Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
August 7, 2021
Rep. Virginia Foxx gives a master class in how to offer condolences with no class whatsoever
Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor
Daily Kos Staff
Friday August 06, 2021 · 10:11 AM EDT
Rep. Virginia Foxx wants the world to know exactly how committed she is to keeping workers down, and what better opportunity to broadcast it than the sudden death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka? Foxx saw that opportunity, and she took it:
https://twitter.com/EdLaborGOP/status/1423373392800067586
For two, maybe even three sentences, Foxx’s statement is a reasonable example of honoring the memory of someone with whom you disagree deeply even as you think they’re a decent person. That said, it takes a turn right there at the end.
She’s sad to hear about Trumka’s death. Her heart goes out to his family. They disagreed but he fought for what he believed was right … and then she gets going on the crudest Republican anti-worker talking points as she proclaims her intent to crush everything he fought for. “Jobs-killing mandated wages,” or, as we usually call it, the minimum wage. “Forced unionization,” also known as not allowing free riders. “Other socialist policies,” an umbrella term for anything that gives workers any power of any kind.
If you believe someone was a terrible human being, there’s no need to say nice things about them. Making clear you think someone was basically decent and then flagrantly crapping on everything they fought for is a special move.
But Foxx’s commitment to being a terrible human in her own right is not in doubt. We’re talking about a politician who has compared regulation of for-profit colleges to the Holocaust. She’s tried to end the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for student debt. She’s tried to weaken consumer protection by slashing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding. She’s said that laws protecting workers mean that organized labor has “sort of lost its reason for being”—even as she aims to repeal those laws. Virginia Foxx wants to crush working people and people with student debt and consumers who’ve been harmed by corporations. She’s a warrior for these causes, so much so that she cannot even pass up the opportunity she finds in the death of a champion for working people.
When we say that Donald Trump isn’t the only problem with the Republican Party, it’s not just Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar we’re talking about. It goes so much deeper. Thanks to Virginia Foxx for that reminder.
Rep. Virginia Foxx gives a master class in how to offer condolences with no class whatsoever
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/6/2044149/-Rep-Virginia-Foxx-offers-a-reminder-that-the-Republican-Party-s-rot-doesn-t-just-come-from-TrumpRep. Virginia Foxx gives a master class in how to offer condolences with no class whatsoever
Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor
Daily Kos Staff
Friday August 06, 2021 · 10:11 AM EDT
Rep. Virginia Foxx wants the world to know exactly how committed she is to keeping workers down, and what better opportunity to broadcast it than the sudden death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka? Foxx saw that opportunity, and she took it:
https://twitter.com/EdLaborGOP/status/1423373392800067586
For two, maybe even three sentences, Foxx’s statement is a reasonable example of honoring the memory of someone with whom you disagree deeply even as you think they’re a decent person. That said, it takes a turn right there at the end.
She’s sad to hear about Trumka’s death. Her heart goes out to his family. They disagreed but he fought for what he believed was right … and then she gets going on the crudest Republican anti-worker talking points as she proclaims her intent to crush everything he fought for. “Jobs-killing mandated wages,” or, as we usually call it, the minimum wage. “Forced unionization,” also known as not allowing free riders. “Other socialist policies,” an umbrella term for anything that gives workers any power of any kind.
If you believe someone was a terrible human being, there’s no need to say nice things about them. Making clear you think someone was basically decent and then flagrantly crapping on everything they fought for is a special move.
But Foxx’s commitment to being a terrible human in her own right is not in doubt. We’re talking about a politician who has compared regulation of for-profit colleges to the Holocaust. She’s tried to end the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for student debt. She’s tried to weaken consumer protection by slashing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding. She’s said that laws protecting workers mean that organized labor has “sort of lost its reason for being”—even as she aims to repeal those laws. Virginia Foxx wants to crush working people and people with student debt and consumers who’ve been harmed by corporations. She’s a warrior for these causes, so much so that she cannot even pass up the opportunity she finds in the death of a champion for working people.
When we say that Donald Trump isn’t the only problem with the Republican Party, it’s not just Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar we’re talking about. It goes so much deeper. Thanks to Virginia Foxx for that reminder.
August 7, 2021
Posted on Sat, Aug 7th, 2021 by Jason Easley
Anti-Vaccine Florida Right Wing Radio Host Dies From COVID
Dick Farrel, a local right-wing talk show host in Florida, who was an anti-vaxxer that did not support the vaccine until he was infected, has died of COVID.
WPTV reported:
Many Of The Unvaccinated Are Waiting Until They Get Sick To Want The Vaccine
It is turning into a common story among the unvaccinated. They don’t think they need the vaccine until they get sick. There have been many reports of infected people showing up at hospitals and wanting to be vaccinated after testing positive but are told that it is too late.
People need to understand that a vaccine is only effective at preventing or lessening illness if administered before they get sick.
It is common sense, but selfishness is driving the delta variant epidemic among the unvaccinated, and the reality is that many people who are spreading vaccine misinformation today are at risk of becoming tomorrow’s COVID fatalities.
Anti-Vaccine Florida Right Wing Radio Host Dies From COVID
https://www.politicususa.com/2021/08/07/anti-vaccine-florida-right-wing-radio-host-dies-from-covid.htmlPosted on Sat, Aug 7th, 2021 by Jason Easley
Anti-Vaccine Florida Right Wing Radio Host Dies From COVID
Dick Farrel, a local right-wing talk show host in Florida, who was an anti-vaxxer that did not support the vaccine until he was infected, has died of COVID.
WPTV reported:
On Facebook, Farrel advocated against getting the coronavirus vaccine and was skeptical of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and his recommendations concerning the coronavirus. Friends said after contracting the virus he changed his point of view.
“COVID took one of my best friends! RIP Dick Farrel. He is the reason I took the shot. He texted me and told me to ‘Get it!’ He told me this virus is no joke and he said, “I wish I had gotten it!” said Farrel’s close friend Amy Leigh Hair on her Facebook page. She told WPTV, “I was one of one the people like him who didn’t trust the vaccine. I trusted my immune system. I just became more afraid of getting COVID-19 than I was of any possible side effects of the vaccine. I’m glad I got vaccinated.”
“COVID took one of my best friends! RIP Dick Farrel. He is the reason I took the shot. He texted me and told me to ‘Get it!’ He told me this virus is no joke and he said, “I wish I had gotten it!” said Farrel’s close friend Amy Leigh Hair on her Facebook page. She told WPTV, “I was one of one the people like him who didn’t trust the vaccine. I trusted my immune system. I just became more afraid of getting COVID-19 than I was of any possible side effects of the vaccine. I’m glad I got vaccinated.”
Many Of The Unvaccinated Are Waiting Until They Get Sick To Want The Vaccine
It is turning into a common story among the unvaccinated. They don’t think they need the vaccine until they get sick. There have been many reports of infected people showing up at hospitals and wanting to be vaccinated after testing positive but are told that it is too late.
People need to understand that a vaccine is only effective at preventing or lessening illness if administered before they get sick.
It is common sense, but selfishness is driving the delta variant epidemic among the unvaccinated, and the reality is that many people who are spreading vaccine misinformation today are at risk of becoming tomorrow’s COVID fatalities.
August 7, 2021
Posted on Fri, Aug 6th, 2021 by Jason Easley
Biden Is The First President In History To Add Jobs Every Month During His First 6 Months
President Biden said that his economic plan is working and highlighted that his is the first administration in history to add jobs every month for the first six months.
President Biden said while discussing the economy:
Even With The Delta Variant Surging, The Biden Plan Is Working.
The previous president had no plan for the economy, and once the Obama expansion ran out of steam, the economy slipped into a recession before COVID even arrived.
The Biden team had a plan for both public health and the economy. The President was correct. His administration laid the groundwork for this success as soon as he took office.
President Biden is bringing America back bigger, better, and faster than any president in history.
The former guy talked about it, but Joe Biden is getting it done.
Biden Is The First President In History To Add Jobs Every Month During His First 6 Months
https://www.politicususa.com/2021/08/06/biden-economy-add-jobs-first-6-months.html
Posted on Fri, Aug 6th, 2021 by Jason Easley
Biden Is The First President In History To Add Jobs Every Month During His First 6 Months
President Biden said that his economic plan is working and highlighted that his is the first administration in history to add jobs every month for the first six months.
President Biden said while discussing the economy:
The Biden plan is working, the Biden plan produces results and the Biden plan is moving the country forward. We are now the first administration in history to add jobs every single month in first six months in office.
The only one in history to add more than 4 million jobs during the first six months, economic growth is the fastest in 40 years, jobs are up, the unemployment rate is the lowest since the pandemic hit, black unemployment is down as well. Why? We put in place the necessary tools early in my presidency, the Covid 19 vaccine plan, the American rescue plan to fight the virus, and fight the economic mess that we inherited. It has resulted in making progress on both fronts.
The only one in history to add more than 4 million jobs during the first six months, economic growth is the fastest in 40 years, jobs are up, the unemployment rate is the lowest since the pandemic hit, black unemployment is down as well. Why? We put in place the necessary tools early in my presidency, the Covid 19 vaccine plan, the American rescue plan to fight the virus, and fight the economic mess that we inherited. It has resulted in making progress on both fronts.
Even With The Delta Variant Surging, The Biden Plan Is Working.
The previous president had no plan for the economy, and once the Obama expansion ran out of steam, the economy slipped into a recession before COVID even arrived.
The Biden team had a plan for both public health and the economy. The President was correct. His administration laid the groundwork for this success as soon as he took office.
President Biden is bringing America back bigger, better, and faster than any president in history.
The former guy talked about it, but Joe Biden is getting it done.
August 7, 2021
With one small action, Joe Biden reveals himself as a better leader than Donald Trump ever was
Dartagnan
Community
Thursday August 05, 2021 · 1:18 PM EDT
As most of us find out at some point, one of the biggest life lessons involves admitting when you don’t have all the answers. Or admitting you may be mistaken about something, and that maybe, just possibly, someone knows more than you do. This is true even for someone placed at the pinnacle of American power, entrusted by the American people with the grave responsibilities of being president. Not learning this lesson, in fact, can be fatal to your performance in office. President Biden apparently realizes this simple fact. Donald Trump never did.
As reported by Jeff Stein, writing for The Washington Post:
The Biden administration’s abrupt about-face on the eviction moratorium may cause it some momentary pain, as opportunistic, pro-eviction conservatives gleefully jump on the reversal as a sign of “weakness." They’re wrong. It’s actually a sign of leadership in action, one that the right seems to have lost the ability to recognize. But that’s understandable, because actual leadership was sorely lacking in this country for the span of about four years.
snip//
True, President Biden’s reversal of his initial decision to allow the eviction moratorium to expire may have been motivated by his need to keep his caucus together, to assuage the progressive wing in anticipation of possible intra-party storms ahead in passing his infrastructure plan. But regardless of his reasons, he knew he was going to take some heat for it: No president wants to be seen as backtracking. And he could have simply held fast, relying on the conventional interpretation of lifting the moratorium as expressed by the Supreme Court. That’s certainly what he intended to do, at least at the outset, even though he doubtlessly knew that trying anything legally possible to extend it was the morally right thing to do.
Regardless of his reasoning, the bottom line is that he found an argument to extend the moratorium, one that contradicted his prior view and one provided by Larry Tribe, who actually knows more about constitutional law than President Biden. Whether it succeeds or fails (Biden himself acknowledges it may fail, despite his efforts) remains to be seen, but the important thing from a political standpoint is that Biden showed flexibility and a willingness to acknowledge he may not always be right.
That is leadership.
With one small action, Joe Biden reveals himself as a better leader than Donald Trump ever was
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/5/2043960/-With-one-small-action-Joe-Biden-reveals-himself-as-a-better-leader-than-Donald-Trump-ever-wasWith one small action, Joe Biden reveals himself as a better leader than Donald Trump ever was
Dartagnan
Community
Thursday August 05, 2021 · 1:18 PM EDT
As most of us find out at some point, one of the biggest life lessons involves admitting when you don’t have all the answers. Or admitting you may be mistaken about something, and that maybe, just possibly, someone knows more than you do. This is true even for someone placed at the pinnacle of American power, entrusted by the American people with the grave responsibilities of being president. Not learning this lesson, in fact, can be fatal to your performance in office. President Biden apparently realizes this simple fact. Donald Trump never did.
As reported by Jeff Stein, writing for The Washington Post:
After White House legal advisers found he could not extend a national eviction moratorium, President Biden told Chief of Staff Ron Klain to seek the advice of Harvard law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe about whether an alternative legal basis could be devised for protecting struggling renters across the country, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The private phone call between Klain and Tribe — held Sunday amid a national outcry over the expiring moratorium — set in motion a rapid reversal of the administration’s legal position that it could not extend the eviction ban. Tribe suggested to Klain and White House Counsel Dana Remus that the administration could impose a new and different moratorium, rather than try to extend the existing ban in potential defiance of a warning from Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, the person said. ...
By Tuesday, government attorneys in the White House, Department of Health and Human Services, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention produced a 19-page document to protect the overwhelming majority of renters from eviction until Oct. 3. It was released that afternoon in a remarkable reversal by the White House, which a day earlier had said it did not think it had the authority to extend the ban.
The private phone call between Klain and Tribe — held Sunday amid a national outcry over the expiring moratorium — set in motion a rapid reversal of the administration’s legal position that it could not extend the eviction ban. Tribe suggested to Klain and White House Counsel Dana Remus that the administration could impose a new and different moratorium, rather than try to extend the existing ban in potential defiance of a warning from Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, the person said. ...
By Tuesday, government attorneys in the White House, Department of Health and Human Services, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention produced a 19-page document to protect the overwhelming majority of renters from eviction until Oct. 3. It was released that afternoon in a remarkable reversal by the White House, which a day earlier had said it did not think it had the authority to extend the ban.
The Biden administration’s abrupt about-face on the eviction moratorium may cause it some momentary pain, as opportunistic, pro-eviction conservatives gleefully jump on the reversal as a sign of “weakness." They’re wrong. It’s actually a sign of leadership in action, one that the right seems to have lost the ability to recognize. But that’s understandable, because actual leadership was sorely lacking in this country for the span of about four years.
snip//
True, President Biden’s reversal of his initial decision to allow the eviction moratorium to expire may have been motivated by his need to keep his caucus together, to assuage the progressive wing in anticipation of possible intra-party storms ahead in passing his infrastructure plan. But regardless of his reasons, he knew he was going to take some heat for it: No president wants to be seen as backtracking. And he could have simply held fast, relying on the conventional interpretation of lifting the moratorium as expressed by the Supreme Court. That’s certainly what he intended to do, at least at the outset, even though he doubtlessly knew that trying anything legally possible to extend it was the morally right thing to do.
Regardless of his reasoning, the bottom line is that he found an argument to extend the moratorium, one that contradicted his prior view and one provided by Larry Tribe, who actually knows more about constitutional law than President Biden. Whether it succeeds or fails (Biden himself acknowledges it may fail, despite his efforts) remains to be seen, but the important thing from a political standpoint is that Biden showed flexibility and a willingness to acknowledge he may not always be right.
That is leadership.
August 6, 2021
Pharmacists Fight Off COVID Truthers Demanding Horse Medicine Instead of the Jab
WHY THE LONG FACE
These geniuses have been convinced to pass on the vaccine and raid rural farm stores so they can suck down “sheep drench” and take swine injections.
Kelly Weill, Reporter
Adam Rawnsley, Senior Researcher
Updated Aug. 06, 2021 8:17AM ET / Published Aug. 06, 2021 4:09AM ET
It’s not snake oil, literally. But as bogus COVID-19 miracle drugs go, horse paste comes pretty close.
As coronavirus infections rage among the unvaccinated, those suspicious of the shot are championing a new supposed COVID-19 cure. Thanks to a dubious study of ivermectin, a drug used in humans to treat parasites like scabies, cranks have seized on the drug as the new solution to coronavirus prevention and treatment.
Devotees have besieged pharmacists with prescriptions from shady online prescribers, forcing pharmacies to crack down and treat the antiparasitic drugs like opioids. As human-approved ivermectin prescriptions have been harder to come by, enthusiasts have taken to raiding rural tractor supply stores in search of ivermectin horse paste (packed with “apple flavor!”) and weighed the benefits of taking ivermectin “sheep drench” and a noromectin “injection for swine and cattle.”
All to treat and prevent a disease for which there’s a free and widely available vaccine.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/demon-sperm-doctors-new-bogus-cure-has-covid-truthers-eating-horse-paste?ref=home
Pharmacists Fight Off COVID Truthers Demanding Horse Medicine Instead of the Jab
Pharmacists Fight Off COVID Truthers Demanding Horse Medicine Instead of the Jab
WHY THE LONG FACE
These geniuses have been convinced to pass on the vaccine and raid rural farm stores so they can suck down “sheep drench” and take swine injections.
Kelly Weill, Reporter
Adam Rawnsley, Senior Researcher
Updated Aug. 06, 2021 8:17AM ET / Published Aug. 06, 2021 4:09AM ET
It’s not snake oil, literally. But as bogus COVID-19 miracle drugs go, horse paste comes pretty close.
As coronavirus infections rage among the unvaccinated, those suspicious of the shot are championing a new supposed COVID-19 cure. Thanks to a dubious study of ivermectin, a drug used in humans to treat parasites like scabies, cranks have seized on the drug as the new solution to coronavirus prevention and treatment.
Devotees have besieged pharmacists with prescriptions from shady online prescribers, forcing pharmacies to crack down and treat the antiparasitic drugs like opioids. As human-approved ivermectin prescriptions have been harder to come by, enthusiasts have taken to raiding rural tractor supply stores in search of ivermectin horse paste (packed with “apple flavor!”) and weighed the benefits of taking ivermectin “sheep drench” and a noromectin “injection for swine and cattle.”
“There is certainly a noticeable increase in calls to poison centers regarding ivermectin being misused,” a Texas-based poison control specialist, who requested anonymity due to concerns of repercussions, told The Daily Beast via email. “It’s clear that a vast majority are associated with a belief that it will prevent or treat COVID. That said, I do want to be careful not to be sensational—there’s no epidemic of ivermectin overdoses in hospitals, but it’s needless suffering given the lack of conclusive evidence of a benefit.”
All to treat and prevent a disease for which there’s a free and widely available vaccine.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/demon-sperm-doctors-new-bogus-cure-has-covid-truthers-eating-horse-paste?ref=home
August 6, 2021
New York Times demands Cuomo resign — in four years they never called for Trump to step down
Different rules for Dems
Eric Boehlert
2 hr ago
Rushing in to inform readers that in the wake of damning investigation into his history of sexual harassment, New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is no longer suited for office, the New York Times editorial page waited barely 24 hours to reach its sweeping conclusion — “Governor Cuomo, You Should Resign.”
The Times was unequivocal. What made the clarion call so jarring was it came from the same editorial page that refused for four years to demand Trump resign from office — to conclude, as they did regarding Cuomo, that stepping down remained Trump’s “only conscionable option left,” and urging him to do the “right thing.”
Trump ran a criminal enterprise out of the White House, which everyone at the Times understood, and still the paper could not summon the courage to call for his resignation. Yet the Times sprinted into action in order to insist a Democrat step down? The contrast is stunning even if you agree, as so many Democrats do, that Cuomo should leave office.
snip//
By not taking a public stand, newspaper leaders like those at the Times sent a loud, collective message that what Trump was doing to America did not represent a looming crisis; that the country could easily weather the storm and no drastic action was needed. Note that in 2019, New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet said he didn’t really view Trump as being an unprecedented figure in American history, and likened him to Edwin Edwards, a controversial Louisiana Democratic governor from the 1970s and 1980s. (The two men have almost nothing in common.)
It's true that calls for resignation certainly would not have forced Trump from office. They would however, have helped change the national debate and more accurately reflect the crisis our country faced with a tyrannical liar at the helm. And quite simply, the calls would been the right thing to do.
The Times is right, Cuomo should resign. Too bad the paper of record failed to make that same obvious demand while Trump was shaming the Oval Office.
Eric Boehlert: NYT demands Cuomo resign -- in four years they never called for Trump to step down
https://pressrun.media/p/new-york-times-demands-cuomo-resignNew York Times demands Cuomo resign — in four years they never called for Trump to step down
Different rules for Dems
Eric Boehlert
2 hr ago
Rushing in to inform readers that in the wake of damning investigation into his history of sexual harassment, New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is no longer suited for office, the New York Times editorial page waited barely 24 hours to reach its sweeping conclusion — “Governor Cuomo, You Should Resign.”
“Regardless of what may happen in a court of law, the governor has only one conscionable option left: He should resign,” the Times announced. “If Mr. Cuomo cares for the well-being of the state and its citizens as much as he has said he does over the years, he needs to do the right thing and step down.”
The Times was unequivocal. What made the clarion call so jarring was it came from the same editorial page that refused for four years to demand Trump resign from office — to conclude, as they did regarding Cuomo, that stepping down remained Trump’s “only conscionable option left,” and urging him to do the “right thing.”
Trump ran a criminal enterprise out of the White House, which everyone at the Times understood, and still the paper could not summon the courage to call for his resignation. Yet the Times sprinted into action in order to insist a Democrat step down? The contrast is stunning even if you agree, as so many Democrats do, that Cuomo should leave office.
snip//
By not taking a public stand, newspaper leaders like those at the Times sent a loud, collective message that what Trump was doing to America did not represent a looming crisis; that the country could easily weather the storm and no drastic action was needed. Note that in 2019, New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet said he didn’t really view Trump as being an unprecedented figure in American history, and likened him to Edwin Edwards, a controversial Louisiana Democratic governor from the 1970s and 1980s. (The two men have almost nothing in common.)
It's true that calls for resignation certainly would not have forced Trump from office. They would however, have helped change the national debate and more accurately reflect the crisis our country faced with a tyrannical liar at the helm. And quite simply, the calls would been the right thing to do.
The Times is right, Cuomo should resign. Too bad the paper of record failed to make that same obvious demand while Trump was shaming the Oval Office.
August 5, 2021
President Who Lost the Election Says Only 'Woke People' Lose in Absurd Soccer Rant
Still a POS, I see. 
https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-donald-trump-says-only-woke-people-lose-in-statement-on-us-womens-soccer-team?ref=home
President Who Lost the Election Says Only ‘Woke People’ Lose in Absurd Soccer Rant
LOOK IN THE MIRROR
Corbin Bolies
Breaking News Intern
Updated Aug. 05, 2021 11:00AM ET /
Published Aug. 05, 2021 10:52AM ET
Not everyone is rooting for America. Former President Donald Trump, the most famous loser in the country, blasted the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Thursday after it clinched a bronze medal in the Olympics. “If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn’t woke, they would have won the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze,” he ranted in a statement. “Woke means you lose, everything that is woke goes bad, and our soccer team certainly has.” Trump, who has repeatedly blasted “wokeness” as a reason for losing despite losing the 2020 election, also lobbed a misogynistic attack against player Megan Rapinoe, who scored two goals in the game. “The woman with the purple hair played terribly and spends too much time thinking about Radical Left politics and not doing her job.”
The team beat Australia 4-3 Thursday to win the bronze medal, accepting the result with grace, something Trump appears unfamiliar with.
The team beat Australia 4-3 Thursday to win the bronze medal, accepting the result with grace, something Trump appears unfamiliar with.
August 5, 2021
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
8/04/2021
Maybe We're Just Sick of Ignorance and This Time We Can Do Something About It
The easiest way to describe the genuine anger at the anti-vax idiots is that we're fucking sick of their shit. We're tired of having the direction of our lives decided by the most credulous and easily manipulated motherfuckers in the population. We've reached the end of our proverbial ropes and, goddamnit, we're done buying longer ropes.
You saw that today when New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who successfully guided his state through the worst shit in the first part of the pandemic, was fucking done with the anti-vax protesters at a news conference he was having. "Because of what you are saying and standing for people are losing their life... and you have to know that," he told the hooting morons, calling them "knuckleheads," a favorite term of his.
I could go back a long fucking time in detailing all the shit we've been forced to eat, but let's just concentrate on the last few years. So much of it was assholishness and savagery that we had no fucking say in and no control over. We've had to sit there while knuckle-dragging, Fox-lobotomized cock dribbles cheered for all the brute bullshit that Donald Trump and the various infected pustules in his administration could do, like banning people from mostly Muslim-majority countries for no rational reason and separating migrant children from their families for the specific purpose of being dicks to them. We could do nothing when the perverse Republicans in the Senate not only prevented Barack Obama from making a Supreme Court pick nearly a year before the next president would be inaugurated, but then decided it was cool to rush through a nominee after people had already started voting for the 2020 election, thus allowing a SCOTUS face-fucking on issues like abortion and voting rights all but inevitable. We watched in horror as the federal government was used as a weapon against Black Lives Matter protesters and as open, enthusiastic racists were welcomed, even honored, by the GOP, who couldn't be bothered to do a goddamn thing about the ongoing execution by cop of black people. We couldn't do a fucking thing as Trump pranced around the globe, dicking over the United States's longtime alliances, wiping his ass with the Paris Agreement on climate change, and pissing on the Iran nuclear deal. And speaking of climate change, we've had to watch dumbfounded for years as Trump reversed even the small bit of progress that the country was making, essentially declaring that he'll be dead, so fuck it, burn all the fossil fuels you can, fuckers, because wind turbines are ugly and kill birds. And that's not even getting into the scandal upon scandal upon scandal, all happening while the sinister cuntmites in the GOP grinned, their teeth slicked with MAGA jizz, discovered that they fucking loved being openly evil, and enabled, supported, aided, abetted, and cheered the filthiest urges of this filthiest of presidents and his mongrel circle, making celebrities out of the skeeviest, stupidest of their pitiful lot.
And then we were helpless for the first year of the Covid pandemic, aghast as we saw the White House simply refuse to do basic things to help not just the sick, but the front line workers who were working themselves sometimes to death trying to keep the rest of us alive. We saw organized groups threaten to fucking murder leaders over efforts by state governments to mitigate the spread of the virus. And we saw Trump and the GOP act as if this was all just the price to pay for some debased notion of freedom, one that was contorted around allowing a certain number of people to die rather than raise taxes on the wealthy in order to prevent economic collapse.
And, through it all, we had to watch the idiot hordes of MAGA cretins whoop it up, acting like every fucking day was asshole Christmas, electing rank boobs to Congress just because they promised to be Trump's ass remoras while doing nothing except piss off the liberals. The last fucking straw was the vaccine. That was it. That was the breaking point. When these yahoos who aren't fit to live in sewage ditches refused to get vaccinated from the very vaccine that their great and powerful leader bragged about helping create, when they decided that that vaccine was a plot to control their brains or poison them, and when their monstrously dumb decision allowed the virus to regroup and fill the hospitals with patients again in places where their idiocy ran amok, when the yahoos and their skeevy leaders mock the idea that masks might be needed again because of the actions of the very yahoos who need to masks, well, that fucking does it. E-fucking-nough.
So, yeah, we have some fucking control, some power here, and we're gonna use it. Companies are saying, "Get fucking vaccinated or fuck off." Cities and schools and other places are saying, "Get fucking vaccinated or stay in your homes, you plague rats." And while some states have banned mandates for localities and schools, many of those are based on the emergency authorization and would expire once the Covid vaccine receives full FDA approval, which is expected in the next couple of weeks.
more...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2021/08/maybe-were-just-sick-of-ignorance-and.html
The Rude Pundit: Maybe We're Just Sick of Ignorance and This Time We Can Do Something About It
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
8/04/2021
Maybe We're Just Sick of Ignorance and This Time We Can Do Something About It
The easiest way to describe the genuine anger at the anti-vax idiots is that we're fucking sick of their shit. We're tired of having the direction of our lives decided by the most credulous and easily manipulated motherfuckers in the population. We've reached the end of our proverbial ropes and, goddamnit, we're done buying longer ropes.
You saw that today when New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who successfully guided his state through the worst shit in the first part of the pandemic, was fucking done with the anti-vax protesters at a news conference he was having. "Because of what you are saying and standing for people are losing their life... and you have to know that," he told the hooting morons, calling them "knuckleheads," a favorite term of his.
I could go back a long fucking time in detailing all the shit we've been forced to eat, but let's just concentrate on the last few years. So much of it was assholishness and savagery that we had no fucking say in and no control over. We've had to sit there while knuckle-dragging, Fox-lobotomized cock dribbles cheered for all the brute bullshit that Donald Trump and the various infected pustules in his administration could do, like banning people from mostly Muslim-majority countries for no rational reason and separating migrant children from their families for the specific purpose of being dicks to them. We could do nothing when the perverse Republicans in the Senate not only prevented Barack Obama from making a Supreme Court pick nearly a year before the next president would be inaugurated, but then decided it was cool to rush through a nominee after people had already started voting for the 2020 election, thus allowing a SCOTUS face-fucking on issues like abortion and voting rights all but inevitable. We watched in horror as the federal government was used as a weapon against Black Lives Matter protesters and as open, enthusiastic racists were welcomed, even honored, by the GOP, who couldn't be bothered to do a goddamn thing about the ongoing execution by cop of black people. We couldn't do a fucking thing as Trump pranced around the globe, dicking over the United States's longtime alliances, wiping his ass with the Paris Agreement on climate change, and pissing on the Iran nuclear deal. And speaking of climate change, we've had to watch dumbfounded for years as Trump reversed even the small bit of progress that the country was making, essentially declaring that he'll be dead, so fuck it, burn all the fossil fuels you can, fuckers, because wind turbines are ugly and kill birds. And that's not even getting into the scandal upon scandal upon scandal, all happening while the sinister cuntmites in the GOP grinned, their teeth slicked with MAGA jizz, discovered that they fucking loved being openly evil, and enabled, supported, aided, abetted, and cheered the filthiest urges of this filthiest of presidents and his mongrel circle, making celebrities out of the skeeviest, stupidest of their pitiful lot.
And then we were helpless for the first year of the Covid pandemic, aghast as we saw the White House simply refuse to do basic things to help not just the sick, but the front line workers who were working themselves sometimes to death trying to keep the rest of us alive. We saw organized groups threaten to fucking murder leaders over efforts by state governments to mitigate the spread of the virus. And we saw Trump and the GOP act as if this was all just the price to pay for some debased notion of freedom, one that was contorted around allowing a certain number of people to die rather than raise taxes on the wealthy in order to prevent economic collapse.
And, through it all, we had to watch the idiot hordes of MAGA cretins whoop it up, acting like every fucking day was asshole Christmas, electing rank boobs to Congress just because they promised to be Trump's ass remoras while doing nothing except piss off the liberals. The last fucking straw was the vaccine. That was it. That was the breaking point. When these yahoos who aren't fit to live in sewage ditches refused to get vaccinated from the very vaccine that their great and powerful leader bragged about helping create, when they decided that that vaccine was a plot to control their brains or poison them, and when their monstrously dumb decision allowed the virus to regroup and fill the hospitals with patients again in places where their idiocy ran amok, when the yahoos and their skeevy leaders mock the idea that masks might be needed again because of the actions of the very yahoos who need to masks, well, that fucking does it. E-fucking-nough.
So, yeah, we have some fucking control, some power here, and we're gonna use it. Companies are saying, "Get fucking vaccinated or fuck off." Cities and schools and other places are saying, "Get fucking vaccinated or stay in your homes, you plague rats." And while some states have banned mandates for localities and schools, many of those are based on the emergency authorization and would expire once the Covid vaccine receives full FDA approval, which is expected in the next couple of weeks.
more...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2021/08/maybe-were-just-sick-of-ignorance-and.html
August 5, 2021
Eric Boehlert: The press needs to address its DeSantis debacle
The press needs to address its DeSantis debacle
Politico, CNN, NYT, WSJ
Eric Boehlert
2 hr ago
As Covid rages on in Florida, turning the Sunshine State not only into a virus epicenter of the United States but of the entire world, news organizations aren’t being honest about the public health crisis under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. They’re not being transparent about how months ago they embraced GOP spin and portrayed the derelict governor as a pandemic star, regurgitating conservative rhetoric about how liberal critics had been proven wrong about DeSantis’ wrong-headed policy decisions, which have since propelled Florida into a grave health crisis.
The state recently broke its one-day record for new Covid cases, topping out at 21,000 which is as many new cases as the entire country of France tabulates each day. Florida now has more than 12,00 (unvaccinated) people occupying hospital beds battling Covid, another grim benchmark under DeSantis. It’s unthinkable that the state has been plunged into public health chaos when a safe vaccine is readily available to all Floridians over the age of 12.
At a time when states are supposed to be emerging from the year-and-a-half pandemic, Florida is shifting into reverse – it recently recorded more coronavirus cases this week than California, Texas, New York and Illinois combined. This all comes 15 months after DeSantis famously, and loudly, declared victory over the pandemic, back when the state was tallying 500 cases a day.
This debacle, and the media’s refusal to be transparent about how badly it managed the DeSantis story, says as much about the state of the Beltway media as it does about this burgeoning Covid chapter.
For an industry that demands transparency and accountability from public officials, the political press is terrible at conceding its mistakes, especially when those blunders are documented by liberals. Programmed to fear charges of liberal media bias, the Beltway press often scrambles to correct supposed failures highlighted by conservatives. Hyper-sensitive to bad-faith, right-wing critiques and eager to make nice with those accusers, journalists uniformly look away when confronted by the left with irrefutable evidence of failure. And boy, did they screw up the DeSantis story.
more...
https://pressrun.media/p/the-press-needs-to-address-its-desantis
August 5, 2021
Texas GOP Official Mocked COVID Five Days Before He Died of Virus
‘MY HEART IS BEYOND BROKEN’
H. Scott Apley’s Facebook page was filled with anti-mask, anti-vaccine content until he was suddenly hospitalized on Sunday.
Justin Rohrlich, Reporter
Updated Aug. 04, 2021 9:34PM ET / Published Aug. 04, 2021 5:38PM ET
Texas GOP
A GOP official from Texas who regularly espoused anti-vaccine and anti-mask views online has died from COVID-19, five days after posting a meme on Facebook questioning the wisdom of getting inoculated against COVID.
Dickinson City Council member and State Republican Executive Committee member H. Scott Apley, 45, died in a local hospital around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help Apley’s family with expenses. He was admitted to the facility in Galveston on Sunday with “pneumonia-like symptoms,” and was hooked up to a ventilator as his condition worsened. His wife was also infected, the family said.
“He leaves behind his wife, Melissa, who is COVID positive, as well as their infant son Reid,” according to the fundraiser, which has so far raised almost $15,000 of its $30,000 goal. “Your donations are greatly appreciated and will help the family as they get through this difficult period.”
“My heart is beyond broken for his family,” Dickinson Mayor Sean Skipworth wrote in a Facebook post. “Scott was a new father and that makes this loss especially tragic.”
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/h-scott-apley-chair-of-galveston-county-texas-gop-mocked-covid-days-before-he-died-of-virus?ref=home
Texas GOP Official Mocked COVID Five Days Before He Died of Virus
Texas GOP Official Mocked COVID Five Days Before He Died of Virus
‘MY HEART IS BEYOND BROKEN’
H. Scott Apley’s Facebook page was filled with anti-mask, anti-vaccine content until he was suddenly hospitalized on Sunday.
Justin Rohrlich, Reporter
Updated Aug. 04, 2021 9:34PM ET / Published Aug. 04, 2021 5:38PM ET
Texas GOP
A GOP official from Texas who regularly espoused anti-vaccine and anti-mask views online has died from COVID-19, five days after posting a meme on Facebook questioning the wisdom of getting inoculated against COVID.
Dickinson City Council member and State Republican Executive Committee member H. Scott Apley, 45, died in a local hospital around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help Apley’s family with expenses. He was admitted to the facility in Galveston on Sunday with “pneumonia-like symptoms,” and was hooked up to a ventilator as his condition worsened. His wife was also infected, the family said.
“He leaves behind his wife, Melissa, who is COVID positive, as well as their infant son Reid,” according to the fundraiser, which has so far raised almost $15,000 of its $30,000 goal. “Your donations are greatly appreciated and will help the family as they get through this difficult period.”
“My heart is beyond broken for his family,” Dickinson Mayor Sean Skipworth wrote in a Facebook post. “Scott was a new father and that makes this loss especially tragic.”
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/h-scott-apley-chair-of-galveston-county-texas-gop-mocked-covid-days-before-he-died-of-virus?ref=home
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: NY
Home country: US
Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
Number of posts: 171,065
