Crackpots

The Daily Beast reports: On a call with the nation’s governors Tuesday, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos chastised local officials for doing “next to nothing” to provide academic services to students and demanded they reopen schools in the fall regardless of the state of the COVID pandemic. The issue, DeVos stressed at one point, was merely a matter of calculated …

Forbes has published an interview with Kanye West that they say is so “rambling” that the piece opens with a bullet-point listing of key points. – That he’s running for president in 2020 under a new banner—the Birthday Party—with guidance from Elon Musk and an obscure vice presidential candidate he’s already chosen. “Like anything I’ve ever done in my life,” …

The Guardian reports: The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has announced live on television he has tested positive for coronavirus. “It came back positive,” a mask-wearing Bolsonaro told a hand-picked group of reporters on Tuesday lunchtime. Bolsonaro, 65, has repeatedly trivialized the pandemic and flouted social distancing, even as Brazil became the second-worst hit country after the United States, with more …

CNBC reports: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has scoffed at risks of the coronavirus, has undergone another test for Covid-19 shortly after the presidential palace said the right-wing leader had displayed symptoms consistent with the disease. Bolsonaro, 65, told supporters gathered outside the presidential palace in Brasilia on Monday that he had taken a test for the virus and “everything …

Newsweek reports: A Florida medical examiner’s report has raised questions about a 17-year-old Fort Myers resident’s death from COVID-19 complications last month. The teenager, Carsyn Davis, was a cancer survivor with a rare, ongoing autoimmune disorder. She died of respiratory failure after contracting the new coronavirus in early June. The medical examiner’s report notes that Davis attended a 100-person church …

New York’s 1010 WINS reports: Amy Cooper, the woman who called police on a Black birdwatcher in Central Park, will be charged with falsely reporting an incident, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said Monday. In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said his office “initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper for Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third …

The New York Post reports: An Arizona woman, dubbed by social media as the latest “Karen,” filmed herself destroying a face mask display inside a Target store over the weekend. In the footage, Melissa Rein Lively, who runs a public relations company in Scottsdale, can be heard going on explosive rant as she points the camera to a display of …

The Washington Examiner reports: During the evening of July 4, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn shared a video of himself leading five other people in a recitation of the oath of office traditionally given to federal elected officeholders, ending the oath with a slogan associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory. Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor who took over Flynn’s …

The Associated Press reports: A Kansas newspaper whose publisher is a county Republican Party chairman posted a cartoon on its Facebook page likening the Democratic governor’s order requiring people to wear masks in public to the roundup and murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. The cartoon on the Anderson County Review’s Facebook page depicts Gov. Laura Kelly wearing …

And the QAnon crackpottery reaches new heights: After years of silence, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn has started courting his devoted fans in the QAnon conspiracy theory, sending out signals of support for the underground movement that the FBI considers a potential domestic terror threat. Flynn, who won a legal victory last week after an appeals court panel …

Media Matters reports: K.W. Miller is an independent candidate running in Florida’s 18th Congressional District. Miller has repeatedly tweeted the QAnon hashtag and QAnon slogan “#WWG1WGA” and “#GreatAwakening” (along with a hashtag for the Pizzagate conspiracy theory). He has also posted the QAnon hashtag and QAnon slogan on Facebook and repeatedly posted “#GreatAwakening” on Instagram. He also put up a …

Bloomberg News reports: Kanye West says he’s running for president. It’s not clear if the musician is serious, or if this is a publicity stunt for himself or a project unrelated to the presidency. West’s Saturday night Twitter post instantly went viral, with more than 100,000 retweets within the first hour. West has 29.4 million followers on Twitter. ‘Kanye’ quickly …

The cavalcade of crazy Karens continues unchecked: Another day and another Karen video has gone viral on the Internet. The latest Karen video comes from Houma, Louisiana where a drunk woman lost her mind when she was refused entry at a local bar. In the video, the woman can be seen licking the bar window and then trying to ram …

The Hill reports: In a video shared to Facebook on Thursday, Ohio state Rep. Candice Keller (R) read the text of former President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in front of the Soldier’s National Monument in Gettysburg. “My husband and I came here yesterday to enjoy the weekend of the Fourth of July, and there is an atmosphere here of, I don’t …

Vice News reports: Corey Hurren has been identified by several media outlets as the suspect who drove through the gates at Rideau Hall, where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lives. His business’ Instagram account features several right-wing conspiracies. Less than an hour before Corey Hurren allegedly drove his pickup truck through the gates of Rideau Hall, where Prime Minister Justin …

“Well, obviously I get this question quite a bit as I was traveling and speaking as much as I can. I do a lot of interviews and I meet with a lot of patriot groups and I always get the question, ‘Mr. Stone, is Q real?’ And my answer is always the same. “I always say, ‘I don’t know, but …

The Palm Beach Post reports: The 37-page complaint, filed Tuesday, claims Palm Beach County “recklessly required countless American citizens and Florida residents to submit to dangerous medical treatments with well-known risks and potential for serious injuries and death, including being forced to wear harmful medical devices like masks.” The suit was filed on behalf of Josie Machovec, Carl Holme, Rachel …

The Christian Post reports: A Louisiana pastor is drawing criticism online for calling out his members by name during his sermon Sunday for skipping in-person church services despite ongoing fears about the new coronavirus. Pastor Tim Deason of Sugartown United Pentecostal Church in Sugartown, Louisiana, told his congregants Sunday that he doesn’t mind if people go on vacations. He just …

The Florida Times-Union reports: Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels vowed to put down any protests that aren’t peaceful with the full force of his office and with the help of gun-owning residents. Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels, no stranger to making viral videos appealing to tough-on-crime politics, released a video Tuesday that said he will make “special deputies of every …

CNN reports: A five-term Republican congressman endorsed by President Donald Trump conceded his primary reelection bid in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday evening, a stunning upset that will vault his far-right challenger, Lauren Boebert, into the state’s general election. Boebert is the latest GOP candidate associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory, though she doesn’t go as far as self-professed …