Two Years of Covidiocy How the pandemic became part of the culture wars and brought out the dumb in our polarized politics. https://www.thebulwark.com/two-years-of-covidiocy/
From the article... So yes, you can have sympathy for the Canadian truckers. But give some thought, too, to people like Robert LaMay, a Seattle police officer who quit his job last October to protest Gov. Jay Inslee’s vaccination mandate for state employees (even though he himself had received a religious exemption). LaMay was hailed as a hero by Fox News and right-wing radio after he filmed himself in his patrol car on his last day on the job telling Gov. Inslee to “kiss my ass.” Less than four months later, he was dead of COVID at the age of 51, after four weeks in the hospital. ---------- I remember that Covidiot police officer because in the months prior to that...the forum here had its own Covidiots. Without naming anyone specific... One Covidiot proclaimed in December of 2020 that the Pandemic had reached Natural Herd Immunity. Then the United States alone proceeded to have another +200k deaths, +millions hospitalized from the Delta Variant of Concern. One Covidiot announced it's still a Hoax...he then disappeared for a while to only return to say he may have infected his family members including hospitalizing his sister...without saying he himself was infected with Covid. So much for the "Hoax". One Covidiot said it too was a Hoax and nobody in his city was infected with Covid. Thus, he didn't understand why there was a lockdown. He too disappear for about a week...then returned to the forum to brag about infecting his "mates" and that Covid was no more than just a cough. Three weeks later he states some of his "mates" died from Covid and then he begin wishing those vaccinated would die. Yep, some of his last words were that Covid was a Hoax and over-rated...something manifested/faked by Fauci. One Covidiot gave a timeline of the Apocalypse (most of the population would be wiped out) in 2021...well, here we are in 2022 and vaccines have saved our asses. One Covidiot posted videos of soccer players collapsing from Vaccination. Unfortunately for him, I'm a big soccer fan and immediately recognized all the shown players had fallen to the ground from soccer injuries in games prior to 2019 except one shown player...a player (Christian Eriksen) that collapsed during a game at the Euro 2020...he wasn't even vaccinated. The Covid idiot then wished "Death" upon those vaccinated and hoped they meet the same faith as Gabby Petito. One Covidiot changed his user name and then quietly disappeared from the forum...not revealing publicly that he infected one of his kids (a college student) that required hospitalization. He has countless anti-vaccine statements and misinformation/disinformation attacks on vaccines. The Covidiocy continues to grow just like that police officer. Hopefully, Omicron with its mild illness has infected enough of the not vaccinated so that they'll have some protection for a few more months just in case another Variant of Concern shows up soon while countries are removing mandates and removing restrictions. Just the same, I hope Omicron has infected enough of the vaccinated to give them Super Immunity because Covid is still here and still a danger. It's sad to say, Omicron came a year too late. wrbtrader
Another loud-mouthed anti-vax idiot bites the dust... State trooper who told off Washington Gov. Jay Inslee over vaccine mandate dies from COVID https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/s...er-vaccine-mandate-dies-from-covid/ar-AATnxLZ TACOMA, Wash. — A former Washington State Patrol trooper who told off Gov. Jay Inslee over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, resigned and then became a sought-after media figure, has died, according to the State Patrol. Trooper Robert LaMay's death was announced Friday. He was 50. According to FOX News, KIRO News Radio, Newsweek and other media sources, LaMay died after contracting COVID-19. His former boss, State Patrol Chief John Batiste, said he was deeply saddened to hear of LaMay's death Friday. "Rob served honorably for over two decades and we were disappointed to see him leave the agency this past October," Batiste said. "His service to this state and agency will be long remembered and appreciated." LaMay took early retirement in October rather than get vaccinated. A video shows him giving his final radio call in which he tells Inslee to "kiss my a--." The video went viral and LaMay soon was appearing on numerous news outlets. No statement from his family has been issued. Last summer, LaMay had said he and his family did not "do" vaccines and he never received any as an adult. In August, on his Facebook account, he said vaccines go against his religious beliefs. His account is no longer visible. While 73 other commissioned officers quit the State Patrol over the mandate, none received the media celebrity status LaMay did. On Jan. 12, Jerrod Sessler, a Prosser businessman running for Congress in Washington's 4th District, announced that LaMay had endorsed him. "Mr. Lamay took the hearts of Americans by storm when he resigned from his position as a state trooper because he refused to succumb to the mandates enforced upon him by a constitutionally over-extended governor," Sessler said. Sessler said he would appoint LaMay to head an anti-human-trafficking task force he would commission. In the endorsement, LaMay accuses state politicians of ignoring human trafficking. He went on to say, "many of whom are involved in it themselves and do not want it to go away." LaMay joined the State Patrol in 1999 as a trooper cadet. He was commissioned in 2001. The trooper served in Poulsbo, Bremerton, Ellensburg and, most recently, Yakima. He worked as an armorer, collision reconstructionist and as a drug recognition expert. LaMay's is the not the first high profile death to affect the State Patrol. Trooper Eric Gunderson died Sept. 26 after contracting COVID while on business for the agency six weeks earlier. The trooper was 38 and unvaccinated but his family said he would have followed the mandate. "It is important for everyone to know, he was not a part of any anti-vaccine or political movement," Gunderson's family said in a statement. To date, 10,699 Washington residents have died of COVID.
Michelle Bachmann is “struggling with COVID pretty severely” but she’s still spouting anti-vaxx BS She kept her camera off because she's so sick, but that didn't stop her from joining a Zoom to spout nonsense about COVID vaccines. https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/05...ty-severely-shes-still-spouting-anti-vaxx-bs/
How worrying. He is "anxious". He would be less anxious if he understood that the Covid vaccine greatly prevents severe illness and death in people. Especially elderly people. Vaccine Skeptic Eric Clapton Contracts COVID, Cancels Shows Because He’s ‘Anxious’ The anti-lockdown guitar legend was warned he could “substantially delay his full recovery” if he continues touring. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eric-clapton-covid-positive_n_62836fb1e4b003ed29664e19
Bored with spreading Covid misinformation, world's idiots have moved onto the 5G Bird Flu Vegetarian Conspiracy. You know... when they aren't to busy parroting Putin's talking points. Conspiracy theorists flock to bird flu, spreading falsehoods https://www.twincities.com/2022/05/17/conspiracy-theorists-flock-to-bird-flu-spreading-falsehoods/ Brad Moline, a fourth-generation Iowa turkey farmer, saw this happen before. In 2015, a virulent avian flu outbreak nearly wiped out his flock. Barns once filled with chattering birds were suddenly silent. Employees were anguished by having to kill sickened animals. The family business, started in 1924, was at serious risk. His business recovered, but now the virus is back, again imperiling the nation’s poultry farms. And this time, there’s another pernicious force at work: a potent wave of misinformation that claims the bird flu isn’t real. “You just want to beat your head against the wall,” Moline said of the Facebook groups in which people insist the flu is fake or, maybe, a bioweapon. “I understand the frustration with how COVID was handled. I understand the lack of trust in the media today. I get it. But this is real.” While it poses little risk to humans, the global outbreak has led farmers to cull millions of birds and threatens to add to already rising food prices. It’s also spawning fantastical claims similar to the ones that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring how conspiracy theories often emerge at times of uncertainty, and how the internet and a deepening distrust of science and institutions fuel their spread. The claims can be found on obscure online message boards and major platforms like Twitter. Some versions claim the flu is fake, a hoax being used to justify reducing the supply of birds in an effort to drive up food prices, either to wreck the global economy or force people into vegetarianism. “There is no ‘bird flu’ outbreak,” wrote one man on Reddit. “It’s just Covid for chickens.” Other posters insist the flu is real, but that it was genetically engineered as a weapon, possibly intended to touch off a new round of COVID-style lockdowns. A version of the story popular in India posits that 5G cell towers are somehow to blame for the virus. As evidence, many of those claiming that the flu is fake note that animal health authorities monitoring the outbreak are using some of the same technology used to test for COVID-19. “They’re testing the animals for bird flu with PCR tests. That should give you a clue as to what’s going on,” wrote one Twitter user, in a post that’s been liked and retweeted thousands of times. In truth, PCR tests have been used routinely in medicine, biology and even law enforcement for decades; their creator won a Nobel Prize in 1993. The reality of the outbreak is far more mundane, if no less devastating to birds and people who depend on them for their livelihood. Farmers in states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota have already culled millions of fowl to prevent the outbreak from spreading. Zoos around the U.S. have moved exotic bird exhibits indoors to protect their animals, and wildlife authorities are discouraging backyard bird feeding in some states to prevent the spread by wild birds. The disease has also claimed bald eagles around the country. The first known human case of the H5N1 outbreak in the U.S. was confirmed last month in Colorado in a prison inmate who had been assisting with culling and disposing of poultry at a local farm. Most human cases involve direct contact with infected birds, meaning the risk to a broad population is low, but experts around the country are monitoring the virus closely just to be sure, according to Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, an agency that tracks animal disease in part to protect the state’s agricultural industries. “I can guarantee you, this is the real deal,” Poulsen told The Associated Press. “We certainly aren’t making this up.” Poultry farms drive the local economy in some parts of Wisconsin, Poulsen said, adding that a devastating outbreak of avian flu could create real hardships for farmers as well as consumers. While the details may vary, the conspiracy theories about avian flu all speak to a distrust of authority and institutions, and a suspicion that millions of doctors, scientists, veterinarians, journalists and elected officials around the world can no longer be trusted. “Americans clearly understand that the federal government and major media have lied to them repeatedly, and are completely corrupted by the pharmaceutical companies,” said Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopath whose discredited claims about vaccines, masks and the coronavirus made him a prominent source of COVID-19 misinformation. Mercola’s interest in the bird flu dates back years A 2006 book for sale on his website, which Mercola uses to sell unproven natural health remedies, is titled “The Great Bird Flu Hoax.” Polls show trust in many American institutions — including the news media — has fallen in recent years. Trust in science and scientific experts is also down, and along partisan lines. Moline, the Iowa turkey farmer, said he sympathizes with people who question what they read about viruses, given the last two years and bitter debates about masks, vaccines and lockdowns. But he said anyone who doubts the existence or seriousness of the avian flu doesn’t understand the threat. The 2015 outbreak was later determined to be the most expensive animal health disaster in U.S. history. Moline’s farm had to cull tens of thousands of turkeys after the flu got into one of his barns. Workers at the farm now abide by a hygiene policy meant to limit the spread of viruses, including using different pairs of boots and clothes for different barns. Conspiracy theories are bound to flourish during times of social unrest or unease, according to John Jackson, dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Before the internet, there were likely just as many people who privately doubted explanations for big events, Jackson said. But they enjoyed limited opportunities to connect with like-minded individuals, few chances to win new converts, and no way to broadcast their views to strangers. Now, the conspiracy theories that gain wide popularity — such as the QAnon movement or discredited claims about COVID-19 — work because they give believers a sense of control in a rapidly changing, interconnected world, Jackson said. While they can emerge after disasters, assassinations or plane crashes, they can also appear during times of social upheaval or rapid change. “There isn’t a phenomena on the planet, whether it’s the avian flu or 5G, that isn’t already primed for conspiracists,” Jackson said. “Now we have coronavirus, which has traumatized us so profoundly … we look at this same idea of bird flu with completely new eyes, and we bring different kinds of conspiracy to it.” Claims that the avian flu is a hoax used to drive up food prices also highlight real-world concerns about inflation and food shortages. Worries that the flu is somehow linked to 5G towers underscore anxieties about technological change. Suggestions that it will be used to mandate vegetarianism, on the other hand, reflect uncertainties about sustainable agriculture, climate change and animal welfare. By creating explanations, conspiracy theories can offer the believer a sense of power or control, Jackson said. But he said they also defy common sense in their cinematic fantasies about vast, sprawling conspiracies of millions working with clockwork efficiency to undermine human affairs. “Conspiracy theories rest on the idea that humans have the capacity for keeping secrets,” Jackson said. “But they underestimate the reality that we aren’t very good at keeping them.”
Even getting sicker... Eric Clapton COVID Worse: Unvaxxed Guitarist Cancels Two More Shows, in Italy, After Railing Against Treatment https://www.showbiz411.com/2022/05/...xed-guitarist-cancels-two-more-shows-in-italy