This pandemic has shown us clearly the vulgarity of our healthcare "system." Highest costs in the world, yet not enough nurses or doctors. Many millions uninsured, while insurance company profits soar. The struggle continues. Healthcare is a human right. Medicare for all.
For example, every media outlet should include that Delta CEO Ed Bastain asked the CDC to reduce the recommended quarantine time from 10 days to 5 for vaccinated people because of workforce impact. That’s not a health decision. The media needs to frame it that way every time.
Unfortunately the big money corporate donors like the status quo. Why not they always win, and the people always lose. The government works for the wealthy only, government is to serve the wealthy. The people, the lower incomes don’t matter at all. So they have tried to hamper any voting changes that would strengthen the voting power of the people because if the people had their full voting strength then they might raises taxes on the wealthy. The big money donors want the Republicans in charge because they are able to control them fully. Scottie
When Congress returns: Its first priority must be to save American democracy from the big lie, big anger, and big money (plus an end-note on Joe Manchin), by @RBReichhttps://t.co/z8SrC03CAr
Trump wants SCOTUS to read Bennie Thompson’s Washington Post interview.
Not a headline I thought I’d ever read, but here we are. Trump is still trying to argue the Committee has no legislative purpose, even though it’s been affirmed by multiple courts.https://t.co/9GMWOroqQL
Closing 7 of 8 polling places in Lincoln County Georgia, in deep rural Georgia, doesn't make it more convenient for people to vote. So, it's probably just a coincidence that it's a heavily black county with no public transportation, right?
— Larry Middleton – Keep pushing… 💙🇺🇸🌻 (@l78lancer) December 28, 2021
The bill, which declares a “state of emergency,” contains no way to appeal a book’s banning, and requires any public school employee who fails to remove the book to be fired.
What annoys me about many “look at this extreme legislation some state legislator has proposed” stories is that they don’t usually give any sense of if the bill has support and a real chance of becoming law. Which is actually kind of important. https://t.co/EEthDGtdQi
The US and the rest of the world have to understand that China took over Hong Kong. They were going to get it back anyway, but the idea that the wealthy financial center was not under their complete control and advocated for more civil rights with a Democratic government is something that the Chinese government could not tolerate. The problem is they got away with it in Hong Kong and now they want to do it to Taiwan. The US claims they would defend Taiwan, but Biden already said no troops. No troops means no defense. Scottie
Trying to win the next election instead of protecting the people is what the right wing is doing. Instead of joining with the administration to get people vaccinated and to promote safe practices like mask wearing, the right fights to block and stall all these attempts so they can claim Biden has failed. Scottie
The ones getting rich are the ones doing the price gouging. The price of oil is world wide and has fallen. The price of gas in the US has come down. Anyone who thinks that the US being a net exporter of oil means the US is energy independent is misinformed at least and more likely an idiot. Scottie
What good is a privately developed and funded vaccine that Trump claimed credit for if none of his death cult members are brave enough to take it? Not much more use than the tests, which Trump death cultists will refuse too. When the 46th administration took over, they discovered that the previous one had ABSOLUTELY NO PLAN FOR VACCINE ROLLOUT. NONE. ZIP. ZERO.
Shocking and appalling, yet hardly surprising from the camp that wanted to “let them get infected” and “slow down the testing”. “Operation Warp Speed” was a name given to a project that drug companies were working on since 2003. They just modified what they had a bit to address the current strain.
The first vaccine out of the gate wasn’t even part of OWS. In fact, it was primarily developed in Germany with funding from the German government. See “Biontech”. The Last Occupant did what he does best, slap a name on something and claim it as his own. he certainly has no plan to distribute the vaccine. Then Stupid Henry Payne blames Biden because MAGAts refuse to get vaccinated and get sick. Scottie
No plan? By the way, the best way to avoid getting COVID is to get the vaccine. Something right wingers are against but still want to scapegoat President Biden for not doing enough.
President Biden To Announce New Covid Plan, Free Home Tests The administration is readying 1,000 military medical professionals to help at overburdened hospitals. By Susie Madrak — December 21, 2021
President Joe Biden will address the nation today on how his administration plans to confront the massive surge in coronavirus cases, including readying 1,000 military medical professionals to help at overburdened hospitals, setting up new federal testing sites, deploying hundreds of federal vaccinators and buying 500 million rapid tests to distribute free to the public. Via the New York Times:
The measures, outlined to reporters Monday night by two senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, come as coronavirus caseloads are rapidly rising around the country, particularly in the Northeast, fueled by the highly infectious new Omicron variant — just as Americans prepare to gather for Christmas.
The 500 million tests that the administration intends to purchase will not be available until January, the senior officials said, adding that the government intends to create a website where people can request that tests be sent to their homes, free of charge. It was not immediately clear where the tests would come from.
The plan for new federal testing sites will debut in New York City, where several new sites will be running before Christmas. And Mr. Biden intends to invoke the Defense Production Act, officials said, to accelerate production of tests. Scottie
No way; the job of the States’ governments is to keep the virus alive and flourishing, just to spite Biden. Why would they shut it down? The states can make mask and vaccination mandates that the Federal government cannot. Red states screamed when the federal government told them how to get rid of the virus. With state government put in charge, it’s going to be a circus. The red states were working against Biden to solve the virus problem so they could blame Biden for the failure, by putting it back on them and offering to provide them resources, when they fail it wont be Biden’s fault but their own. Scottie
We have this issue at home. Ron’s recliner was taken by Odie. Odie refused to leave the chair when asked by Ron. About four feet away was Odie’s chair in front of the window. I started sliding Odie’s chair over to Ron’s recliner and Odie would move to his chair, get pets, and then I would slide Odie’s chair back in front of the window and give him more attention. Turns out Odie loves this game. He wouldn’t move out of the recliner unless the game was played. Ron had to give in and learn to play the slide chair game to get his chair back. Scottie
You may think it was bad timing for Representative fucknut Lauren Boebert to issue a gun-themed Christmas card right before there was a mass shooting in her state of Colorado. You would be right except there have been several mass shootings in Colorado. Boebert knows better but she doesn’t care.
Boebert believes she’s some hero of a fictional resistance to a fictional deep state, one that’s coming for everyone’s guns and to control the population. You do know that after the deep state takes your guns, that’s when they start abducting and conducting gay-conversion experiments on you, especially if you’re a white Christian. And after they take your guns, “Merry Christmas” will be forbidden and you’re children will be assigned pronouns.
Of course the best way to stick a finger in the eye of the deep state and prevent them from taking your guns is to buy more guns and…
The video no beds means “no bed means no fucking beds” is a video that needs to be seen by those who won’t understand it because they deny the hospitals are overwhelmed with the virus. We have friends still working in local hospitals, and they are at a breaking point. Many now are having family / home life problems they never had before. People who work in the hospitals, the care giving staff are all humans, all people who are suffering from all of this. I don’t have the words to explain how it is affecting staff, but I will say that my husband Ron won’t be going back to working on the ICU floor even part time even though they keep asking him to return now. There is no upside to providing care for these people that take their politics / delusions out on the medical people caring for them. Scottie
Scissorhead D-Cap sent me a link to this website: SORRYANTIVAXXER.COM which lists pretty exhaustively all the antivaxxers who had contracted and/or died from the Trump-Virus. At first it seems devastating (and very, very white) seeing entry after entry of people who were easily manipulated into killing themselves to own the Libs, but then comes both boredom: Another asshole bites the dust, and good riddance.
Before you come at me (@ me?) for speaking ill of the dead, I’ll remind you that I spoke ill of them when they were above ground. I’m just going to say it: these people were selfish assholes who endangered all of us. Lining up to argue with a virus and then die from a preventable disease isn’t noble, it’s stupid. We’re better off without them infecting more people.
Do I feel bad for their families? Maybe in the short run, but these antivaxxer assholes endangered…
Thousands of Donald Trump supporters were in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 to attend a rally protesting the outcome of the 2020 election, which later led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Now, some of those attendees are running for state and local elected offices in the 2022 midterms.
These candidates, all running on the Republican ticket, were reportedly in the city on January 6 either for the “Stop the Steal” rally promoting falsehoods that the presidential race was rigged, or at the U.S. Capitol itself. Two of the candidates have even been charged for their participation in the events.
Some “Stop the Steal” candidates found some success in the 2021 races for state and local offices. Three rally attendees won seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, and three other participants won local city and county races.
But party operatives, such as Karl Rove, have warned that Trump’s need to settle scores and rehash the outcome of the 2020 presidential race in upcoming elections could be disastrous for the GOP.
Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist, told Newsweek that these candidates have a better chance of winning the primaries than the general election—especially if they are running in a swing district.
“As far as the primary goes, the more extreme, the more likely the Republican is to win a primary,” she said, “and that’s why you see a lot of these candidates jockeying all the way to the extreme.”
Del Percio added that making 2020 a focal point moving forward is “horrible if you want to win.”
“Republicans should focus on the present and what they want to do to improve it,” she said. “At some point, they’re going to have to show that they have ideas.”
These are the candidates running in 2022 who have ties to the “Stop the Steal” rallies near the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Newsweek has contacted the candidates for additional comments.
Teddy Daniels
Daniels, a military veteran and retired police officer, is running to represent Pennsylvania’s 8th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is challenging Democratic incumbent Matt Cartwright.
Daniels posted a video of himself at the Capitol building on January 6 with the caption: “I am here. God bless our patriots.”
Mark Finchem
Finchem, who is running for Arizona secretary of state, said he was in Washington D.C. from January 5 to January 8. The day of the January 6 insurrection, Finchem said he was late to Trump’s rally and “walked at the rear of the crowd that made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue” but missed the crowd entering the Capitol building. He also blamed the turn of events on “Antifa.”
Democrats in the Arizona House attempted to expel Finchem, currently a state representative, for attending the rally.
Finchem filed to run for office in March and was endorsed by Trump in September. Trump praised the Republican for his “incredibly powerful stance on the Voter Fraud that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election Scam.”
Tina Forte
Forte is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 14th congressional district. The seat is currently held by Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. On her campaign website, Forte said she’s running “to stop radical socialists from destroying the American Dream.”
Forte live-streamed the January 6 event on her Facebook page, Snopes reported. “We need to fight for our freedom, fight for our country, fight for our president, fight for our Constitution,” she said in an 11-minute video.
Joey Gilbert
Gilbert, a personal injury attorney currently fighting an attempt by the state bar to reprimand him, is seeking to become Nevada’s next governor. He made the announcement in June during a pro-Trump event, where he peddled Trump’s lie that the election was stolen.
“If election integrity isn’t the No. 1 issue of these guys running, then they’re either lost, confused or too stupid to be running,” he said at the time, prompting cheers from the crowd gathered.
The Reno Gazette-Journalreported Gilbert spoke at a rally near Trump on January 6 and went to the Capitol. He said on Facebook that he did not go inside the building but that the crowd gathered there was “one of the most beautiful things he’s ever seen.”
Charles Herbster
Herbster, a Republican businessman, launched his campaign for governor of Nebraska in April. He’s one of several GOP candidates running to replace Governor Pete Ricketts, a conservative who cannot seek reelection due to term limits.
Herbster attended the rally of Trump supporters in Washington D.C. on January 6, the Omaha World-Heraldreported, but left before the violence broke out at the Capitol. Herbster also wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post that he met in Trump’s private residence in his hotel with campaign advisers on January 5.
Trump has endorsed Herbster in the race, calling him “an extraordinarily successful businessman who will fight for our farmers and ranchers, support our military and vets, and protect and defend your under siege Second Amendment rights.”
Jason Howland
Howland, who is running for a seat in the Michigan Legislature, was spotted inside the U.S. Capitol byBridge Michigan. He’s a founding member of the American Patriot Council, a group that describes itself as an effort “to restore and sustain a constitutional government.”
Ryan Kelley
Kelley is part of a growing number of Republicans who are entering the Michigan gubernatorial race to run against Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer.
After being spotted by advocacy groups at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, Kelley said he went there to support Trump and that he never entered the building or interacted with law enforcement.
Audra Johnson
Johnson is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan’s 3rd congressional district. She is challenging Republican incumbent Peter Meijer, one of the 10 House GOP members who voted to impeach Trump after the insurrection.
Johnson told the New York Times she traveled with others to Washington D.C. for Trump’s protest of the congressional certification of Biden’s win, but never went inside the Capitol. Bridge Michigan reported that in since-deleted Facebook posts from January 6, Johnson said, “This is God-fearing American-loving citizens who have had enough.”
Mark Middleton
Middleton is running for a seat in the Texas House. He will be challenging Republican incumbent David Spiller in the primary election this spring.
Middleton was arrested on April 21 and has pleaded not guilty to all counts, including obstruction of Congress and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. Body cameras worn by law enforcement caught Middleton and his wife assaulting officers with their hands, according to a criminal complaint.
On his campaign website, Middleton doesn’t mention the Capitol riot but does make the case for secession: “It is past time Texans start seriously exploring our exit from the Union.”
Middleton declined to give additional comment to Newsweek.
Crowds gather for the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C., as Trump supporters gathered in the nation’s capital to protest the ratification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Several people who were at the rally or at the U.S. Capitol itself on January 6 are now running for political office in 2022.ROBERT NICKELSBERG/GETTY IMAGES
Jason Riddle
Riddle, a New Hampshire native, told NBC10 Boson that he would be mounting a campaign against Democrat Annie Kuster. Kuster has served as a U.S. congresswoman from the state’s second district since 2013.
Riddle pleaded guilty to theft of government property and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building as a result of his participation in the events of January 6. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 2022. According to a criminal complaint, Riddle stole a book and a toy football from the Office of the U.S. Senate Parliamentarian, and also drank from a bottle of wine he also found in that office.
“In the long run, if you’re running for office, any attention is good attention, so I think it will help me,” Riddle told NBC10 about how his arrest may impact his campaign in June. Riddle doesn’t have a formal campaign website.
Angela Rigas
Rigas, a Michigan resident who made headlines for battling to keep hair salons open during pandemic-related shutdowns, is running for the Michigan Legislature. She has received Trump’s endorsement.
Rigas told The Washington Post that she traveled to D.C. for the January 6 rally, and described what she saw outside the Capitol as “an enormous amount of people, people as far as you could see, loving their country and wanting fair elections.”
She also said in a speech that she was tear-gassed while in D.C. on January 6 while “chanting USA” and standing on a half-wall outside the Capitol building. She also said in the remarks that she considered being called an “insurrectionist” a “compliment.”
Jon Rocha
Rocha, who was initially was running for a U.S. House seat but is now running for the Michigan Legislature in 2022, was at the Capitol on January 6. But he told NBC News that he “never got close to the actual steps” and wasn’t aware of the violence until he left the area.
“We need to restore the faith in the election because people are not moving on,” he told NBC. “They are just as angry today, a year later, as they were a year ago.”
Rocha has been endorsed by Trump, who praised his rhetoric on the 2020 election.
Derrick Van Orden
Van Orden is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district. The district is currently represented by Democrat Ron Kind, who called Van Orden’s presence at the Capitol “deeply disturbing.”
Van Orden has said he left the “Stop the Steal” rally after rioters began entering the Capitol and that he never went inside the building. He condemned the violence during an interview with WQOW.
Far too many elected officials view the elected office as a golden ticket to personal wealth. They don’t see it as a service, but instead as a right. Scottie
“The fact that many will no longer even meet with ethics investigators reflects a troubling trend in American politics in which improper behavior is no longer a political liability” https://t.co/I3HLkbTCSL
Demings noted the state once had COVID testing sites throughout the region, which helped relieve the burden on local governments and also questioned why the governor hadn’t held a recent briefing on the virus.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings blasts DeSantis, expands COVID-19 testing, requires employees to wear masks amid omicron surge https://t.co/eH1xvM0Npt
The Senator claims school boards tell kids they are ‘oppressors.’
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott continues to project optimism about the electoral climate for Republicans, forecasting an “unbelievable” shift in school boards in 2022.
During an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade Show, the Senator said there would be an “unbelievable number of school board changes this next year.”
Scott expects cultural backlash to prevail.
“Because parents are fed up with these school boards telling them that your kid’s oppressed or your kid’s an oppressor. That is so crazy,” Scott added.
Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, closed out 2021 trumpeting much of the same message he has all year, an expectation that critical race theory can be used to mobilize November voters.
“We’ve got to talk about it. But I’ll tell you one thing, it’s going to change. It’s going to change school boards all across this country,” Scott said in July on the Hugh Hewitt Show on the Salem Radio Network.
Scott added that he expects young conservatives to carry the argument.
“I gave a speech to Turning Point USA, 4,000 national college kids. They are revved up to make sure they get better school board members. That’s where that’s going to get fixed,” Scott added.
Scott offered a Senate resolution expressing opposition to critical race theory, an umbrella phrase covering the legal argument that structural racism continues to have institutional consequences.
“The far-left wants Americans to believe that our nation is inherently racist and bad. They want to discredit the values America was founded on. They’re wrong. We can’t stand by and allow ’woke’ liberals to divide our nation,” Scott said when he filed the resolution.
Florida students have been prohibited from learning about critical race theory, and Scott’s successor as Governor likewise promises it will be a wedge issue next year.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to use critical race theory and “mandatory masking” as litmus tests in traditionally nonpartisan school board races.
On a June episode of “Unfiltered with Dan Bongino,” DeSantis vowed to turn his “political apparatus” against school board candidates who oppose his educational reforms.
“Local elections matter. We are going to get the Florida political apparatus involved so we can make sure there’s not a single school board member who supports critical race theory,” DeSantis said.
Everything Senator Scott said is bullshit. The right has created a link between CRT and the true racist history of the US. The right has reinforced the idea that teaching history, the true history of slavery, is somehow abusing and oppressing white kids. To hell how the black kids have to face living with racism in their daily lives. The idea that somehow all of this now means white people are losing privilege, the majority, having to play fair because others are now the majority, that is what Sen. Scott is saying and what the Republicans will again run on. It worked for them in Virginia, will we let it work for them in the rest of the country? Scottie
Scottie's Playtime 
Shocking and appalling, yet hardly surprising from the camp that wanted to “let them get infected” and “slow down the testing”. “Operation Warp Speed” was a name given to a project that drug companies were working on since 2003. They just modified what they had a bit to address the current strain.