Covidiots

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: After a lengthy grilling on his merits and qualifications, the Senate Health Policy Committee voted — without its Democratic members — to recommend that Joseph Ladapo be confirmed as Florida’s Surgeon General. Frustrated by what her and her colleagues called a lack of honest answers from Ladapo after more than an hour of questioning, Senate Democratic …

The Hill reports: YouTube on Wednesday permanently banned conservative commentator Dan Bongino from the platform, saying he attempted to evade a previous suspension. The Fox host uploaded a video to his main channel while his secondary channel, which primarily hosted short clips from his digital radio show, was actively suspended for violating YouTube’s COVID-19 misinformation policy. “When a channel receives …

Los Angeles’s CBS News affiliate reports: Parents in La Crescenta gathered outside the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station Monday night, demanding deputies investigate a man reportedly harassing children as they walked home from school. The man, who is pictured typically wearing a shirt that reads “Your mask makes you look stupid,” has been allegedly harassing children in La Crescenta for wearing …

The Guardian reports: Olavo de Carvalho, the coronavirus-denying mentor of Jair Bolsonaro and Brazil’s radical right, has died in the United States, with one of his children citing Covid-19 as the cause. “The family … asks for prayers for the professor’s soul,” relatives said on Twitter after announcing the death of the 74-year-old polemicist – a towering figure in contemporary …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: New Orleans health director Dr. Jennifer Avegno decided not to ride as queen of Krewe du Vieux next month after unspecified threats that caused her to be concerned for her personal safety and the safety of krewe members, she wrote in a letter to the krewe. On Monday, Krewe du Vieux reported that Avegno, head …

Mediaite reports: Candace Owens claimed the White House and President Joe Biden are hoping for mass deaths on Tuesday following a decision by the FDA to restrict the use of monoclonal antibody treatments amid the Omicron surge, citing their apparent lack of efficacy against the dominant variant. As a result of the FDA decision, the Florida Department of Health announced …

Newsweek reports: A man seeking a kidney transplant has been denied a place on the active transplant list because he chose not to get vaccinated. Shamgar Connors, 42, is a patient at University of Virginia Hospital who is now listed as “inactive” on the list for a life-saving kidney transplant. Connors said his entire family had COVID-19 and doesn’t believe …

“What are we going to do, get boosters for the rest of our lives? You get boosters for the rest of your lives, I’m going to become an anti-vaxxer because there is a point at which this stuff is extremely dangerous to your immune system. And how many — how many trials have been run with endless boosters from any …

NBC News reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized Tuesday after critics, including members of his own family, blasted him for implying Anne Frank had more freedom in hiding from the Nazis than people have today under U.S. vaccine policies. “I apologize for my reference to Anne Frank, especially to families that suffered the Holocaust horrors,” he tweeted. “My intention was …

“Poor Meat Loaf got sucked into some weird fucking cult. And somehow really believed that — he made a statement, ‘I’d rather die a free man than take that vaccine.’ And now he’s dead! “I wish the family would come forward and say, ‘Ya know, when Meat Loaf was laying there in the hospital and he couldn’t breathe, he said, …

The CBC reports: Quebecers headed to IKEA, Wal-Mart, Costco, Canadian Tire and other big retail stores now have to show proof of vaccination and government-issued ID at the door. The new measure, introduced on Monday, effectively limits people who haven’t received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to purchasing only essential goods — and it’s already frustrating those who have …

The Daily Beast reports: Anti-COVID-19 “Vaccine Police” leader Christopher Key, who has set out on a cross-country road trip with the end goal of conducting citizen arrests of Democratic governors, says he doesn’t need a driver’s license, despite operating a motor vehicle. “ I travel,” Key told The Daily Beast late on Monday evening, making the pointless distinction between “traveling” …

Boston’s CBS News affiliate reports: David Ferguson is speaking out passionately on behalf of his son DJ. He says the 31-year-old is fighting for his life at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and in desperate need of a heart transplant. “My son has gone to the edge of death to stick to his guns and he’s been pushed to the limit,” …

The CBC reports: Hundreds of truckers set off from British Columbia to Ottawa on Sunday to protest a federal vaccine mandate despite the urging of the country’s largest trucking federation to comply. The protest has been dubbed the “Freedom Rally” against the federal mandate for cross-border truckers, which went into effect on Jan. 15. Canadian truck drivers now need to …

Billboard Magazine reports: After months of railing against COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccines, and refusing to play shows that require vaccination proof, Eric Clapton has seemingly embraced a controversial theory claiming that secret messages are allegedly being hidden inside YouTube videos with the goal of driving mass compliance with COVID precautions. The 76-year-old rock icon pointed to the theory as an …

Kyle Mantyla reports at Right Wing Watch: Scott McKay, a prominent QAnon conspiracy theorist known online as Patriot Streetfighter, spoke at a ReAwaken America tour stop in Phoenix, Arizona, where he declared war on health care providers whom he blamed for the recent death of fellow QAnon and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Cirsten Weldon. Stalking the stage while brandishing a tomahawk …

Axios reports: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s lawsuit challenging voting by proxy in the House. Why it matters: The decision leaves in place a way to vote on legislation that many lawmakers see as critical to minimizing the spread of coronavirus in Congress – and one that even critics have taken advantage …

Reuters reports: Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor, has tested positive for the coronavirus, as she had been set to begin a defamation trial against The New York Times on Monday. Palin’s positive test was announced by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan, who is presiding over the case. “She is of …

The Washington Post reports: Thousands of protesters from across the country — including some of the biggest names in the anti-vaccination movement — descended on the nation’s capital Sunday for a rally against vaccine mandates. Some were white-haired; others were being pushed in strollers. Many wore gear with slogans supporting former president Donald Trump. A group of men in front …

The Daily Dot reports: A viral TikToker exposed a woman at Target in New York City for berating store employees and refusing to wear a mask. He dubbed her a “Target Tammy.” The TikToker (@rossisfunny) uploaded footage of Target Tammy, captioning the video, “These poor cashiers who literally do not get paid enough to be doxed by this woman for …