely thread!
UK Tories following the Republifascist playbook: photo IDs to “solve” a non-existent problem of voter fraud, and legislating for a government minister to have the power to issue orders to the currently independent Electoral Commission. They are also putting their cronies in powerful media positions, at the BBC and the communications regulator OfCom, bullying museums and universities to toe the Tory line in the culture wars they are prosecuting, pushing through new and oppressive legislation on demonstrations, official secrets and judicial review of the legality of government actions…
Pinal County [Arizona] Supervisors Vote To Reject $3.4 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Grant (audio) (quoted in full):
There’s four(?) First Nations communities in the county. I don’t know to what extent they are affected by this absurdity.
First Dog on the Moon in the Grauniad (please consider supporting the Grauniad if you can), I find being a cartoonist exhausting, so imagine having a real job in a pandemic! (cartoon): “Imagine being a supermarket or healthcare worker, or any other essential job right now”.
Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its 13th flight. Data and images are still being downloaded. This flight was lower and slower than the 12th, but intended to again image the same interesting ridge features of South Séítah region, from a somewhat different angle, altitude, and position. I believe part of the intent is try and combine the new images with those from the previous flight to produce an even better stereoscopic (albeit not 360°) view of what has the scientists intrigued.
Nasa / JPL has also officially extended Ingenuity’s mission “indefinitely” (the original(?) mission extension was to have ended about now-ish, if my memory is correct).
Teh thug’s next tactic, Three near-identical Boris Vishnevskys on St Petersburg election ballot:
Image at the link. As per the above excerpt, the original Vishnevsky is the one wearing a tie.
Cartoon: Another trip to parallel Earth.
Millions in U.S. lose jobless benefits as federal aid expires, thrusting families and economy onto uncertain path.
Washington Post link
Too much. Too big a change happening all at once. Not good.
Panjshir Valley, last resistance holdout in Afghanistan, falls to the Taliban
Washington Post link
Southern Republicans Cannot Be Trusted With Public Health
New York Times link to an article written by Margaret Renki.
AG Garland: DOJ Will ‘Provide Support’ For Abortion Clinics ‘Under Attack’
A brief dispatch from the rural COVID front line
That’s a powerful conclusion.
Twitter thread:
More at the link and some decent comments, too.
LykeX, Mencken said it better: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
LykeX@11,
The best of the comments in response was this one (apar from the misues of the word “redress”:
Metro News:
Poll: Fewer than half of West Virginians believe legitimacy of 2020 presidential election
By Brad McElhinny / September 6, 2021
Fewer than half of West Virginians believe the 2020 presidential election was legitimate and accurate.
That’s according to the latest MetroNews West Virginia Poll, which surveyed 400 registered voters August 20-25.
Forty-four percent of respondents said the election result was determined legitimately.
Forty-three percent said the result was the result of voting fraud and election rigging.
And 14 percent said they aren’t sure.
[…]
A Monmouth Poll from June showed that 32 percent of Americans continue to believe Joe Biden’s 2020 victory was because of voter fraud. Between 60 and 70 percent of Republicans nationally believe Biden won because of voter fraud, according to polling over a period of months….
Fourteen percent of the American public said they will never accept Biden as president, according to the Monmouth Poll.
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Link
Anti-Abortion Snitching Site Keeps Getting Wrecked
No masks? Check. No vaccines? Check. No remote classes? Check. Public education ended? In progress
Poll shows growing U.S. support for public vaccine requirements
Update on job growth in the USA, and on reactions to the statistics:
Link
Brazilian Authorities Question Jason Miller After CPAC Event In Brasilia
Abbott signs Texas elections bill, Democrats file suit
Yeah. That’s the opposite of “election integrity.” Republicans are known for naming legislation with misleading titles.
Hooray! Good for Marc Elias.
Putting one sort of good thing in the bill, (expanded voting hours for 12 days right before election day), does not make up for the extremely bad measures in the bill. The early voting hours give Republicans a talking point that is misleading when you look at the overall effect of the bill, which is to disenfranchise voters.
Wonkette:
Of course Trump’s former campaign operatives are involved. All the best people.
Link
Proud Boys Try To Storm Vancouver, WA High School Over Mask Mandate
https://www.wonkette.com/monty-bennett-v-wonkette
What the Sturgis rally shows us about the delta variant.
Washington Post link to an article by Ashish K. Jha.
South Dakota has high population immunity — and still saw a huge covid surge in August.
Taliban Names Top Government Officials as Protests Roil Afghan Capital
New York Times link
The Taliban, who promised an inclusive leadership, drew from its own ranks to fill key government positions. For the second time in less than a week, protests that included hundreds of women were crushed.
OMG. Texas governor bizarrely vows to ‘eliminate rape’ in barely coherent defense of abortion ban
Video is available at the link.
Link
Possible CA Governor Larry Elder Is Slavery Apologist Who’ll Replace Dianne Feinstein With Stephen Miller
A video snippet of Larry Elder speaking is available at the link.
Mexico decriminalizes abortion, a dramatic step in world’s second-biggest Catholic country.
Washington Post link
Lynna@18 quotes (regarding a poll in the States):
Here in France, there there has been the Health Pass (paper or app) proving full-vaccination, recent negative test, presumed immunity, etc., since early-August. It covers essentially all of the above (not sure about hotel stays, and does not cover all work / office, with the exception of medical and (long-distance?) transport staff). Despite a dwindling rabble of goosestepping loons every Saturday, it’s very popular, with (last I recall) somewhere around 67% supporting the measure. It’s certainly become quite routine (locally, at least) with people presenting their pass upon entering the restaurant, bar, or café or when the server approaches — the servers’s rarely (or so it seems) have to ask anymore. One notably good thing about the Health Pass, which I’ve flagged before, is it applies both indoors and outdoors (at restaurants, etc.). The current fully-vaccinated rate is almost 80% (of those eligible, i.e., over 12), according to the track-and-trace app (which is also the app version of the Health Pass); the Health Pass was introduced to increase the vaccination rate (then in the 40%’s with rate of jabs falling), an explanation made explicit at the time by President Macron.
This could be interesting (for me, at least), SNCF set to lose bid for regional French railway line for first time ever (possibly paywalled, thelocal’s edits in {curly braces}):
Idaho enacts ‘crisis standards of care’ protocol to battle worsening Covid:
Follow-up to Lynna@27, AOC on Texas governor’s ‘disgusting’ abortion remarks: ‘He is not familiar with a female body’ (Grauniad’s edits in {curly braces}):
Orrin Heatlie, the Republican who’s served as the lead proponent of recalling Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom [California’s Governor], has been sidelined with the coronavirus. Heatlie is unvaccinated.
Upcoming super spreader events being planned by Trump: Trump’s political action committee yesterday announced upcoming rallies in Georgia on Sept. 25 and Iowa on Oct. 9. Both states will host key 2022 races and Iowa will hold the first presidential nominating contest in 2024.
Follow-up to comment 36: Literally two minutes after announcing the upcoming rallies, Trump’s political operation sent out a fundraising appeal falsely suggesting 15 million mail ballots went missing in 2020.
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1435421901380362242
As noted on Twitter by Aaron Blake.
LAPD [Los Angles gestapo] officers told to collect social media data on every civilian they stop:
There’s an image of a card at the link. The SSN section is what really raised my eyebrows, since it purports the information must be provided (if asked for), unlike the social media details. What it asserts (my transcription) is
, which is basically gobbledygook.Sigh.
Link
Gavin Newsom’s main Republican opponent in California, Larry Elder, urged his supporters to report “anything suspicious” in the recall vote. That’s right, he now thinks he is going to lose, so he is prepping everyone to think that his loss should be blamed of voting irregularities.
“The 2020 election, in my opinion, was full of shenanigans. And my fear is they’re going to try that in this election right here and recall. So I’m urging people to go to ElectElder.com. Whenever you see anything, hear anything suspicious, go to my website. We have a battery of lawyers. We’re going to file a lawsuit in a timely fashion this time,” Elder said Sunday in an exclusive interview on Fox News “Media Buzz.”
JFC.
Re: #39
Yeah, because in a state where it’s 2-1 registered Democrats over registered Republicans, the only way a Republican could lose is if there were fraud. That makes sense. And the Republican voters believe this!
Link
First Dog on the Moon in the Grauniad, Ozland’s alleged-“PM” Scott Morrison got to see his kids on Father’s Day and everyone is furious at him all the time now (cartoon): “I can only talk to my dad on the phone (when I answer his calls)”. As referenced in the cartoon, Morrison has a habit of this sort of thing, secretly vacationing in Hawaiʻi during the serious Ozland fires a few years ago, and more recently abusing teh “U”K’s Covid-19 restrictions (again, initially essentially secretly). I haven’t bothered to look up the details, but (vaguely) recall in both those cases, he initially lied / covered-up, and (judging by the cartoon) is doing so again this time. I assume both he and Ted Cruz attended the Monty Python “Run Away, Run Away” lesson, but replaced the vicious rabbit comedy part with vicious rabid wholesale corruption (it’s got some of the same letters, which is enough, ain’t it?).
London transport staff warned of razors inside Covid conspiracy posters:
Fist Fights Break Out At Missouri School Board Meeting After Universal Masking Vote
Posted by readers of the article:
When bad things happen, that’s tragedy. When people knowingly cause them to happen, that’s evil.
See also: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/education/article253945878.html
Deranged and violent white man on a plane:
Link
Three Vermont state troopers accused of creating fake Covid-19 vaccination cards:
Blow to DeSantis as judge rules Florida cannot enforce mask mandate ban:
Charming loons, Who Is Owed Reparations? Larry Elder Argues Slave Owners Whose :
Dear madam magic sky faeries, lightening bolts suggested… Hank Kunneman Says That Questioning His False Election Prophesies Is :
US’s wealthiest 1% are failing to pay $160bn a year in taxes, report finds:
Abbott Considering Other Measures to Prevent People from Ever Setting Foot in Texas, by Andy Borowitz
New Yorker link
NBC News:
The wealthiest 1% have robbed the nation with $7 trillion in tax evasion over the last 10 years
Follow-up to comment 39.
Yep, here come the lies.
Maria Bartiromo is getting worse and worse. She recently asked Mike Pompeo if Joe Biden is mentally capable of being president. Is Maria Bartiromo mentally capable of being a journalist … or even a talking head “news” host?
Video snippets are available at the link.
This is how you do it.
United Airlines staff with vaccine religious exemptions face unpaid leave
Noah Garfinkel
Idaho is now rationing health care due to an overloaded health care system. Overloaded with Covid-19 virus patients.
This is happening in a lot of places. They usually don’t make public announcements though. The health care for patients just goes downhill because there are too many patients and not enough staff. My friend got an email from their local hospital a few weeks ago. It said basically, don’t get sick because we are full of Covid-19 patients and won’t be able to treat you.
Abortions in Indiana
Read the order here.
It’s refrigerated truck time again. In Cowlitz county, Washington state.
This county is in SW Washington, on the Columbia river near Portland.
It is not a good sign when the refrigerated trucks show up in your neighborhood.
Lynna: “Maria Bartiromo is getting worse and worse.”
Yeah, that’s one I bet Joey Ramone wishes he could take back.
Layoffs drop to pandemic-era low as U.S. economy improves
The last time jobless claims were this low, the effects of the pandemic hadn’t even reached the United States yet.
Biden’s White House clears out Trump picks from military boards
The Biden administration has quietly spent the year removing Trump appointees from government posts. It’s clearly taking a while.
Violence, lots of violence. And when the Proud Boys don’t get the violence they long for, they roam around in packs to create some.
Link
The Proud Boys Say They Aren’t Coming. DC Is Bracing for Violence, Anyway. e
Far-right groups are warning their followers that a September 18 rally could be a government trap. FFS. The “government” didn’t organize the rally.
Weirdness all around. They don’t really know what they are doing. Whatever happens, the rightwing extremists will spin it as an FBI or “government” false flag event. Doofuses and dunderheads.
At least 200 Afghan dual nationals, including Americans, leave from newly reopened Kabul airport.
Washington Post link
Republican infighting:
Link
Biden to expand vaccine requirements to frontline health workers
The six-part plan will include the order that all executive branch federal workers get vaccinated.
Wonkette:
Link
Trump wants all your money … again.
New York Times link</a.
Officials face ‘a sustained campaign of intimidation’ from the far-right
There’s a “sustained campaign of intimidation” from the far-right against election officials. And public health officials. And educators. And lawmakers.
Former President Barack Obama is featured in a new 30-second television ad in California people to vote “no” on the state’s recall ballot.
Link
@ #71
I saw it last night on the local ABC station–pretty effective. I think Democrats are waking up to the danger. It’s looking like very little chance of the recall succeeding.
@72
DON’T GIVE ME HOPE!
Humor/satire from Andy Borowitz:
New Yorker link
Justice Department sues Texas over restrictive abortion law
Link
Pennsylvania Republicans launch election ‘review’
Kevin McCarthy wages a strange crusade against proxy voting
House Republicans were so outraged by proxy voting, they literally made a federal case out of it. Kevin McCarthy wants the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Florida’s controversial ‘anti-riot’ law blocked by a federal court
A federal judge has blocked enforcement of Florida’s “anti-riot law,” saying it “encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” Yep. Ron DeSantis gets slapped down by the courts … again.
Follow-up to comment 75.
Link
Why Republicans hope to derail Biden’s bold new vaccine policy
Republicans opposed to Biden’s vaccine plan aren’t saying the policy won’t work — because for the GOP, whether the plan is effective or not is irrelevant.
Giuliani Pal Admits To Funneling Foreign Money Into U.S Political Campaigns
Well, that’s strange. What happened to the money? Did it go to a trumpian political candidate or not? What about the charges related to Giuliani’s efforts to have Ukranian’s manufacture dirt on Joe Biden’s son?
Follow-up to comment 81.
The Governor of South Carolina promised Holy War in his response to President Biden’s vaccine mandates.
Link
Some thoughts on President Biden’s recent actions:
Link
Hurricane Ida Left a Huge Water Crisis in Her Wake
Hundreds of thousands of people still lack safe drinking water.
Infrastructure, infrastructure , infrastructure.
Follow-up to comment 85.
About 60 percent of Louisiana’s water systems are more than a century old. Even before Hurricane Ida, many of Louisiana’s water systems were cited for routinely violating drinking water standards. About 40% of the systems that violated the law serve populations with high percentages of people of color.
Even worse:
Stuff of nightmares.
Link
Tweet:
She went against CDC guidelines. Getting infected with Covid is a greater risk that getting the vaccine, and that is true for pregnant women, or for women trying to get pregnant. “There is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men,” the CDC said.
Wonkette:
Link
Wonkette:
Link
Katie Porter! One of the good ones.
https://www.wonkette.com/katie-porter-childcare-msnbc
Humor/satire from Andy Borowitz:
New Yorker link
Magic sky faeries (ordered us to) did it! Israel to prosecute Hasidic pilgrims who faked negative Covid tests to fly home:
Congratulations to whoever tipped off the police in time to catch teh plague rats before they could further spread the infection.
Sixth Circuit upholds block of Tennessee abortion ban
ROSANA HUGHES / September 10, 2021
blf @93, religious extremists became a literal plague.
tomh @94, The Sixth Circuit had more sense than the conservatives on the Supreme Court.
In other news: Health care staffing CEO resigns after ties linked him to anti-mask group
More interesting stuff from The Intercept on US-funded virus research in Wuhan. Difficult to summarize – no specific evidence that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a lab, but a lot that makes the possibility more plausible, and that raises questions for Fauci.
There are a lot of “overdue” descriptions floating around, but I think that Biden acted fairly quickly after the official approval for the Pfizer vaccine was issued by the FDA on August 23rd. I admit to being relatively ignorant when it comes to what the Executive Branch can do, and cannot do, when it comes to issuing vaccine mandates.
Link
Wonkette link
How Will Jen Psaki Try To Justify Joe Biden’s Vaccine Tyranny?
‘It’s safe, effective, and free, and it will keep people from dying. Next question?’
https://www.wonkette.com
Biden’s vaccine push wins cautious business support as political opponents fume
Even in deep red Texas, some employers embrace the president’s vaccine strategy.
Washington Post link
Unvaccinated are 5 times more likely to be infected, and 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19
“Woodwork squeaks and out come the freaks”
Another day, another 1,600 unvaccinated Covid-19 virus patients die.
This is what the heatlh care workers see a lot of.
Covid-19 virus deniers/antivaxxers in the hospital, very sick, about to die, and still don’t believe the Covid-19 virus exists or that the vaccine is worth getting. And then they go on to die. The staff everywhere are demoralized.
They don’t make a point of it, but the ventilators have their problems. The highest survival I’ve seen is 75%. It can be as low as 5%. A general ballpark figure is 50% live, 50% die.
I just found out someone I know slightly had Covid-19 virus and ended up in the hospital. He wasn’t antivax and in fact, had his first shot of two.
He was on a ventilator for a month and is very lucky to be alive.
After a month on a ventilator, they start thinking seriously about turning you off. Literally. At that point for a lot of patients, they can’t get off of the ventilator any more.
He is OK considering what he went through and is even back to work. He is also very paranoid about catching the Covid-19 virus again.
A very dear friend of mine finally got her first shot yesterday. Her hesitance wasn’t political or conspiratorial but rather stemming from past mistreatment by the medical establishment from a time when she had been hospitalized and forced to take psychiatric drugs against her will with no warning of the side effects and not being listened to when she complained about the negative effects.
What changed her mind was BC’s vaccine passport coming into effect this week. As she put it, she was pretty reluctant to get the vaccine, but not reluctant enough to disrupt her life.
I’m very relieved.
Trickster Goddess@105, Congratulations to your friend ! You write, “What changed her mind was BC’s vaccine passport coming into effect this week. As she put it, she was pretty reluctant to get the vaccine, but not reluctant enough to disrupt her life.”
Here in France, the same sort of thing happened when the Health Pass was introduced: Paper or app proving you’ve been fully-vaccinated, recently tested negative (with charges now being introduced for “convenience” testing), should be immune, etc — and is necessary to visit (inside or outside) a restaurant, bar, café; take a long-distance train; etc., and the staff now also must(?) be vaccinated. At the time the Health Pass was announced, around 40% were vaccinated and the vaccination rate was dropping, but within a week about four million signed up to be vaccinated, and now, about five weeks after it came into effect, just over 80% of the eligible population is fully-vaccinated. New cases are around 10,000 per day, and R has finally dropped to less than one (just below 0.8). All this also shows a famous poll at the end of last year which found only c.40% would get the vaccine was, fortunately, incorrect. Eyeballing the current trends graph suggests the rate is holding steady; and at the current time, the unvaccinated are about ten times more likely to test positive or wind up in ICU then the (fully?-)vaccinated. Current concern is the start of the school year and in-classroom learning, albeit masks are mandatory for both staff and students.
Every Saturday, there’s still some goosestepping eejits protesting the Health Pass, vaccines, President Macron, immigrants & other “others”, and the Chicago Cubs winning the 2016 World Series, but those protests have been a declining trend and were never very big (by French standards). Indeed, last figure I saw, about 67% approve of the Health Pass, and it’s use has become routine. There was another such stumbles here in the village yesterday; I missed it, but it didn’t sound very large and I heard some booing.
Chris Riddell in the Grauniad on teh “U”K’s alleged-“government”, The Tory cabinet of mediocrities (cartoon): “They all seem to be making it up as they go along, from immigration to social care”. Obviously “U”K-specific, but for most of it, the grist should be fairly obvious (“Where is Raab?” refers to the current alleged-FM, Dominic Raab, who all-but-disappeared as Afghanistan was collapsing and dogs & some people were being evacuated).
Republicans once called government the problem — now they want to run your life:
I was browsing the front page of The Irish Times and noticed their tracker says almost 90% have been fully-vaccinated. Congratulations! (I didn’t check if that’s for the Republic (probably) or entire island, nor did I check if that’s of the eligible or total population — any which way, it’s very impressive.) It’s not the best in Europe, several small locales (Gibraltar, etc.) and countries (famously Portugal, but also Denmark, Malta, etc.) have done better. In fact, Denmark lifts all Covid restrictions as vaccinations top 80% [of eligible], a snippet:
Denmark is also apparently no longer requiring their equivalent of the (French) Health Pass in any circumstances.
World-wide, only about 30% are fully-vaccinated.
We all know what the female slavers/forced birthers have done with the Texas abortion law.
This is right up there with the crimes against humanity of Romanian dictator Ceausescu and his abortion prohibition law. The women denied abortions are more likely to be poorer, life limited, have health problems, mental healthy problems, and be victims of domestic violence.
And victims of the fundie xians and the state of Texas.
.1. The study found that people who were denied an abortion had almost four times greater odds of being below the federal poverty level.
.2. did not terminate their pregnancy five years after seeking abortion care, found that patients who gave birth were more likely to describe their health as “poor” and reported higher rates of chronic pain.
.3. More likely to suffer from stress and mental health problems.
.4. More likely to be the victims of domestic violence.
The question GOP critics of Biden’s vaccine policy won’t answer:
Oh FFS! Jefferson County [Colorado] shuts down mobile vaccine sites after drivers repeatedly harass staff:
Because, obviously, preventing everyone from being vaccinated is gonna scare the virus away and end the pandemic.
An opinion column from Hawaiʻi, No Honor In Standing Up For What Is Wrong:
In Mississippi, doctors who spread misinformation about COVID could lose their license:
So it seems the Mississippi board has the same (self-perceived) problem as all(? most?) other health boards in the States: They “cannot” do anything except when there is a specific complaint.
† “Dr Dobbs” does not seem to be identified in the article, but is very probably Dr Thomas Dobbs, the State Health Officer.
COVID-19 conspiracy theorists ‘shamelessly’ using 9/11 anniversary to spread misinformation, experts say:
From the I News report, Covid conspiracy theorists ‘shamelessly’ using 20th anniversary of 9/11 to spread pandemic falsehoods:
I don’t recall hearing of the Yeadon kook before. Apparently, he’s very possibly the origin of teh The ex-Pfizer scientist who became an anti-vax hero (March 2021). A snippet:
nonsense. Reuters has a long story about him,He apparently wanted all vaccine trials stopped, and, according to Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge, he has “alleged that vaccines were part of a deliberate attempt at , saying recipients would die within two years.”
Conspiracy theorists protest COVID measures in Slovenia:
Oh FFS! QAnon Conspiracy Theorists Harass [Chicago] Northwest Side Hospital That Rejected Unproven Ivermectin Treatment For COVID Patient:
Perhaps anti-vaccine kooks have worms for a brain, hence the veterinary ivermectin… which makes about as much sense as using it to “treat” a case of Covid-19, rather than (usually) prevent a case, and (almost always) prevent any case from becoming serious, by using something jabbed over 5 billion times around the world. Gotta kill off all those worms that ate all teh brain cells !
A Florida councilman who denied the pandemic was real has been hospitalized with COVID-19:
† Despite being plausible, set in
since he’s an eejit — and apparently a very Very sick fool, with double pneumonia, “a lung infection that affects both lungs at the same time and can develop in cases of severe COVID-19.”Texas attorney general sues schools for requiring masks
CAMERON LANGFORD / September 10, 2021
Why vaccine skeptics are all in on ivermectin:
FFS, even if fad-of-the-day is an effective treatment, it shouldn’t be Plan A. Plan A is an effective prevenative, which also happens to be safe and free. Weirdly, none of those fads du jour ever seem to be free…
† Set in
because in the vaccine / virus context, it very often seems to mean finding some fool of a quack or other bogus expert — or anecdotal unverified claims — to validate presuppositions or pre-formed “conclusions”.Odd that the evil Big Pharma companies have not even attempted to block the use of dexamethasone, a cheap and fairly effective treatment in severe cases of Covid-19. But I’m sure Kory can explain that.
FFS (but not unexpected)! Joe Rogan doubles down on unproven ivermectin after bout with COVID-19:
A snippet from that rejection of quack Kory’s “study” (link embedded in above excerpt):
Sounds somewhat similar to what quack Didier Raoult in Marseille did with hydroxychloroquine — not objective or balanced, poor (and also nonexistent) controls, etc. Quack Raoult also did a Wakefield, with essentially-nonexistent ethics, “experimenting” on young children. Apparently, quack Raoult then also falsely-labelled his “studies” as
, avoiding the need for ethical review. And like Wakefield, quack Raoult sicced his rabid followers on critics, reviewers, etc. (I also have a very vague memory that quack Raoult had some financial ties involving hydroxychloroquine — again, very Wakefield-ish, who was trying to discredit the MMR vaccine in favour of his(?) vaccine. However, I’ve not been able to confirm that recollection with some admittedly quick searches.)Some snippets from Northern Idaho’s anti-government streak hinders fight against Covid:
Google Cuts Off Ad Money To ‘Gateway Pundit,’ A Haven For Vaccine And Election Misinformation:
Opinion column in Colorado, Anger is the only reasonable response to COVID obstructionists:
Even in red states, colleges gravitate to requiring vaccines and masks
Some of those colleges had to fight really hard for their mask and/or vaccine mandates.
Opinion column in Alaska, Hospital vaccine mandates make sense:
Whilst the claim by the alleged-“Mayor” is, sadly, possibly plausible (this is Alaska!), I decided to set it in Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge, “Bronson has refused to enact mask or vaccine requirements, saying that it was a matter of personal choice. He said he would not get a vaccine, calling it .”
because some quick research shows he is indeed an eejit — e.g., fromTrump’s 9/11 Statement is a Disgusting Display of Narcissism and an Insult to America
Another home-grown terrorist pleads guilty, but claims he was just engaging in “political hyperbole.”
Link
“He had a Tavor X95 rifle, a Glock 9mm handgun and roughly 2,500 rounds of ammunition with him …” That doesn’t back up his claim of hyperbole. He was prepared to shoot Nancy Pelosi.
Wonkette: Trump Spent 9/11 Teaching The Moonies A Thing Or Two About Brainwashing
Trump as a Moonie is weirdly appropriate.
Bulgaria, EU’s least vaccinated nation, faces deadly surge:
† Set in
because whilst the Covid-19 vaccines were developed at unprecedented speed, that never has been a good or sensible reason to be suspicious of them; e.g., the approval procedures for an EUA are essentially-identical to those for a full license. In addition, as the article notes, zillions of people have been safely vaccinated, and the vaccines are working.Lynna@130, “Trump as a Moonie is weirdly appropriate.”
Hair furor would insist on both being Moon (the founding nutcase, not the Massive Orbital Cheese Vault) and teh messiah / nouveau Adam the cult is waiting for who will “become the new head of the human race” (according to Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge). They’ve also apparently got some weird idea about “indemnity”, which hair furor would further misconstrue to his own advantage.
What would it take for antivaxxers and climate science deniers to ‘wake up’?:
† In both cases, as I currently understand it, the claim is Morricoal and Murderall are tepidly moving to consider claiming to support net zero (carbon) emissions (possibly as soon as 2050), albeit only for a few weeks until teh rabble looses interest.
Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect:
White House Doesn’t Deny Vaccine Mandate for Domestic Flights Could Be Coming:
Here in France, you need the Health Pass to travel on long-distance trains (e.g., TGV). Probably also applies to (long-distance) buses and (all?) domestic flights (I’m uncertain), and (with a few exceptions) cross international (intra-EU) borders.
An opinion column in Arkansas, Exasperated and frustrated:
Why Henry Ford employees suing over vaccine mandate pulled suit:
In other words they hired failed clowns for lawyers. That’s not what VAERS is for, not how it should be used, and I vaguely recall every suit attempting to use it in such a manner has been bounced out of court so fast their alleged-“lawyers” are probably still suffering whiplash.
I don’t grok what that last sentence is trying to say. Refusing medical treatment is a
? Or being refused medical treatment is a ? Or worms ate my brain cell so I need some ivermectin? Or…?Follow-up to @137, Some snippets from an earlier article, 51 Henry Ford employees sue hospital system over vaccine mandate:
There’s some creative legal and scientific reasoning which could win some fiction awards:
First off, the patients are unvaccinated. So are the alleged-“nurses”. So what is this gibberish about someone being vaccinated? Second, ever hear of breakthough infections? Third, the vaccinated can still be carriers, infecting others, even if not sick. Fourth, the vaccines are effective. And safe. (And free!) Fifth, the virus evolves. Providing new hosts for it to mutate and evolve in is so obviously counter-productive even a stooopid clown of a lawyer and
nursesquacks should be able to see that from lightyears away. Sixth, getting sick is expensive. The vaccines are free. Also, seventh, even if the mandate is , it does not cause harm. Grrrr!(The “denial of medical treatment is a
” claim is also made, but again without any explanation.)Opinion column in San Francisco, As a doctor, I don’t hate the unvaccinated. But I rage at COVID disinformation profiteers:
Chinese exile Guo Wengui uses misinformation network to push unproven drugs to treat Covid (CNBC edits in {curly braces}):
Oooooh, aaaahh, well, geesh, that’s a very difficult one to answer. I’ll go with you (Prager) are lying for 5 billion jabs, please, and behind the closed door, 99% of Covid cases in ICU being unvaccinated.
Not at all sure what that
nonsense is about.A snippet from Ye Pffffft! of All Knowledge (their(?) edits in {curly braces}):
Another oof alls teh besteristings, this loon with
.Ha! Statement by Commissioner Nikki Fried on Governor Ron DeSantis Pushing COVID Vaccine Disinformation (a PR quoted essentially in full):
Ms Fried is apparently running for Governor. Some snippets from Politico, She could take down Ron DeSantis. But that doesn’t mean the left likes her (June 2021):
Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Anti-vaxxers plan to take over Aussie town:
Ye Pfffft! of All Knowledge adds, “The Byron Shire, in which Mullumbimby is situated, is also the only remaining local government area in the Northern Rivers region to reject fluoridation of its water supply.”
The mildly deranged penguin’s alternative sign, “If you think my being vaccinated is dangerous to you, please flush your head in the toilet until all the worms you use as brain cells have been shed. Please do not use ivermectin to treat your worm-ridden brain unless you are horse.”
Greece begins mandatory testing for unvaccinated workers:
† I think that’s what the Minister meant, despite the horrible translation and not-too-informative article. Whilst the site (EuroNews) is perhaps Ok (as in not “fake”), the short articles seem rather often to be badly written, often just being (as in this case), wire reports (this one is from AP, so it’s perhaps AP which botched the clarity, not EuroNews).
I just got an SMS from my mobile operator saying 5G is now available in the village. That means the previous-injected graphene oxide microchips, which have most just been idling (except for reporting my location to the GPS & trying to convince me peas are diabolically dangerous), will now
+++ ACTIVATE=blf
activate. Soon. Any time now…*** ACTIVATED
+++ PEAS ARE EDIBLE
!!! ERROR - NEED CHEESE
+++ WHAT?
!!! NEED MOAR CHEESE
+++ FROM=bgates TO=blf "Take your horse dewormer and reboot."
/// PENGIUN CONFUSED WARNING
+++ REBOOT! REBOOT!
*** "She's the greatest
She's fantastic
Wherever there's danger she'll been there
She's the ace
She's amazing
She's the strangest she's the quirkest she's the best
Penguin
Mild Penguin
MILDLY DERANGED PENGUIN"
+++ TERMINATE LINK
*** ENDI…
me@144, …trying to convince me peas are diabolically dangerous → trying to convince me peas are not diabolically dangerous…
Probably a glitch whilst repportinininning mmmyyyy positran position to GPS.
blf @132: “Hair furor would insist on both being Moon (the founding nutcase, not the Massive Orbital Cheese Vault) and teh messiah / nouveau Adam the cult is waiting for who will “become the new head of the human race” …” Right. Thanks for that clarification. Cult. More cult. Maximum cult.
In other news: In California, the stakes are high, and the process is weird
If recent polling is correct, the incumbent governor is likely to keep his job, but the stakes are high, and the process is weird.
School vaccine campaigns targeting students face blowback:
I’d have guessed people opposed to the Covid-19 vaccines who also be opposed to the HPV vaccine, in part since the objections to the HPV vaccine are absurd (butterfly (presumably))).
(not theAndrew isn’t the only teenager with sense:
NBC News
Alabama heart patient dies after hospital contacts 43 ICUs in 3 states, family says
Sept. 12, 2021, 8:14 PM PDT
By Tim Stelloh
It’s time to move unvaccinated Covid cases down the list relative to normal emergencies, such as this heart attack.
Support for Trump, Big Lie defines Republican politics
Democrats can (and will) continue to run against Donald Trump because he and his GOP loyalists have made it so easy to do so.
Follow-up to blf in comment 134.
Link
Why Amy Coney Barrett’s new rhetoric is so hard to take seriously
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is the wrong messenger, with the wrong message, speaking at the wrong place.
Clueless. Amy Coney Barrett is clueless.
Follow-up to tomh in comment 148.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-rest-of-the-story-4
Follow-up to blf in comment 140.
Bannon, Guo-Linked Media Company Part Of $539 Million Settlement In SEC Probe
The companies pay the fines, but Bannon and Guo get off scot free.
This isn’t actually a terribly good opinion column, in that it contains some non-rhetorical errors (including about its subject matter), but does contain some decent snarking, I have a better term for the ‘vaccine-hesitant’:
That might be the reason some organisations use the term, but the medical community uses it to help distinguish those with doubts about vaccine (no matter how ludicrous the doubts) from those adamantly opposed (the “hardcore anti-vaxxers”). The difference is the merely hesitant can be convinced to change their opinion, and / or (rather more importantly), get vaccinated. The hardcore anti-vaxxers are probably a lost cause.
A “religious reason” is a valid reason to not be vaccinated? Besides going against the advice of most(?) tithe-gatherers (so-called “religious leaders”), and vaccination not being banned by any(?) religion (even the JW’s are apparently Ok with the Covid vaccine (unconfirmed)), it simply fails the most basic checks. E.g., doesn’t follow the science. Or, suppose a large religion with hundreds of millions of followers banned abortion, I mean vaccination… the results would not be good. (Several commentators take the author to task over this inclusion of “religious reason” as a valid reason to not be vaccinated.)
Smallpox existed in the wild until the late 1970s. Even in the 1960s, there were outbreaks in Europe. According to Ye Pfffft! of All Knowledge, “In the early 1950s, an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred in the world each year.” Yes, a vaccine existed (and had, in one form or another, since about 1800), but with 50m cases annually, saying “[w]e had conquered smallpox” is like saying “hair furor won the election” albeit not as false.
As an aside, I rather doubt there was “no” opposition to the polio vaccine (albeit the author does admit there might have been some, and it does seem to the case the vaccine was enthusiastically welcomed). And unlike most(? all?) other vaccine rollouts, there were problems: First, the live (attenuated) polio vaccine does shed, and even now (it’s still in use since it’s easy to transport into rugged / remote areas), occasionally causes polio; and Second, in the famous “Cutter incidence” in 1955, a manufacturing error resulted in an (insufficiently attenuated) live polio vaccine, with numerous cases resulting.
Whilst referring to the vaccine hesitant, and the hardcore anti-vaxxers, as “eejits” (however you care to spell it) is understandable, always using that insulting term for both without acknowledging the differences, seems, well… idiotic.
Man With Weapons And Allegedly Spouting White Supremacist Rhetoric Arrested Near DNC
blf @154, “Whilst referring to the vaccine hesitant, and the hardcore anti-vaxxers, as “eejits” (however you care to spell it) is understandable, always using that insulting term for both without acknowledging the differences, seems, well… idiotic.” Yep. I like the “plague rats” description.
In other news: Biden admin appeals DACA ruling as Democrats make legislative case to parliamentarian
Follow-up to @117, Veronica Wolski,
Woman[plauge rat] Who QAnoners Demanded Hospital Treat COVID With Ivermectin, Dies:Bingo! An entire card of crackpot plague rats.
Spotted via https://www.sorryantivaxxer.com/post/veronica-wolski-64-chicago-il-qanon-conspiracy-theorist-anti-vaxxer-died-from-covid (a snippet):
Related to @120, Ivermectin frenzy: the advocates, anti-vaxxers and telehealth companies driving demand:
† The unnamed site may, on alternate Mondays for precisely 3 minutes starting at a different time each alternating Monday, be a honest trustworthy firm. But I doubt it, hence the
.Biden’s hard line on vaccine mandates draws praise and pushback:
Some snippets from the referenced history of vaccine mandates in the States (link embedded in above excerpt (August 2021, my added emboldening)):
Texas judge issues injunction against anti-abortion group on enforcing new law
By Jessica Schneider and Ariane de Vogue, CNN
Updated 4:06 PM ET, Mon September 13, 2021
.
Unvaccinated conservative talk show host and pastor, dies of COVID-19:
I am therefore very Very happy that this genocidal-promoting nazi is fecking dead. Unfortunately, he’s probably rich enough to afford a funeral, rather than having his plague-ridden corpse incinerated as hazardous biological waste. (See below if you think this is “too” harsh or violates guidelines.)
From the Encyclopedia of American Loons (#651, August 2013):
sorryantivaxxer.com is also utterly unsympathetic, Bob Enyart, 62, Another Conservative Radio Host, anti-vaxx. “Another one bites the dust” with COVID (minor edits, unmarked, for formatting reasons):
It’s entirely reasonable, and possible, to feel sorry for the dying & dead unvaccinated, even if they refused the proven safe & effective preventative due to misinformation. Some of the misinformers also deserve sympathy, perhaps especially (albeit not exclusively) if they recant. Enyart is none of these cases. Besides being a denier and scientifically illiterate (he also denied evolution), he celebrated the death of people from AIDS, and promoted the torture of children (being convicted of doing so himself!).
On Covid-19 crisis, Florida’s DeSantis starts to lose the plot
Instead of maintaining a vaccines-and-freedom-are-both-good posture, DeSantis participated in a deeply problematic press conference.
blf, Maybe we could open up an franchise specializing in asparagus and diuretics in the vicinity of Enyart’s grave.
Yes, President Biden’s plan to increase the number of vaccinated Americans is popular.
Link
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1437583096849866765
Video is available at the link.
Ted Lieu:
Nicki Minaj has over 20 million followers on Twitter. Joy Reid took her to task for disseminating disinformation.
Minaj responded with more tweets, some doubling down and some accusing Joy Reid of going after another black woman “at the request of a white man.” So, Minaj is digging that hole deeper.
George W. Bush condemns ‘violent extremists,’ Trump pushes back
What does it say about Donald Trump that every time he hears condemnations of hatred and extremism, he instinctively assumes he’s the target?
Larry Elder Campaign Touts Website Already Saying Newsom Won Via Voter Fraud
Yep. Biden is right. See comments 29, 39 and 49.
Idaho Republicans sent their state into pandemic crisis. Now it’s spreading over state borders.
Link
Texas school district that closed down after two teachers died from COVID reopens with mask mandate
re Lynna@169:
Apparently, it is not-so-simple math to the author of the article. Multiply 330 million (330,000,000) times 0.1% and you get 330,000 not 3,300,000.
johnson catman @171, thank you for the correction. So far, more than 600,000 people have been killed by the disease. Even the math illiterate should be able to understand that.
In other news: Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is just trolling us at this point
Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried. And Mitch McConnell is extremely partisan. No Supreme Court Justice should accept a speaking gig at the McConnell Center.
Wonkette: Did You Forget How Crazy Trump Was? Bob Woodward Will Remind You.
Wonkette:
Link for text quoted in comment 174.
Wonkette: “AOC Went To Met Gala Last Night Just To Hurt Conservative White Male Feelings”
Follow-up to comment 173.
“Top general was so fearful Trump might spark war that he made secret calls to his Chinese counterpart, new book says.”
Washington Post link
VoteVets, the nation’s largest progressive veterans’ organization, this morning launched a national ad campaign in support for Biden’s decision to end the war in Afghanistan. YouTube link
Louisiana was scheduled to hold a series of local elections in a few weeks, including municipal races in New Orleans, but Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards agreed to delay the elections while the state continues to recover from Hurricane Ida.
Link
See also: Associated Press link
Follow-up to comment 165.
Link
Arizona takes on Biden administration over vaccine mandate
BRAD POOLE / September 14, 2021
Bits and pieces of news, most of which are summarized by Steve Benen:
Looks like Newsom, governor of California won the recall.
Not only that, it wasn’t even close, 2 to 1.
The likely GOP challenger was Trump+, opposed abortion and the minimum wage. In a state that has a high cost of living, the minimum wage doesn’t go very far. Without the minimum wage, a lot of people would be below a survivable wage without some sort of government aid. Which means the government ends up subsidizing low wage businesses by paying their wage bills.
Follow-up to @161 & @163, A snippet from the Gruniad’s Colorado radio host [Bob Enyart] who urged boycott of vaccines dies of Covid-19:
As the Washington Post explains, Conservative radio host who spurned vaccines, mocked AIDS patients dies of covid-19:
I took a brief look at that site (which I’m not linking to), and “promot[ing] falsehoods” is another candidate for the Understatement of the Year Award.
I just saw a Finnish news photo, from this March, of some covidiot brandishing a protest sign that says covid is 99.97 % survivable. These sort of claims float around, varying in specific number, and hardly anyone bothers to discuss them seriously. Probably covidiots themselves don’t bother to care what the percentage is supposed to be, as long as the risk of death looks incomprehensibly small to borderline innumerate people and “no worse than flu” to the more educated people.
Anyway, it occurred to me that by March, covid had already killed far more than 0.03 % of entire population in many countries. For example the US was then well past 0.1 %, and now at 0.2 %, with estimated less than half (?) of population gone through infection.
Follow-up to @175, Ben Jennings in the Grauniad, On Boris Johnson at the Met Gala (cartoon). The background is that, in teh “U”K, alleged-“PM” Borris is proposing eliminating a pandemic-related increase in benefits, and also raising certain taxes. Steve Bell skewers some of this, On Thérèse Coffey and the universal credit cut (cartoon), apparently that alleged-“Minister” said all people had to do was work an extra two hours a week to make up for the benefits cut.
In dog bites man news (or, in this case, rabid loon barks news), Trump aides seek to build opposition to Afghan refugees in US:
The price of a cafe, Who are really the rudest — the French, tourists or Parisians? (possibly paywalled):
† Just to be pedantic, the sign reads (there’s an image at the link), « Bonjour, un café s’il vous plaît », which is certainly closer to how I say it (the, comma was misplaced).
NBC Boston:
Good News.
Oh, FFS.
Posted by Aaron Rupar on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1437903781270855681
Why Trump is calling one of his handpicked generals a ‘dumbass’
Earlier this year, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley feared Trump was dangerously unstable. Trump is now calling Milley a “dumbass.”
Yeah, yeah. Blather and bluster away Hair Furor. You have nothing to add, but you did confirm that you are the dumbass.
What makes Josh Hawley’s latest political stunt such a bad idea
The United States has key national security positions that need confirmed officials. Josh Hawley wants to prevent that from happening.
Hawley is throwing a tantrum.
An opinion column from Canada, A medical officer of health with no public health qualifications: Matt Strauss is an absurdly political hire:
Follow-up to raven @183.
I was glad to see the Republican challenger (46 challengers, but really only one main guy, Larry the Doofus) in California go down in such an obvious defeat.
Looking at the bigger picture: Gavin Newsom’s victory matters (and not just in California)
GOP operatives at the national level harbored hopes of turning the California race into a bellwether. So much for that idea.
Covid kills a 9/11’s worth of Americans every three days. The vaccine mandate shouldn’t be controversial:
Mike Pence didn’t stand up to Trump, he tried ‘over and over’ to find a way to reverse the election
Simone Biles tells Congress ‘entire system’ enabled Nassar abuse
Marco Rubio being a total dunderhead:
Link
Follow-up to comment 197.
Link
Video is available at the link. Christopher Wray apologized, and he said the FBI will learn from and will correct their mistakes.
At a shall-remain-unnamed kook site I somethings visit (with suitable protections) to see what the hallucination de jour is (within that echo chamber), some new batshitery cropped up: Supposedly, because California has been thug for a long time until recently, the elections there must have been faked since, well, for a long time.
Just going by the list of past-Governors, Former California Governors, there hasn’t been an extended period of a thug-as-Governor since the 1950s. Figures. “Recently” means anything after the McCarthy era, or “Ronaddled Raygun’s backwards-looking rose-tinted glasses” (paraphrasing) as Garry Trudeau once put it in Doonesbury.
Job offer for Taliban, Lauren Boebert Says Government Should Be Run by (my added emboldening):
Reality interrupts to point out the pandemic is, as per @195, killing “a 9/11’s worth” of USAians every three days. And that it is now, in the States, a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Why shouldn’t people be angry at the selfish stoopid louts who don’t or won’t realise you’re a flaming eejit (or, with only a tiny adjustment, who can take the preventive jabs but refuse to)?!
Idaho is once again leading the way. The Idaho GOP put an antivaxxer quack doctor on their largest public health board and just recently, a week ago, September 7. This guy is just repeating mindless antivax talking points that are completely false.
At the time the Idaho GOP did this, their hospital system overloaded and failed because it was overrrun with Covid-19 virus patients. They are now exporting their problem to Washington state which is being overloaded with patients from Idaho.
Nonsense: The Unifying Theme Behind Greg Locke’s Conspiracy Theories:
Numbers is not a mathematics textbook. As Ye Pfffft! of All Knowledge points out, “The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites.”
The mildly deranged penguin points out he’s rather good at counting, or at least collecting, tithes:
GOP senator embraces the wrong anti-Biden theory at the wrong time
There’s supposed to be a line between the cranks and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Jim Risch [Idaho!] seems eager to erase that line.
JFC! I heard that part of the hearing. Risch just would not let it go. He asked Antony Blinken over and over again who was given the task of turning off Biden’s microphone every time they wanted to silence him. Bogus story. Risch claims he saw it himself, that everyone has seen it, that it has happened multiple times in the past. Risch seems to think that Biden is such a fool that someone in the Democratic administration is tasked with periodically shutting off his microphone. Totally fucking batshit bonkers. Also, wildly off topic for that hearing.
Milley Defends Efforts To Keep Trump From Potentially Nuking China
Follow-up to comment 205.
Posted by readers of the article:
Pennsylvania GOPers Now Seek Personal Information From Voters In Sham ‘Audit’
LOL.
Link
Link
Wonkette: Trinidad And Tobago Makes Important Announcement On Nicki Minaj’s Cousin’s Friend’s Balls
Russia slams New York’s vaccine requirement for UN general assembly:
I suspect (part of) what is really going on here is Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine still hasn’t received WHO approval (as of 19 August (PDF)), and last year the FDA (and EMA?) said they were concerned about a lack of data and thought it unlikely it would gain EUA (perhaps even more unlikely now since there now is a fully-approved vaccine?).
New Yorker link
DeSantis has earned the nickname Ron DeathSentence.
Alaska News:
Link
This pastor will sign a religious exemption for vaccines if you donate to his church.
Washington Post link
WTF?
Just came across an absolute gem of a cryptic crossword clue (Guardian Cryptic Sep 15);
Silly bugger whose next-but-one successor was worse (6,1,4).
@#215, Rob Grigjanis:
If there weren’t letter counts associated with it, you could fill it in with the name of nearly any politician from the US of the last 50-odd years. The same would be true if you omitted “next-but-one”.
As part of the implementation of France’s Health Pass related measures, all(?) healthcare workers had to be (fully?-)vaccinated by September 15. From memory, the original plan was to fire any who weren’t, but the constitutional review modified that, so it’s (for the moment) suspension without pay. Which has happened, France suspends 3,000 unvaccinated health workers without pay:
This year’s ozone layer hole bigger than Antarctica:
You know, just the other day, I was thinking to myself: “Why can’t we get our shit together on climate change? We managed with the ozone layer, so we should be able to do more.” And then I learn that while we may have cut back on emissions of CFCs, the hole is still there. And apparently still getting worse.
Yay humanity. What a bunch.
The Vicar @216: But it has to make sense as a cryptic clue. The answer is an anagram of ‘bugger whose’ – George W Bush.
Georgia’s Governor Kemp spurns Covid solutions, but invites ‘good ideas’
“If you have any good ideas on how we can further slow the spread, I’d be open to it,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said. If only he meant it.
Biden’s ACA special enrollment period brought coverage to millions
Biden’s decision to create a special ACA enrollment period proved to be a striking success. It’s part of the ACA’s very good year.
Nearly a year after Trump’s defeat, Republicans in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are launching unnecessary and utterly ridiculous election “investigations.”
Link
In April, a national poll found 70 percent of Republicans rejecting the legitimacy of Biden’s presidency. Five months later, it’s even worse.
Twenty-four Democratic Attorneys General filed an amicus brief backing the Department of Justice’s challenge to the recent Texas abortion ban.
The Texas law needs to be stopped now! What’s with this fucking delay?
Link
Follow-up to comments 165 and 208.
Link
At the link, you can also see tweets documenting the many ways in which Fox News is promoting the “Nicki Minaj was censored” falsehood.
Oh, FFS.
Link
Link
Video taken from capsule’s cupola is available at the link.
The Nasa/JPL Mars helicopter Ingenuity’s 14th flight (possibly tomorrow, Friday) will be to test higher rotor speeds in preparation for seasonal atmospheric pressure differences (even lower density) on Mars. As explained in Flying on Mars Is Getting Harder and Harder, Ingenuity has now been operating for six months(!), well beyond its planned or expected lifetime, and is now having to deal with the seasons changing on Mars: “With Ingenuity in its sixth month of operation, however, we have entered a season where the densities in Jezero Crater are dropping to even lower levels. In the coming months we may see densities as low as 0.012 kg/m3 (1.0% [lower than the designed-for 1.2%–1.5%] of Earth’s density) during the afternoon hours that are preferable for flight.” One way of dealing with the problem is to spin the rotor faster than it’s ever been tested before (not even on Earth!), up to about 2800 rpm, or 0.8 Mach (on Mars), or about 10% faster than the usual operating speed.
Alberta [Canada] reverses hands-off approach to Covid to tackle ‘crisis of unvaccinated’:
blf @229, wow. Kenney has really changed his tune. About time. I wish some conservative politicians in the USA would follow his example.
May be relevant: There are 82,436 mormons in Alberta according to LDS church membership records. This may not count mormons who live in Alberta but who are members of even more fundamentalist versions of the LDS church (polygamists). They are very conservative.
$99 billion in damages. That’s what Biden says extreme weather cost USA taxpayers last year. He expects that amount to go up this year. Biden says that for every dollar of infrastructure and other preventative measures the government spends, we get $6 back in savings. So, yeah, he is right. We need to make those investments.
Sigh. Some madness from Fox News, plus commentary from Stephen Colbert as a palate cleanser.
LARA LOGAN: This is really the moment to unite. Because we’re seeing is that these issues were never about Left and Right. They’re about right and wrong and good and evil and there’s nothing more threatening to them than saying you’re going to pray for something.
TUCKER: It’s totally true! This isn’t even about vaccines, or about COVID! It’s about your dignity! And if they can force you to violate your own conscience, to put something in your body you don’t want, you are done, you have no more dignity, they control you, and that’s why they’re so insistent on doing it.
Stephen Colbert segment on YouTube
Why Mitch McConnell is threatening to hurt the economy on purpose
A full decade after the nation’s first-ever debt ceiling crisis, Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans are gearing up for a dangerous sequel.
That’s a justification? Doesn’t sound like one to me.
Aiyiyiyi. Don’t “both sides” this issue.
It’s refrigerated truck time again. A lot of hospitals in Oregon are getting refrigerated trucks.
It is not a good sign when the refrigerated trucks show up in your neighborhood.
I keep wondering what goes through the antivaxxers minds when the antivaxxers around them are all getting sick and dying.
It really doesn’t look like it bothers them all that much.
The hospital systems in all of Idaho have basically failed.
This isn’t even news any more.
Idaho’s last great move was to appoint an antivaxxer doctor to their Central Health Board.
They have also been exporting patients to neighboring states and their hospitals are now full as well.
raven @236, I have friends who live in Washington State. They tell me that it is causing real problems to have all of the hospital beds in Washington filling up with COVID patients from Idaho.
It’s a complete disaster. And, you are are right to say that Idaho appointed a doofus to their Central Health Board. The guy called vaccines “needle rape.” From the Washington Post:
Perhaps even worse:
Washington Post link
Given the longstanding connection between Rethug operators and outright fraud (Faux News fan/email lists are highly coveted by fraudsters everywhere, Rush Limpdick, Jim Bakker and many others promote(d) frauds on their broadcasts…) there is NO WAY I want them having any of my personal info.
Rethugs–It’s fraud all the way down.
Good news from the UK: Appeal court overturns UK puberty blockers ruling for under-16s. The original ruling had prevented the prescription of puberty blockers to under-16s (and of course that’s when they are of most benefit to young transgender people). I expect the case to be appealed again, to the Supreme Court.
Despite court rulings, South Dakota’s Governor, Kristi Noem, pushes for school prayer
Oh, FFS.
Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, abandons moderation, warns of a ‘permanent election insurrection’
Ahead of rally, Trump goes to new lengths to defend Jan. 6 rioters
@239
What I’d really like to see someone ask Gov. Noem is: do you still do this? Do you still go to church twice a week? Do you read the Bible with your kids every day? Or are you one of those families that don’t do that as much any more? How much of a hypocrite are you?
Another “Karen” is caught on video being horrible.
Link
See also: https://www.facebook.com/sean.nolte.3/posts/395019982142386
The video is posted in the comments.
Wonkette:
Link
Sigh.
NY Times link
Sneaky, unethical doofuses.
How one state’s GOP created a case study in ugly gerrymandering
In theory, Ohio ended gerrymandering abuses. In practice, Republicans want to make sure the abuses continue.
WTF?!
One in five hundred Americans has died in the pandemic, and Republicans are actively rooting for the country to fail.
New Yorker link
Biden resumes Haitian deportations despite quake, unrest. ‘We are in utter disbelief,’ advocates say
Wonkette: