Month: February 2022
PEOPLE: Dutch Journalist Dragged Away by Chinese Guard During Live Winter Olympics Broadcast
Dutch Journalist Dragged Away by Chinese Guard During Live Winter Olympics Broadcast
Sjoerd den Daas, a correspondent for Dutch outlet NOS Nieuws, was doing a live cross on Friday
Read in People: https://apple.news/A_Wdd4EguSd671Mr2-jsnUw
Shared from Apple News
Sent from my iPad,Hugs and Best wishes,
Scottie
PEOPLE: Dutch Journalist Dragged Away by Chinese Guard During Live Winter Olympics Broadcast
Dutch Journalist Dragged Away by Chinese Guard During Live Winter Olympics Broadcast
Sjoerd den Daas, a correspondent for Dutch outlet NOS Nieuws, was doing a live cross on Friday
Read in People: https://apple.news/A_Wdd4EguSd671Mr2-jsnUw
Shared from Apple News
Sent from my iPad,Hugs and Best wishes,
Scottie
Rand Paul says Republicans will investigate Fauci if they retake the Senate, escalating a long-running personal feud
https://www.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-gop-investigate-fauci-wins-senate-2022-2
- Sen. Rand Paul said Republicans would subpoena Fauci if they win the Senate in the mid-terms.
- Paul and Fauci have engaged in bitter exchanges at Senate hearings.
- Paul has pushed unsubstantiated claims that funds approved by Fauci may have helped create COVID.
Sen. Rand Paul said that Republicans will subpoena chief White House medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci if they take control of the Senate in the mid-term elections.
The Kentucky Republican is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee. He stands to be nominated as chairman of the panel if Republicans win the Senate in November, securing him the power to launch investigations and issue subpoenas.
“If we win in November, if I’m chairman of a committee, if I have subpoena power, we’ll go after every one of [Fauci’s] records,” Paul said during an interview with anti-vax podcaster Lisa Boothe.
“We’ll have an investigator go through this piece by piece because we don’t need this to happen again.”
Paul, a physician, and Fauci have clashed in a series of heated exchanges in Senate hearings.
Paul, often trafficking in conspiracy theories and disinformation, has criticised Fauci on measures he has advocated to contain the virus.
His attacks have focussed on Fauci’s tenure as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and often rely on speculation that funding Fauci approved to a lab in Wuhan, China, may have been used to create the coronavirus.
Fauci has denied that the funding was for so-called “gain of function” research, or research into making diseases more contagious.
The origin of the virus has not been established, with China blocking attempts to investigate the source of the pandemic. Many experts believe that the theory it originated in a lab is spurious and it most likely originated in nature, though others say it is plausible.
In a particularly embittered exchange in January, Fauci said that Paul’s baseless attacks “kindle the crazies” who threaten and harass him and his family. He said Paul was seeking to exploit the pandemic for political gain.
At hearing last July, Fauci said “you do not know what you’re talking about” to Paul, and accused him of “lying”, after the senator tried to draw connections between research in China partly funded by NIAID and the coronavirus.
Paul had at a hearing earlier in the year accused Fauci of indulging in “theater” by wearing a mask after having gotten vaccinated, and Fauci responded that vaccines don’t offer protection against all variants.
Fauci has become a hate figure for some on the right, with many Republicans rallying around opposition to federal government measures to control the virus.
Some Republican supporters have embraced fringe anti-vaccine views and conspiracy theories about the virus.
So Republican 101 normal behavior, when in power attack and try to destroy anyone who you dislike. The right hates Dr. Fauci because they cannot discredit him, he points out their misinformation and lies. I hate that this is the Republican idea of governing. How does this help the country? Why vote them into office if this is their goal? Remember that Rand Paul is making big money on Covid treatment drugs, and he fud raises off his attacks on Dr. Fauci. So he is putting his personal profit ahead of saving lives.
January jobs report crushes expectations
Twitter Wits Have Suggestions For Donald Trump’s New DJ Gig At Mar-a-Lago
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-dj-twitter_n_61fdac6be4b0f8a1b844730d
“I fought the Law (and the law won). Please, please play that one,” joked one.
Former President Donald Trump may have found his true calling: DJing at Mar-a-Lago, cranking up “amazing” music, and busting loose until the very “late evening.”
That’s what he promised he’ll be doing Friday and Saturday in a statement sent to Mar-a-Lago members and shared by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
Critics groaned, imagining an endless loop of Trump’s rally favorites, like (ironically) “YMCA.”
Quipsters had some other playlist suggestions:
Others had more general commentary about the former president’s weekend gig:
DeSantis’ Supreme Court connection
Good Friday morning.
A legal matter — Gov. Ron DeSantis, who went to Yale and Harvard Law School, has of course, lots of strong opinions about the law and what’s constitutional, and what’s not.
Everyone’s a critic — The Republican governor even recently ripped into the U.S. Supreme Court over its decision to let a Biden administration vaccine mandate for health care workers remain intact while an underlying lawsuit proceeds. While appearing on the conservative Ruthless podcast last month, DeSantis said that both Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh did not have a “backbone” when they decided to allow the mandate to stand.
Call me — Well, it turns out that DeSantis may have his own direct connection to the Supreme Court.
CC time — Emails handed over to American Oversight, a group that bills itself as a government watchdog, suggest that DeSantis is in regular contact with Justice Clarence Thomas. In June 2021, Thomas’ wife, Ginni, who runs her own consulting firm, worked with the DeSantis administration to have the governor talk to a coalition of groups, including people affiliated with Judicial Watch, the conservative organization that uses information requests and lawsuits to investigate public officials.
The pitch — In one of the emails about having DeSantis talk to “conservative patriots,” Ginni Thomas says that DeSantis should be acquainted with her for a few reasons: she interviewed him for the Daily Caller when he was in Congress, saw him at a state dinner when Donald Trump was president, and “my husband has been in contact with him too on various things of late.”
Response — POLITICO’s Matt Dixon reached out to the governor’s office about this email, but did not get a response. Helen Aguirre Ferré, the executive director of the Republican Party of Florida, responded by saying “I can’t speak about any private conversations Governor DeSantis may or may not have had with anyone but both he and Justice Thomas believe in the separation of powers and defend individual liberty, the law and the Constitution as written.”
Admirer — There’s no question DeSantis holds Thomas in high regard. Back in 2018, the governor called the justice the “gold standard for a Supreme Court appointment.” The two also appeared together at a 2020 Federalist Society conference held in Disney World where DeSantis introduced Thomas as the “greatest living justice.”
— WHERE’S RON? — Gov. DeSantis is scheduled to appear with former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany at the Federalist Society conference being held at Disney World in Lake Buena Vista.
New allegations plague Florida’s controversial surgeon general
Dr. Joseph Ladapo’s former UCLA supervisor does not think he should be Florida’s state surgeon general.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handpicked state surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, is currently doing the job, but he still needs to be formally confirmed by the Republican-led state Senate. To that end, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement did a routine background investigation as part of the confirmation process.
It apparently didn’t go especially well. The Tallahassee Democrat newspaper reported yesterday that Ladapo’s former supervisor at UCLA discouraged Florida officials from hiring the controversial doctor.
“In my opinion, the people of Florida would be better served by a Surgeon General who grounds his policy decisions and recommendations on the best scientific evidence rather than opinions,” the unnamed supervisor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in the Jan. 18 report prepared by a senior crime intelligence analyst for the Senate.
According to the local report, the UCLA supervisor added that Ladapo’s weird theories “created a stressful environment for his research and clinical colleagues and subordinates,” some of whom believed the doctor “violated the duty in the Hippocratic Oath to behave honestly and ethically.”
In the Florida Department of Law Enforcement report, Ladapo’s views were described as having led to “stress and acrimony among his coworkers and supervisors.”
The newspaper did not get a comment from Ladapo, but the press secretary for the Florida Department of Health “characterized Ladapo as a misunderstood visionary.”
This is not the first time Ladapo’s work at UCLA has generated scrutiny.
During his tenure, the physician claimed in a USA Today op-ed that his perspective on Covid treatments had been shaped by his experience “taking care of patients with COVID-19 at UCLA’s flagship hospital.” Two weeks later, Ladapo added in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he had his experience “caring for patients with suspected or diagnosed Covid-19 infections at UCLA.”
Thanks to reporting from The Rachel Maddow Show, those claims have since been called into question. As my colleague Kay Guerrero explained in a report in November, “Several former colleagues of Dr. Joseph Ladapo … say he misled the public about his experience treating Covid-19 patients.”
One UCLA source also said, in reference to Ladapo, “A lot of people here at UCLA are glad that he is gone because we were embarrassed by his opinions and behavior. At the same time, we don’t wish this on the people of Florida. They don’t deserve to have someone like him making their health decisions.”
Jen Psaki humiliates Ted Cruz with perfect swipe
QAnon Flags Fly Onscreen After Fox News Describes Anti-Vax Truckers as ‘Mainstream’
Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner on Thursday teed up a segment on the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” by seemingly criticizing the notion that such anti-vaccine activists are “fringe,” instead claiming their beliefs have gone “mainstream.”
Moments later, the program rolled footage of such demonstrators waving flags and signs boosting the crazed far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, which centers on the belief that Donald Trump is fighting a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiliac cannibals.
During Thursday’s broadcast of The Faulkner Focus, Faulkner declared that “Canadians say this is old, we are getting bold” while discussing the most recent developments in the ongoing protest—largely spearheaded by truck drivers who refuse to get vaccinated—against the nation’s coronavirus guidelines and restrictions.
In recent days, Ottawa was essentially shut down when thousands of protesters descended upon the Canadian capital, all while loudly honking 18-wheelers created gridlock by blocking downtown streets. The mass demonstration, which began when some truckers objected to vaccine requirements for crossing the U.S.-Canada border, has since morphed into a rejection of all of the nation’s COVID-19 policies.
After noting that the “Canadian Freedom Convoy” recently blocked a border crossing into Montana, the Fox anchor then brought up the fact that Canadian leaders have denounced the violence and some of the hateful ideology associated with the protests.
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to paint them all as a fringe group, but the mainstream is embracing them now! People from other nations with loud support,” the midday news host proclaimed.
She then followed this up with a montage of protesters saying they “are here for freedom” and that they want Trudeau to “give people their freedom back.” Faulkner then turned to Fox News correspondent Molly Line, who pointed out that the Ottawa chief of police has acknowledged they may call on the nation’s military to clear out the remaining protesters in the city.
While Line delivered her dispatch, and after she said the protests had driven “some city residents a bit crazy,” the network aired b-roll footage of a demonstration that prominently featured large QAnon flags and signs.
One sign featured the notorious QAnon slogan WWG1WGA, which is an abbreviation of their rallying cry “where we go one, we go all.” Additionally, protesters also waved a massive United States flag emblazoned with the letter Q.
Line wrapped up her reporting by observing that “there are international elements” to the protests now as it has “galvanized citizens on both sides of the border” and resulted in a GoFundMe page that has raised millions of dollars.
The Canadian police, meanwhile, have set up a hate crime hotline related to the pandemic protests after demonstrators racially abused a homeless shelter guard, harassed a couple with a Pride flag, desecrated memorials and statues with anti-vax messages, and were seen waving swastikas and Confederate flags.
This isn’t the first time Fox News, knowingly or unknowingly, has boosted QAnon on its airwaves. Fox News star Tucker Carlson, for instance, has repeatedly defended supporters of the violent conspiracy theory as “gentle people” who merely love their country. Fellow host Jesse Watters ended up walking back his apparent endorsement of QAnon after he said its supporters have “uncovered a lot of great stuff when it comes to Epstein and it comes to the deep state.”
Scottie's Playtime 