Fiction From The Right #171
By Hank Silverberg
He said many untrue things before and has spouted propaganda from conspiracy theorists and white supremacists. But this is the comment that took him beyond sanity and into the world of fear mongering and irresponsibility.
He said, "How many Americans have died after taking the COVID vaccines?"
He then went on to speculate that we are all being lied to and cited a government database called VAERS database as a source of what he implied were vaccine related deaths. But here's the thing. VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, is loaded with self-reported information which has not been verified by the CDC and is a breeding ground for false information.
VERIFY: CDC site does not prove people died from COVID vaccines | wtsp.com
Almost 200 million people have received one of the three vaccines being used in the United States so far. There have been some deaths related to the vaccines, though the numbers are small from 55 to 900 depending on the source. That is a tragedy for the families of those individuals, but it is statistically insignificant. Most of those people had medical conditions that contributed to their deaths.
Over 900 Died After Receiving COVID-19 Vaccine, But Experts Say Data Is Misinterpreted (ibtimes.com)
Carlson had much more misinformation in his rant but I don't want to repeat it. Basically he was telling people not to take the vaccine because it could kill you. His 15 minutes of fiction was so outrageous that even his colleagues at Fox News publicly criticized his attack on vaccinations.
Why are Carlson's comments dangerous and why should we care?
Carlson attracts millions of viewers every night. I guess these are the folks who have already seen all the new disaster movies on their streaming service and couldn't find a car wreck to rubber-neck.
Some of them actually believe what he says, even though it's so far from the truth that it would embarrass the devil.
Carlson's viewers are likely the people who won't get vaccinated and who are putting the rest of the public in danger.
Don't misread this. There are some individuals who have religious objections to vaccines and some who have medical reasons they can not take it. But they are a very small minority of the population. Everyone else should rush to get vaccinated as soon as they can or we will NEVER be rid of this pandemic.
The people who run Fox News, of course, ignore all the complaints about Carlson. They won't comment on his lies or fact check them either.
Tucker Carlson's Fox News colleagues call out his dangerous anti-vaccination rhetoric - CNN
No matter what your political views are, please save yourself from this guy and don't watch. There's no vaccine for the kind of disease he spreads.
The ERA Is Not Dead Yet!
The Equal Rights Amendment is not dead yet. Thirty-eight states have ratified the amendment first passed by Congress in 1971.
The ERA had ratification
from 35 states by 1977. The deadline was extended until 1982, but three more states failed to ratify it by 1982 , so it fell short of the 3/4, or 38 states it needed to become part of the Constitution.
Congress tried every year since then to extend the deadline, but it failed until early this year when the House voted to eliminate a deadline altogether. Like lots of other bills these days, the legislation failed in the Senate.
Nevada, Illinois and Virginia became the 36th, 37th and 38th states to approve the ERA with Virginia voting just this year. But in March a federal judge ruled that since the deadline had passed, the ERA was dead, especially since five other states had since withdrawn their original approval.
This past week the Attorneys General of those last three states have appealed the ruling. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said, "...the United States cannot continue forcing women to wait to be recognized as equal under the country's founding document," referring to the U.S. Constitution.
Herring and Attorneys General the other states are arguing that the U.S. Constitution does not specifically set a time limit on how long such a proposed amendment can stay valid, even if it took 40 years to get the needed 38 states. There is no indication yet when the latest arguments might be heard in a federal appeals court.
Herring Files Appeal Over Equal Rights Amendment Ruling - Dogwood (vadogwood.com)
Watch This Space
Only about 30,000 of 50,000 GOP regulars registered to vote actually showed up at the 39 drive-up sites and voted for their first, second, third choice and so on on paper ballots. No one got 50% so they t added up second places votes to see who won. It's kind of like the baseball writers vote formula for who gets into the Hall of Fame every year, but you only need a total of 50% to get the nomination for Governor, not 75% you need on the HOF vote.
All the candidates really belong in the Hall of Shame though, because most of them claimed the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. Those who do acknowledge Biden's win have refrained from attacking the others for not doing so.
The winner is former Carlyle Group CEO Glen Younkin, who had never run for anything before.
State Senator Amanda Chase, who may have been the the reason for a convention instead of a primary, finished third. She is already talking about a possible run as a third party candidate.
Younkin issued this statement late Monday:
“Virginians have made it clear that they are ready for a political outsider with proven business experience to bring real change in Richmond.”
Well, no Mr Youngkin. Only a small group of Republican insiders have had their say. There are more than 5.9 million registered voters in Virginia who will speak in November.
He has a long-shot in hell of beating the Democrats in November. As noted, Virginians soundly rejected Trumpism last November. The state has been blue for ten years now and what we have heard from Youngskin so far, indicates he is not abandoning Trumpism.
Glenn Youngkin wins Republican nomination in Virginia governor's race - CBS News
Democrats are confident whoever they choose in their June 8th statewide primary will have a good
 |
| (Courtesy Virginia Dept of Historical Resources) |
One other note here. Republicans across the country have been highly criterial of "drive-up" voting. They claim it is open to fraud even though there is no evidence of that. The GOP has been trying to ban it in several voter suppression bills making the rounds of state legislatures. Apparently they only worry about such things when Democrats can also vote, because they chose to use it for the GOP convention here in Virginia.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumbest quote comes from former Trump advisor and Fox News contributor, Larry Kudlow. He went on TV and railed about a "so- called" Biden Administration plan to get meat and dairy products out of the U.S. food chain and substitute them with "plant-based" products. Well, there is no such plan. IT DOESN'T EXIST.
Kudlow cited a study from the University of Michigan. It said cutting down production of meat and dairy products would have a big impact on climate change (see below), prompting Kudlow to rant about American's being forced to grill vegetables for our July 4th celebrations.
"You can throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts and wave your American flag. Call it July 4th Green."
What makes this an even dumber quote and claim is that the meat and dairy ban angle was picked up by several other well-known Republicans, two of whom have been subjects of my Dumbest Quote citations in the past. Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbot, and two of my nominees for dumbest members of Congress, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Green, all jumped on this fictional plan and attacked Biden. They didn't check the facts, of course.
Boebert is from Colorado. I'm sure the folks at Coors would love to give her a tour of one of their breweries and show her how beer is made.
For the record, the link below provides details on the Michigan study. It came out last year, before Mr. Biden was elected and has no connection to the Biden Administration. Really, can we take any of these people seriously when they are so reckless with the facts?
(Your comments and suggests on this blog are welcome)
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