Covidiots

Fox News reports: The premier of Alberta, Canada, said she is working on a plan to pardon residents who were fined or arrested over breaking coronavirus protocols, and apologized to unvaccinated Canadians who faced “discrimination.” “It was a political decision to throw out the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to put those fines in place in the first place, and …

Bloomberg News reports: Anti-vaxxers, whose activity is limited on many platforms, have started using elaborate quotes and phrases to spread cloaked misinformation about the drugs that help fight Covid-19. In Facebook groups with names like “Died Suddenly,” users claim to be mourning friends and family members who have “eaten the cake,” which is code for taking vaccines. Sometimes, users claim …

The Daily Beast reports: An attempt to make a right-wing superhero movie has ended in disaster, with $1 million missing in China and a participant facing a federal indictment. “I wouldn’t count on us getting the money back,” Theodore Beale, a far-right blogger known as “Vox Day,” admitted to his fans and investors in a video last week. This isn’t …

From the Miami Herald editorial board: Armed only with a skimpy “analysis” done by the state Department of Health — an analysis that is not peer-reviewed, has no named authors and has been blasted by the medical community — he warned last week that men ages 18-39 shouldn’t get the Moderna or Pfizer COVID shots, citing a higher risk of …

Florida Politics reports: Twitter temporarily took down a post by Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on guidance against COVID-19 vaccines for those under 40. The move comes as medical experts and scientists criticize the Florida Department of Health recommendations for being based on weak data that never saw peer review. Ladapo on Friday issued new guidance recommending against mRNA vaccinations for …

Vox reports: As the weather starts to turn cold and as officials push for more people to get their new booster shot before an expected winter coronavirus surge, public health leaders are battling skepticism and apathy toward the vaccines. Worse, experts fear the politicized backlash to the Covid-19 vaccines is already fostering skepticism about routine vaccinations generally, from childhood immunizations …

The Arizona Mirror reports: It’s already known that hundreds of thousands of Americans would still be alive if every eligible person had gotten vaccinated against COVID-19. Now new research strongly suggests that many more of those “excess deaths” in Ohio and Florida were among people with Republican voter registrations. It’s perhaps unsurprising that Republicans were more reluctant to get vaccinated …

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 …