JUST NOW: Ron Johnson, on a Wisconsin tele-town hall, pushes mouthwash as a COVID treatment.
"By the way, standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus. If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?" pic.twitter.com/V0cdxPYc7K
The head of the California Medical Board says members of an anti-vaccine group known to spread misinformation about COVID-19 treatments targeted her at her home and workplace in Walnut Creek on Monday.
Kristina Lawson, president of the state agency that licenses and disciplines medical doctors, first shared the “terrifying experience” on Twitter Wednesday.
“To start the day, the group parked their rental SUV near the end of my driveway, and then flew a drone over my house. They watched my daughter drive herself to school and watched me walk out of my house, get in my car, and take my two kids to school,” Lawson said in a tweet.
From there, she said the SUV followed her to work, and parked “head-to-head” with her car in a parking garage. That evening, when she left the office building and entered the parking garage, four men jumped out of the SUV with cameras and recording equipment and confronted her, wanting to interview her.
“I then realized that these four men had been surreptitiously stalking me,” she said in a statement.
🧵 On Monday, I was followed and confronted by a group that peddles medical disinformation, promotes fake COVID-19 treatments, and is under investigation by Congress for stealing millions of dollars from consumers. It was a terrifying experience. /1
For context, in addition to my job as the chief executive of a law firm, I am the President of the @MedBoardOfCA. I have served on the Board for 6 years as a gubernatorial appointee. /2
To start the day, the group parked their rental SUV near the end of my driveway, and then flew a drone over my house. They watched my daughter drive herself to school and watched me walk out of my house, get in my car, and take my two kids to school. /3
At least one of the members of the group had flown across the country to stake me out. They followed me to work, and parked the SUV head-to-head with my car in the parking garage that is attached to my office building. /4
That evening, when I left the office building and entered the parking garage four men jumped out of the SUV with cameras and recording equipment and confronted me as I tried to get into my car to drive home. /5
When contacted by law enforcement, the group indicated that it just wanted to interview me. Not surprisingly, they never contacted the Board's press office to request an interview. They also never contacted the company I work for or me directly to ask for an interview. /6
Instead, they ambushed me in a dark parking garage when they suspected I would be alone. The private investigator traveling with them told law enforcement they are producing a video about me that will include footage of my house and neighborhood, and, of course, me. /7
Like so many public officials, I volunteer my time and energy to public service because I believe in giving back to the state and the communities that have given my family and me so much. /8
My father was a physician, and I am committed to protecting the integrity of the profession he loved, and to ensuring that all Californians have access to high quality, safe medical care. /9
That means protecting Californians from bad doctors, and ensuring disinformation and misinformation do not detract from our work to protect patients and consumers. /10
I will continue to do this work even when it is hard, and notwithstanding that there is an organized effort to scare me away from it. /11
COVID-19 has killed almost 800,000 Americans, and we must remain vigilant against new variants and against those that peddle fake, dangerous misinformation. /12
Vaccines are safe, effective, and free – they prevent serious illness and save lives. You can learn more here: https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccines/ /end
New analysis today from Americans for Tax Fairness, a left-leaning group, finds the Biden legislation is heavily progressive — despite SALT would in aggregate tax top 1% while funding programs for bottom/middle class. In line w/ other analyseshttps://t.co/kndh8Cluwqpic.twitter.com/P4iNinyV8Z
Anti-voter laws are a major threat to our democracy. The Freedom to Vote Act can protect voters' rights and stop corrupt politicians from eroding our democracy.
Instead of rejecting christofascism, Republicans have become christofascists.
Children with weapons of war around a Christmas tree? Boosting? The insecurities are staggering. These poor kids.
Christofascists have one god, the gun.
Celebrate Jesus with a gun. For children
Patriarchy includes women. Going after vulnerable women, women in need, women in abusive relationships, rape victims, their privacy, their reproductive rights that have precedent for FIFTY years, is beyond despicable.
It’s non-stop punching down.
Misogyny is the default.
Double standard.
I hate the term "drug-seeker" so much! Literally every patient is a drug-seeker; If there is a drug that can relieve and/or cure what ails you, the act of going to a doctor's office is you seeking it out!!! It boggles my mind how willfully ignorant and cruel the label is. https://t.co/GYvnHKwpX8
I have chronic pain that limits my quality of life, it restricts / limits my ability to function. That is just a fact of my life. I had a muscle relaxer doctor had been prescribing me for years that worked great for me. The Florida legislators felt they knew better than my doctors, better than any doctors and said that if the doctors office also wrote prescriptions for some other medications then they couldn’t write prescriptions for the medication I was taking. Even if I was not taking the other medications. If they did prescribe the medication I was using and the patient died for any reason, any reason, the pain doctors could be charged with murder. My doctors immediately stopped prescribing the medication. I have never found another that works as well for me. Thanks Florida. Hugs
A mother places a sign on her child before he begins his journey by bike in 1937 pic.twitter.com/jLXKylBl9Q
Not only is this incredibly pure, it’s made a lot of transphobes have to say the quiet bit out loud: the problem is people having a good time not conforming to their assigned sex and gender roles. (Nowhere is it mentioned how any of the actors in this short clip identify). https://t.co/250oiwFDgV
Yeah, Lisa, you sure pwned that mentally disturbed, homeless guy who allegedly lit that tree on fire! Yes it was wrong to burn that fake tree (?) In front of a fake news provider (!) I Don’t know if I should shake my head in disgust or give a thumbs up to the symbolism ! It wasn’t even a Christmas tree. Fox built a metal pyramid, hung greenery (probably fake), then hung decorations on it. You can call it a tree, I suppose, but it has the same relationship to a real tree that Fox’s construction of patriotism has to real patriotism. Hugs
Are you also wanting the Covid death totals and lack of active government plans for distribution of the soon to be approved vaccine that was happening during tRump’s last year in office?
While millions wait for a lifesaving shot, the U.S. death count from covid-19 continues to soar upward with horrifying speed. On Tuesday, the last full day of Donald Trump’s presidency, the death toll reached 400,000 — a once-unthinkable number. More than 100,000 Americans have perished in the pandemic in just the past five weeks.In the U.S., someone now dies of covid every 26 seconds. And the disease is claiming more American lives each week than any other condition, ahead of heart disease and cancer, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.“It didn’t have to be like this, and it shouldn’t still be like this,” said Kristin Urquiza, whose father, Mark, died of covid in June, as the virus was sweeping through Phoenix.
See it is easy to pretend only good came from a presidential term if you are willing to ignore the facts and reality. The reason gas prices were so low is there was a lack of demand due to the world wide Covid Pandemic and large over supplies this caused. What brought the price of gas back up was renewed demand as the world started to function again as the pandemic was being handled. Again world wide. Scottie
DOE removed the anti-bullying page following an inquiry about the site’s LGBTQ resources.
The Florida Department of Education has removed an anti-bullying portal from its website, including links to LGBTQ advocacy groups.
DOE removed the anti-bullying page after the Florida Capital Star, a right-leaning online publication, inquired about the LGBTQ resources listed on the site, sparking a content review on the page. The inquiry precipitated related changes to the DOE webpage for the Office of Safe Schools, created under the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, until DOE can review the content.
When pulling the bullying portal, the department removed links to state anti-bullying policy, LGBTQ advocacy groups and other bullying prevention resources.
Lawmakers this spring passed the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which states that public schools cannot infringe on the “fundamental rights” of parents to direct the upbringing of their child — extending to decisions about education, health care and mental health. Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ administration and DOE has used the legislation to ban blanket mask mandates in schools. But during the 2021 Session, debate centered around fears from LGBTQ advocacy groups and allies that the legislation could reveal to parents the gender identity or sexual orientation of children who came out at school before coming out at home.
The bullying portal included links to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ StopBullying.gov and its page addressing bullying in LGBTQIA+ Youth. Until this fall, the page instructed educators to protect children’s privacy, guidance that could run afoul of the Parents’ Bill of Rights.
“Be careful not to disclose or discuss sexual identity issues with parents or anyone else, without the young person’s prior permission, unless there is an immediate threat to their safety or wellbeing,” the page read.
Groups like the pro-LGBTQ civil rights group Equality Florida criticized the DeSantis administration for pulling the website, calling it a “staggering escalation of its anti-LGBTQ agenda.”
In a statement, Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith called for the links to be reinstated.
“Attacks on LGBTQ students from Tallahassee are fueling a toxic, dangerous environment on the ground,” Smith said. “From the passage of explicitly anti-transgender legislation this year to proposed legislation that would jail doctors and parents for providing lifesaving medical care to transgender children, a politically-motivated assault on the LGBTQ community is putting young people at risk. Vulnerable youth deserve better than a DeSantis Administration intent on putting them in harm’s way in order to score cheap political points.”
Other links removed from the DOE website included the department’s model policy against bullying and harassment for school districts and a checklist for school districts when developing anti-bullying policy.
DOE’s Office of Safe Schools, which answers to the Education Commissioner, currently Richard Corcoran, was created after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to provide safe learning environments for students and educators.
Grieving parents in Tennessee are urging everyone to get educated about bullying after their 12-year-old son, Eli Fritchley, took his own life.
His mother, Debbey, told WKRN-TV last week that her son wore his beloved SpongeBob sweatshirt nearly every day.
“I think probably because he was in the same clothes every single day that they used that as a weapon,” she said. “He was told because he didn’t necessarily have a religion and that he said he was gay that he was going to go to hell. They told him that quite often.”
His father, Steve, said the bullying was “really abusive.”
“I don’t think it was ever physical. I think it was just words, but words hurt. They really hurt,” he explained.
The Fritchleys now hope to launch a foundation to fight bullying and promote suicide awareness. Their GoFundMe page has received more than $12,000 donations so far.
On his campaign website, Burns rages against LGBTQ rights and abortion. As you may recall, in 2016 Burns literally jumped out of his chair and fled a CNN interview after he was busted for lying about his military service and for lying about having a college degree. Burns later claimed he was “attacked” by CNN because he’s a black Trump supporter.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity surgeon and host of television’s The Dr. Oz Show, has launched a campaign for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat now held by Pat Toomey, who is retiring. If Oz wins the Republican nomination, he will be the first Muslim-born individual to be nominated for a Senate seat by a major American political party.
But Oz is not a Muslim in practice. The son of Turkish immigrants, the 61-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon, who gained celebrity as a frequent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, affiliates himself with the Swedenborgian Church of North America after being introduced to the church by his wife, Bryan Athyn.
Wikipedia says the Swedenborgian Church of America “is one of the few Christian sects that draws its faith from the Bible as illuminated by the teachings of Emmanuel Swedenborg. The church’s website says it is “an open-minded, forward-looking Christian church drawing its faith from the Bible as illuminated by the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). If you have serious questions about traditional Christian theology, yet wish to explore the deeper aspects of the Bible and the Christian faith, we may be what you are looking for. We worship a God of unconditional love, whose warmth and light can deepen your inner life and give direction to your spiritual journey.”
“When I meditate, I go to that place where truth lives,” Oz told Religion News Service. “I can see what reality really is, and it’s so much easier to form good relationships with him.”
In 2016, President Trump named Oz to the Council and Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. Oz subsequently endorsed the use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to combat COVID-19, which Trump also touted in office.
Announcing his Senate campaign on the Washington Examiner‘s website on Tuesday (Nov. 30), Oz made an oblique reference to his Turkish American background, writing: “I witnessed my family’s sacrifices. My father grew up dirt poor (literally sleeping on a dirt floor) and loved this country as much as anyone already here.”
While his mother adhered to the secular vision of modern Turkey’s founder, Kemal Ataturk, Oz’s father was a strict Muslim, according to a 2012 interview for Henry Louis Gates Jr.’ PBS television programFaces of America. As a young man, Mehmet Oz said, he rebelled against both traditions and chose to align his views with Sufism, a mystical Islamic sect.
“I don’t want a baby” is as good of a reason to have an abortion as “I am a rape survivor.” Similarly, “I have no desire to procreate” is as good of a reason to take birth control as “I have endometriosis.” It’s an ob/gyn office not a church.
Conservative SCOTUS’ can’t connect all their beliefs because they are all bullshit religious opinions. Right to privacy? Not this time. Freedom from religion? Not this time.
Christofascism is here. ACB proves it
The misogyny of patriarchy.
Trump was against masks because it would mess with his orange make-up.
The right wing has nothing new to offer so they keep trying to scare their viewers, the cult base, with misleading cartoons. It has been pointed out that tRump added nearly 8 trillion to the debt with not a complaint from the right nor care of base. The plans of the Biden administration have been vetted to add to the income of the treasury and the increase the economy unlike tax breaks for the wealthy. When the GOP is running the show, not one Conservative cartoonists brings up “debt, big government (Trump did make the Government bigger during is term), or any “noise” about reckless spending”. And yet this Congress hasn’t come any where near the debt levels created by the GOP sponsored 2017 tax cuts that benefited no one but the wealthy. Now change ‘big government’ to ‘big military’ and see if it flies better. Hugs
Lisa must not have had anything worthwhile to draw to day, so she filled it with this. VPs tend to not do much unless you think of Dick Cheney and his highly profitable manipulation of Shrub. She is perceived as a real threat, that’s while all the attacks. They amount to a good recommendation. The media is already trying to stir up a nomination fight between her and Buttigieg for the ratings they hope to get. It is all about the click, the money, for corporate media. Hugs
Wow the projection is stunning. It has become a game for the right now to just blame everything their side / tRump did on Biden. It is a complete denial of reality. It is kid stuff with the rubber glue chant. Fingers in ears I don’t want to believe you shit. It gets tiring to respond. But I keep trying. Hugs
Here is the comment I left on the cartoon site. Every time I do this I get some clown tRump cult member with limited vocabulary and lack mental agility attacking me with the most tiresome fake right wing media talking points, at least the ones they can remember. Hugs
The unity problem is more the result of unrelenting nonsense attacks by right wing media, often simply made up stuff they know their base will not check. Law and order is actually better as the tRump admin used unidentified illegal squads to kidnap people off the streets who were using their constitutional right to protest. These people were taken to hidden locations, illegally questioned, detained, their items searched with out permission, never charged with a crime and then released often with out their phones or other property. Reporters protected by law and the 1st amendment were attacked and their equipment destroyed all to please the wannabe strongman dictator, tRump. The US has far more world respect now with Biden president than when tRump (also known as TFG, the former guy) was in office. TFG destroyed long running friendships with democracies and tried to start friendships with only authoritarian governments. The world reacted badly to that. The laws and people enforcing the borders have not changed despite Biden and the people want them too. The US is still violating the rights of those seeking refuge status as they did before. We still have freedom and some of us are still sane. Talk about nonsense phrases meaning nothing and everything. And before someone shouts Covid as a loss of freedom fact is the SCOTUS found a century ago the government had a right to enforce health laws / requirements. And lastly fuel prices. Fuel prices started coming down right after TFG approved selling the Saudi’s weaponry that every other US president refused, for good reason. But the Saudi’s put lots of money in both tRump’s and his son-in-law’s pockets so who cares about indiscriminate killing, right. Then came the pandemic with Covid ended a lot of need for fuel, travel mostly stopped, office buildings were empty, prices of fuel fell from lack of demand and over supply. Now that demand is rising and the OPEC nations throttling the supply to make up the profits they lost prices of fuel were rising. That is no more. For the last three weeks fuel prices, the cost per barrel of oil has fallen. If you are not seeing it at the pump it is because of price gouging and profit taking. Facts matter. These are the facts. Scottie
Not even close but nice to see the right wing trying hard to demonize those they disagree with. In case you don’t know the story Toobin He exposed himself during a Zoom call with colleagues in what he says was an accident. Toobin claimed “I didn’t think other people could see me,” and it seems that he was masturbating.
People familiar with the matter said that Toobin exposed himself when he began masturbating during the Zoom, apparently as part of a different video call. The people said that they did not believe he intended his colleagues to witness it.
It seemed to me to be an accident he did not intend to expose his sexual activity to others, he was removed from his jobs, he under went reviews and The New Yorker did not find any other forms of misconduct by him during its probe of his 27 years at the magazine.
It is well known that what Chris Cuomo did was completely different. Cuomo did try to deliberately deceive his co-workers, his bosses, and the viewers. He was doing things he knew his contract forbid and were against the company polices. But having said that why is the right wing so upset with Cuomo and Toobin but ignoring the many violations of rules by Fox News hosts? Fox news hosts go on stage at tRump rallies to promote tRump, and have since tRump was president. Cuomo was trying to help his brother, but Fox hosts were doing far more for tRump. When these cartoonist show the same outrage over that I will listen to their fake outrage over CNN. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 