Covidiots

Law & Crime reports: In another high-profile denial of certiorari on Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected without comment Candace Owens‘ petition over fact-checks that labeled her COVID-19 posts on Facebook a “hoax” and “false.” The conservative commentator had claimed that fact-checkers Lead Stories and USA Today’s determinations about her posts amounted to tortious interference, as Facebook …

Reuters reports: A Florida doctor known for spreading false claims about vaccines has sued Google LLC and its parent company Alphabet Inc for removing all of his content from their YouTube video-sharing platform with no advance notice, saying the move breached its terms of service. In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco, Joseph Mercola asked the …

Florida Politics reports: Congressional candidate Scotty Moore filed a complaint with the state against a news station that turned him away from a debate. Moore filed the complaint against WESH 2 Orlando with the Attorney General’s Office, asserting the news station violated a law forbidding vaccine passports when it said Moore could not participate in a debate hosted by the …

“So, of course, the whole point of the vax mandate was not to protect anyone, it was to get rid of people like that. People who think for themselves, who with honor and dignity, who have high testosterone levels. They’re all gone now — not just from the FDNY, but NYPD, from the paramedic core, from the Navy SEALS. They’re …

The Insider reports: Dr. Mehmet Oz owns shares of two companies that supply hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that he urged the White House to push as a treatment for COVID-19 despite a lack of evidence showing its efficacy. CNBC first reported he owned stock in the companies on Wednesday, citing a financial disclosure. The document showed Oz and his wife …

Florida Politics reports: A new positive ad from the Ron DeSantis re-election campaign finds a lot of ways to say thank you … to the Governor. “When they attacked you, you didn’t cave,” the script contends. “You stood strong for the people of Florida.” A female bartender with a Midwestern accent declared in agreement, “he saved our jobs.” A short …

From my May 2022 post: Retired Army Lieutenant General and disgraced ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is a notorious peddler of outlandish conspiracy theories, especially those that originate inside QAnon or spew from the pouty lips of former President Donald Trump. On Sunday, Flynn endorsed yet another fringe – and absolutely looney – conservative delusion about COVID-19 vaccinations during an …

Florida Politics reports: “You think about some of these mandates that have been done in the last couple of years. You still see them now,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Fort Pierce. “They’re not letting Djokovic come to the United States to play in the U.S. Open because of the shot!” “He’s already had COVID. And the shot …

Haaretz reports: Israel’s Health Ministry announced the revocation of Dr. Aryeh Avni’s medical license, after he called to violate the ministry’s COVID guidelines during the pandemic and published defamatory articles against the medical community. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Avni was one of the most prominent Israelis casting doubt on the existence of the disease. Last year, he attempted to run …

ESPN reports: Novak Djokovic, the 21-time major champion and former world No. 1, has withdrawn from the US Open due to travel restrictions into the United States as a result of being unvaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic made the announcement Thursday morning, shortly before the draw was to be revealed, tweeting, “Sadly, I will not be able to travel to NY …

Universal Hub reports: A Medfield man who sued Charlie Baker in 2020 over state face-mask requirements due to Covid-19 and lost is taking another legal crack at Baker, this time over state Covid-19 vaccination recommendations he charges got him unenrolled from the Massachusetts School of Law in Andover because he refused to get a shot for medical and religious reasons.But …

Media Matters has the transcript: ALLIE BETH STUCKEY: In some cases, women should share legal responsibility depending on her age, mental capacity, her culpability, whether she was forced or not, the circumstances surrounding the abortion, how old was the baby. All of these things have always gone into judicial decisions about who bears responsibility for the taking of a person’s …

ABC News reports: Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday responded to Republican vows to investigate him after he steps down from his government roles in December, saying he would consider testifying but not submit to “character assassination.” Top Republicans in Congress pounced on the news of his planned departure, saying if they retake the majority in the upcoming midterm election, they …

The New York Times reports: Facebook and Instagram on Thursday removed the accounts of Children’s Health Defense, an organization led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that is one of the largest U.S. anti-vaccine groups, for spreading medical misinformation. In an emailed newsletter, Children’s Health Defense said Facebook and Instagram had taken down its accounts after a 30-day ban by the …

Mediaite reports: Steve Kirsch appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Aug. 10 with guest host Brian Kilmeade, who introduced his guest as a disaffected former Democratic donor. “What I found was hundreds of thousands of Americans have been killed by this vaccine and millions have been injured,” Kirsch claimed. Media Matters published a partial transcript of Kirsch’s remarks, along with …

The New York Post reports: The DOE suspended the 82 teachers without pay on April 25 after their names popped up as customers of a Long Island pediatric center accused of selling bogus vaccine cards. The nurse practitioner-owner and two staffers at Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare were charged with racking up $1.5 million in sales, charging adults $220 for each …

Media Matters has the transcript: STEVE KIRSCH (GUEST): They told — the agencies, the FDA, the CDC, the NIH said that these vaccines were safe and effective. And when I started seeing my friends die and be injured and I started looking at the data, there was no question that this vaccine is the most dangerous vaccine ever created by …

ESPN reports: Whit Merrifield said last month that he might be willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if it meant playing for a team in contention, even though he had refused to get the shot while playing for the last-place Kansas City Royals. He’ll have to make that decision now. In a unique and potentially unprecedented situation, the Royals traded …

The Hill reports: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, asked the board tasked with overseeing policy debates on the platform to weigh in on whether it should ease its COVID misinformation policy. The company asked the Oversight Board, a task force funded by Meta that operates independently, if the company’s policy, including to remove posts with false claims, is still …

STAT News reports: A horse dewormer and treatment for some human parasites, ivermectin was initially promoted, despite the lack of research, as a way to treat or prevent Covid infections. Now it is increasingly being marketed for long Covid, pushed by physicians with ties to political groups spreading anti-vaccine and anti-science messaging. There’s no credible evidence that supports ivermectin’s use …