Covidiots

NBC News reports: The number of kids whose caregivers are opting them out of routine childhood vaccines has reached an all-time high, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands of children unprotected against preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough. “There is a rising distrust in the health care system,” said Dr. Amna …

“I mean, look, the shots are kind of like STDs at this point, right? Like if you sleep with someone that has a shot or vaccine, I mean, you could get some shedding from it. I know that it affects fertility. “There was a time when I was with somebody who did have the injections and I was actually affected. …

“Why should Moderna and Pfizer be entitled to any profits at all? If I were a politician I would introduce a bill clawing back every dollar of profit that Moderna and Pfizer received for their COVID shots which were sold in a fraudulent fashion. Why should our taxpayer dollars go to enriching two for-profit companies that perpetrated a fraud on …

The BBC reports: Boris Johnson asked government scientists whether people could kill Covid by using a “special hair dryer” up their nose, his former aide has claimed. Dominic Cummings said the former prime minister shared a video of a man using such a device with his top advisers. He then asked the medical experts what they thought about the clip, …

NBC News reports: At an anti-vaccine conference in Georgia on Friday, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed his commitment to the cause and spoke to his base about how he, as president, would serve the movement he built. “I feel like I’ve come home today,” he said to a standing ovation. He then laid out his vision for a …

Florida Politics reports: Florida’s Surgeon General is headed to the Granite State, hitting the campaign trail for the man who hired him next week. Dr. Joseph Ladapo will appear with Ron DeSantis Wednesday at an event hosted by the Never Back Down super PAC. “Dr. Ladapo will be attending in his personal capacity,” the super PAC notes, apparently recognizing the …

The Associated Press reports: When 12-year-old Braden Fahey collapsed during football practice and died, it was just the beginning of his parents’ nightmare. Deep in their grief a few months later, Gina and Padrig Fahey received news that shocked them to their core: A favorite photo of their beloved son was plastered on the cover of a book that falsely …

The Texas Tribune reports: A sweeping ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employees of private Texas businesses passed the Texas Senate early Friday, although medical facilities would be allowed to enact other policies to help lower the risks to vulnerable patients. Senate Bill 7, by Galveston Republican Sen. Mayes Middleton, would subject private employers to state fines and other actions …

Politico reports: Just hours after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he would run for president as an independent, more than $11 million gushed to the coffers of the super PAC supporting him. American Values 2024 said it raised $11.28 million in just six hours following Kennedy’s announcement. Tony Lyons, a co-founder of the PAC, is also in talks with billionaire-entrepreneur …

The Hill reports: Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will be a headline speaker at a Conservative Political Action Conference event in Las Vegas later this month, the conference announced Friday. The anti-establishment environmental lawyer has run a longshot primary campaign against President Biden, but is expected to change affiliation to independent next week. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has …

The Hill reports: Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says he isn’t confident in the government’s explanation of what happened in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, continuing his penchant for entertaining conspiracy theories. “I don’t know what happened on 9/11,” Kennedy said in a podcast interview with journalist Peter Bergen released Tuesday. “I know there’s strange things that happened… One …

Politico reports: The Covid-19 pandemic has produced a remarkable financial windfall for anti-vaccine nonprofits. Revenue more than doubled for the Informed Consent Action Network and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense in 2021 compared to the year prior, according to a POLITICO analysis of tax filings. The nonprofits that survived on operating budgets of around a few million dollars …

The New York Times reports: For months, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he plans to continue his long-shot challenge against President Biden in the Democratic primary rather than dropping out to launch a third-party bid. But lately Mr. Kennedy’s message has seemed to shift, including publicly telling a voter who asked about his plans that he was keeping his …

The Daily Beast reports: Ex-aide Cassidy Hutchinson claimed the president snapped during the pandemic when she told him his classic orange shade got all over the straps of his white face mask. When he looked at the straps of his mask, he saw they were covered in bronzer.”  Trump sharply responded, “Why did no one else tell me that” and …

CNN reports: Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said if elected president, he would not pay for further coronavirus vaccines for Americans. “Certainly, we’re not going to fund them,” the Florida Republican governor said during a wide-ranging interview with ABC News recorded Wednesday from Midland, Texas, where he announced his domestic energy policy. DeSantis in the ABC interview doubled down on recent …

Sports Illustrated reports: Aaron Rodgers has always been one to seek out the unorthodox. Whether it be ayahuasca or a darkness retreat, the four-time NFL MVP isn’t afraid to employ outside-the-box methods to whatever situation might be in front of him. Now facing a daunting recovery from an Achilles tendon tear that he suffered on the fourth play of his …

Britain’s Sunday Times reports: The comedian and actor Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse during a seven-year period at the height of his fame. Four women have alleged sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, while he was a presenter for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 and then an actor in Hollywood films. Others …

The Huffington Post reports: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) has signed a bill that bans state and local governments from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for workers after a similar ban expired last month. The legislation also prohibits COVID-19 vaccinations from being required as a condition of education, or for obtaining a service or licensure, permit or certificate of some kind. …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: The University of South Florida/Florida Atlantic University public opinion survey that probed what people know — or think they know — revealed sizable numbers of Florida residents believe inaccurate assertions about the vaccines. The biggest factor associated with beliefs in misinformation was political affiliation, with Republicans far more likely than Democrats and independents to agree with …

Megyn Kelly: Not only did you not fire Fauci, who is loathed by many — millions of Republicans in particular, but also some Democrats — you made him a star. This is the criticism of you, that you made him the face of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. That he was out at every presser, that he was running …