A pro-Trump evangelical advised getting the COVID-19 vaccine. His fans revolted. https://theweek.com/speedreads/9737...advised-getting-covid19-vaccine-fans-revolted Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham and a prominent evangelical himself, published a Facebook post Wednesday on the COVID-19 vaccines. He's "been asked if Jesus were physically walking on earth now, would He be an advocate for vaccines," Graham wrote. His answer was "yes." Graham said he and his wife have been vaccinated and advised followers to consult their doctor about the best plan for their health. Graham's fans mostly weren't having it. Top comments with thousands of likes told Graham, who runs a charitable organization that operated pandemic field hospitals to relieve strain on medical facilities, he should do more research. One reply chastised Graham, 68, for saying he wants to continue living. It doesn't matter "how many shots you get," the commenter said, "when its [sic] your time no vaccine will save you." Others questioned his faith. It's not surprising to find vaccine skepticism among Graham's fan base; polling shows white evangelicals are unusually hesitant about the vaccines. Hesitancy is also high among Republicans, and Graham has been a reliable booster of former President Donald Trump. What's interesting here isn't that Graham's followers rejected his pro-vaccine message; it's that he issued it at all, and perhaps did so with an expectation of more positive reception. On that note, here's an interesting tidbit for Graham or anyone attempting to overcome unwarranted vaccine hesitancy: A contributing factor may be the overwhelming negativity of U.S. national news coverage of all pandemic stories, including positive developments like the vaccines. As The New York Times reported Wednesday, a recent study found our national media is more negative than "scientific journals, major international publications, and regional U.S. media." (The Week is a notable exception.) That negativity persists across ideological lines, and though it may well be a response to news consumers' demand, it must also shape their perspective in turn. Did it shape the response Graham got? It certainly seems plausible. Wherever his followers are getting their views, it obviously outranks the counsel of a voice they once trusted.
Far-right extremists move from 'Stop the Steal' to 'Stop the Vaccine' If the so-called "Stop the Steal" movement appeared to be chasing a lost cause, its supporters are now adopting a new agenda. https://www.startribune.com/far-rig...stop-the-steal-to-stop-the-vaccine/600039125/ Adherents of far-right groups who cluster online have turned repeatedly to one particular website in recent weeks — the federal database showing deaths and adverse reactions nationwide among people who have received COVID-19 vaccinations. Although negative reactions have been relatively rare, the numbers are used by many extremist groups to try to bolster a rash of false and alarmist disinformation in articles and videos with titles like "COVID-19 Vaccines Are Weapons of Mass Destruction — and Could Wipe out the Human Race" or "Doctors and Nurses Giving the COVID-19 Vaccine Will be Tried as War Criminals." If the so-called "Stop the Steal" movement appeared to be chasing a lost cause once President Joe Biden was inaugurated, its supporters among extremist organizations are now adopting a new agenda from the anti-vaccination campaign to try to undermine the government. Bashing of the safety and efficacy of vaccines is occurring in chat rooms frequented by all manner of right-wing groups including the Proud Boys; the Boogaloo movement, a loose affiliation known for wanting to spark a second Civil War; and various paramilitary organizations. These groups tend to portray vaccines as a symbol of excessive government control. "If less people get vaccinated then the system will have to use more aggressive force on the rest of us to make us get the shot," read a recent post on the Telegram social media platform, in a channel linked to members of the Proud Boys charged in storming the Capitol. The marked focus on vaccines is particularly striking on discussion channels populated by followers of QAnon, who had falsely prophesied that Donald Trump would continue as president while his political opponents were marched off to jail. "They rode the shift in the national conversation away from Trump to what was happening with the massive ramp up in vaccines," said Devin Burghart, the head of the Seattle-based Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, which monitors far-right movements, referring to followers of QAnon. "It allowed them to pivot away from the failure of their previous prophecy to focus on something else." On Jan. 6, while rioters advanced on the Capitol, numerous leading figures in the anti-vaccination movement were onstage nearby, holding their own rally to attack both the election results and COVID-19 vaccinations. Events overshadowed their protest, but at least one outspoken activist, Dr. Simone Gold of Beverly Hills, California, was charged with breaching the Capitol. She called her arrest an attack on free speech. She was one of several doctors who appeared in a video last year spreading misleading claims about the coronavirus. Trump shared a version of the video, which Facebook, YouTube and Twitter removed after millions of viewers watched it. In the months since inoculations started in December, the alliance grouping extremist organizations with the anti-vaccination movement has grown larger and more vocal, as conspiracy theories about vaccines proliferated while those about the presidential vote count receded. With their protests continuing, far-right groups deployed many of the same talking points as the vaccination opponents. Prominent voices in both the "Stop the Steal" and the anti-vaccination movements helped to organize scattered rallies on March 20 against vaccines, masks and social distancing in American cities including Portland, Oregon, and Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as in Europe, Australia, Canada and other countries around the world. In April, a conference with the tagline "Learn How to Fight Back for Your Health and Freedom," is set to bring together Trump allies like Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell along with high-profile members of the anti-vaccination effort. Maligning the coronavirus vaccines is obviously not limited to extremist groups tied to the Capitol riot. There is deep partisanship over the vaccines generally. One-third of Republicans surveyed in a CBS News poll said that they would avoid getting vaccinated — compared with 10% of Democrats — and another 20% of Republicans said they were unsure. Other polls found similar trends. About 100 members of the House of Representatives, roughly one-quarter, had not been vaccinated as of mid-March, according to Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the House minority leader. It is unclear where Trump will fit into the vaccine battle. The former president, who has been vaccinated, endorsed getting the shot recently, provoking some disbelief in QAnon and other chat rooms. "I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me frankly," he said in an interview with Fox News. Across right wing-channels online, certain constant memes have emerged attacking the vaccine, like a cartoon suggesting that what started with mask mandates will end with concentration camps run by FEMA for those who refuse vaccinations. Numerous channels link to the government website called VAERS, for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, to energize followers. It had reported 2,216 deaths among people vaccinated for the three months before March 22, with 126 million doses administered. The COVID-19 vaccines in use, like most vaccinations, are considered overwhelmingly safe, but inevitably a small percentage of recipients suffer adverse reactions, some of them severe. The deaths have not been directly linked to the vaccinations. The raw, incomplete VAERS statistics are meant for scientists and medical professionals, but are widely used among extremist groups to try to undermine confidence in the vaccine. One video consisted of a person reading the details from the chart aloud barking "Murder" where the chart said "Death." On Telegram, channels frequented by tens of thousands of QAnon followers are full of videos warning of the dire consequences of taking the vaccine. For example, David Icke, a British serial conspiracy theorist, posted a video called "Murder by Vaccine" saying that it transformed the nature of the human body. (The claims that the vaccines change human DNA are false.) Icke was previously best known for pushing the idea that the world was controlled by shape-shifting alien lizards who inhabited a global network of underground tunnels. The general proliferation of conspiracy theories by QAnon followers for years has helped to create a shared vocabulary among far-right organizations, experts said, which smoothed the way for spreading false information about the vaccines. "The last year with COVID has just been a perfect storm that whatever your crazy conspiracy belief is, there is someone who has a COVID conspiracy to match it," said Melissa Ryan, CEO of Card Strategies, a consulting firm that researches disinformation. The vaccines are sometimes referred to as a "potion," sometimes as a "bioweapon," and there are claims that vaccinated people are "shedding mutant viruses." Telegram is the locus of much of the disinformation and fear mongering. On one channel, there are claims that the vaccine is an instrument of depopulation. "A massive death wave will be witnessed later this year among those who took the vaccine," read one posting. In Idaho, far-right activist Ammon Bundy helped to push for a proposed state law to ban any mandatory vaccines, although work stalled after the Legislature suspended its work on March 19 for more than two weeks because too many lawmakers contracted the coronavirus. The question is where this newly forged alliance goes from here. Some analysts believe its life span will prove limited, with the far-right pivoting to some other issue, like immigration. Eventually, hundreds of millions of Americans will be vaccinated, they noted, and vaccine skepticism is not the same thing as being anti-vaccination. Some doubters will soften if time proves the vaccines effective. A new report by the Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University noted, however, that although the de-platforming of extremist groups made their campaigns harder to follow, the alliance has the potential to meld disparate factions into a large anti-government movement united around public health issues. "It increases the opportunity for a big tent enemy," said Joel Finkelstein, a fellow at Rutgers who runs the institute. "If you are feeling dispossessed, like all these right-wing groups are, boy do I have a tent for you."
Let's have your governor allow university medical researchers to evaluate Florida's COVID data and then we can determine if things are really "normal" in Florida.
Right. Some random group comes out of nowhere and throws out an idea that might give you a lifeline, and you rush to embrace it while simultaneously criticizing anyone and everyone that comes out of nowhere to challenge your own assertions. You're the epitome of a fucking hypocrite. People on both sides of the aisle around here note your uncanny ability to move goalposts, never admit being incorrect and making up shit whenever it suits you. Its a shame to see how far you've fallen from the old days when you supposedly were subject to people trying to dox you (assuming that was even true - who knows, you make everything else up).
How many times have I stated over the past months that Florida is the only state not providing university medical researchers with their COVID data..... and the DeSantis administration needs to do this to validate their data. How is this "moving the goal posts" -- the goal posts have been consistently the same for over 9 months. Yet... all you argue when I state this is "prove that Florida is not the only state not providing COVID data to university medical researchers". You can't deny that Florida is failing to do this... all you quibble over if Florida is the only state. Well they are the only state failing to provide university medical researchers with COVID data -- and it is sad that this is the only defense you can come up with for the irresponsible actions of the DeSantis administration with the obvious intent of hiding the real data to drive DeSantis' political narrative.
Dude, you've been claiming all sorts of things about Florida that have been wrong since the start of the pandemic. I don't expect you to improve your record any time soon. I've said it before, you lack basic critical thinking skills. Its not your fault, I suppose. Yes, I do require proof. Much like you wanted (rightfully so) proof of election fraud allegation. You hate DeSantis, are worried his popularity is increasing, and loathe that he bucked all of your bullshit fear mongering and did his own thing, only to have Florida flourish and become the envy of the country.
This is a state where DeSantis stated quite publicly he would not provide the federal Coronavirus Task Force weekly reports which contradicted his narrative. The newspapers had to sue the state to get these reports. You can't make a case that DeSantis is not hiding Florida COVID data when he states quite publicly he will not release COVID data about Florida. And once again you have no defense against Florida hiding COVID data.... you merely re-direct with your usual nonsense about how good Florida is doing. But Florida is not doing good -- the DeSantis administration is merely lying to all the residents.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves: Education is key to reducing vaccine hesitancy https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/apr/4/mississippi-gov-tate-reeves-education-is-key-to-re/ Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Sunday the key to reducing vaccine hesitancy is driving home the message that getting the shot is safe and crucial to returning to a pre-pandemic life. Mr. Reeves, a Republican, said it would be “helpful” for former President Donald Trump and other leaders across the country to urge people to get vaccinated, but added that it is more important to “educate folks. “We need to make sure that we educate our people and let them know that this vaccine is safe,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think the education piece is more important than the endorsement piece if you would,” the governor said. Mr. Reeves said the message could help ease the reluctance to take the vaccine in rural parts of the country. More than 1.3 million coronavirus vaccinations have been distributed in Mississippi and more than 535,000 residents are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s health department. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 25% of Mississippi’s population has received a shot and 16% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated.
Trumpers lose their minds when Ivanka gets vaccinated... Trump supporters blast Ivanka for urging Americans to get vaccinated: "Stop trying to manipulate us" "I'm losing respect for the Trump family," one individual says. "So over this virtue signaling" https://www.salon.com/2021/04/15/tr...cinated-stop-trying-to-manipulate-us_partner/ On Wednesday, Ivanka Trump posted an image of herself being vaccinated for COVID-19 to Instagram, urging her followers to get immunized as well. "Today, I got the shot!!! I hope that you do too!" wrote Ivanka. "Thank you Nurse Torres!!!" But Ivanka's urging fell on unwilling ears. Her post quickly filled up with angry replies from Trump supporters refusing to be vaccinated and suggesting a government conspiracy — despite the fact that the development of the vaccine began under, and was promoted by, former President Donald Trump himself. "I'm losing respect for the Trump family. So over this virtue signaling," said one poster. Another said, "No thanks! Don't want to be a lab rat. #justsayno." Yet another replied, "Your personal choice but please don't push on others." "No thanks! With a 99% survival rate, I shall pass. With Bill Gates involved I will not get one," said Rice448. "Hell no. Why would you post this?" asked kenny_vv. "Nope not putting that in my body," said call_me_g95. "Bummer. I was hoping you were above this kind of virtue signaling," rmgvd commented. "Wow that's extremely disappointing, but honestly I'm not surprised," said heather_15la. "Nope and please stop trying to manipulate us into doing so. It's surprising to see you doing this now like the left and Hollywood have been," said the__real__american. In recent weeks, polling indicates the percent of Americans unwilling to be vaccinated has dropped significantly. However, vaccine refusers remain, with white Republicans being among the most hostile group.