Middleboro Review and so on blogspot: ANTI-VAX

Showing posts with label ANTI-VAX. Show all posts

Sunday, February 13, 2022

Top News: GOP Calling Trump Coup Effort 'Legitimate Political Discourse' Should Still Be Frontpage News

February 13, 2022

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

RSN: FOCUS: Paul Krugman | Attack of the Right-Wing Thought Police

26 January 22

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FOCUS: Paul Krugman | Attack of the Right-Wing Thought Police
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "Freedom is under attack, on more fronts than many people realize."

Americans like to think of their nation as a beacon of freedom. And despite all the ways in which we have failed to live up to our self-image, above all the vast injustices that sprang from the original sin of slavery, freedom — not just free elections, but also freedom of speech and thought — has long been a key element of the American idea.

Now, however, freedom is under attack, on more fronts than many people realize. Everyone knows about the Big Lie, the refusal by a large majority of Republicans to accept the legitimacy of a lost election. But there are many other areas in which freedom is not just under assault but in retreat.

Let’s talk, in particular, about the attack on education, especially but not only in Florida, which has become one of America’s leading laboratories of democratic erosion.

Republicans have made considerable political hay by denouncing the teaching of critical race theory; this strategy has succeeded even though most voters have no idea what that theory is and it isn’t actually being taught in public schools. But the facts in this case don’t matter, because denunciations of CRT are basically a cover for a much bigger agenda: an attempt to stop schools from teaching anything that makes right-wingers uncomfortable.

I use that last word advisedly: There’s a bill advancing in the Florida Senate declaring that an individual “should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race.” That is, the criterion for what can be taught isn’t “Is it true? Is it supported by the scholarly consensus?” but rather “Does it make certain constituencies uncomfortable?”

Anyone tempted to place an innocuous interpretation on this provision — maybe it’s just about not assigning collective guilt? — should read the text of the bill. Among other things, it cites as its two prime examples of things that must not happen in schools “denial or minimization of the Holocaust, and the teaching of critical race theory” — because suggesting that “racism is embedded in American society” (the bill’s definition of the theory) is just the same as denying that Hitler killed 6 million Jews.

What’s really striking, however, is the idea that schools should be prohibited from teaching anything that causes “discomfort” among students and their parents. If you imagine that the effects of applying this principle would be limited to teaching about race relations, you’re being utterly naive.

For one thing, racism is far from being the only disturbing topic in American history. I’m sure that some students will find that the story of how we came to invade Iraq — or for that matter how we got involved in Vietnam — makes them uncomfortable. Ban those topics from the curriculum!

Then there’s the teaching of science. Most high schools do teach the theory of evolution, but leading Republican politicians are either evasive or actively deny the scientific consensus, presumably reflecting the GOP base’s discomfort with the concept. Once the Florida standard takes hold, how long will teaching of evolution survive?

Geology, by the way, has the same problem. I have been on nature tours where the guides refuse to talk about the origins of rock formations, saying that they have had problems with some religious guests.

Oh, and given the growing importance of anti-vaccination posturing as a badge of conservative allegiance, how long before basic epidemiology — maybe even the germ theory of disease — gets the critical race theory treatment?

And then there’s economics, which these days is widely taught at the high school level. (Full disclosure: Many high schools use an adapted version of the principles text I co-author.) Given the long history of politically driven attempts to prevent the teaching of Keynesian economics, what do you think the Florida standard would do to teaching in my home field?

The point is that the smear campaign against critical race theory is almost certainly the start of an attempt to subject education in general to rule by the right-wing thought police, which will have dire effects far beyond the specific topic of racism.

And who will enforce the rules? State-sponsored vigilantes! Last month Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, proposed a “Stop Woke Act” that would empower parents to sue school districts they claim teach critical race theory — and collect lawyer fees, a setup modeled on the bounties under Texas’ new anti-abortion law. Even the prospect of such lawsuits would have a chilling effect on teaching.

Did I mention that DeSantis also wants to create a special police force to investigate election fraud? Like the attacks on critical race theory, this is obviously an attempt to use a made-up issue — voter fraud is largely nonexistent — as an excuse for intimidation.

OK, I’m sure that some people will say that I’m making too much of these issues. But ask yourself: Has there been any point over, say, the past five years when warnings about right-wing extremism have proved overblown and those dismissing those warnings as “alarmist” have been right?

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Court deals major blow to GOP election-rigging scheme

Today's Top Stories:

Federal court strikes down GOP's new Alabama congressional maps
Spoiler alert: the absurd gerrymanders were wildly unfair to Black voters.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Jen Psaki just wrecked Ron DeSantis in a stinging takedown
"Medicine doesn't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. It'll either be effective or not."

Republicans contend with WORST CASE scenario in Wisconsin
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Not looking good...

Congress rushing through a massive $500 million Ukraine defense bill
Somehow, nobody is asking how we're going to pay for it.

In Trump’s honor, Arizona Republicans approve conspiracy-based election bills
The Big Lie is set to become public policy in the Grand Canyon State.

Biden administration officially withdraws vaccine rule
The Supreme Court ruling has put an end to a vaccine-or-test mandate at companies with more than 100 employees.

Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper retires after Tennessee district dismantled
Aggressive GOP gerrymandering has forced yet another Democrat into early retirement.

Fox News guest declares mRNA boosters "dangerous" and ineffective"
Tucker Carlson put yet another anti-vaccine propagandist on center stage in his ongoing quest to keep America very afraid.

Alex Jones met with 1/6 committee and says he pleaded the Fifth "almost 100 times"
It appears the infamous conspiracy theorist knows quite a bit he doesn't want to share with insurrection investigators.

Biden: There won't be "American forces moving into Ukraine"
The president assured the nation that we will not be getting involved in another destructive land war.

San Jose just voted to institute first-in-the-nation gun ownership requirements
Gun owners will now have to pay a fee and liability insurance for their weapons.

Seriously?

New $13 billion aircraft carrier can't properly defend itself

25yo Black man sues after police mistake him for 51yo white ex-felon

GOP say Democrats’ virus drug guidance is anti-white

Bravo fires Real Housewife over racist posts

Yes. Seriously.

Coast Guard searching for 39 people after boat capsizes near Florida

Family of Black man killed on trip call death modern-day lynching

LGBTQ Afghans face surge of rape, torture after Taliban takeover

Hospitals allocating scarce COVID drugs for immunocompromised via lottery

Hope...

Free N95 masks are arriving at pharmacies and grocery stores. Here's how to get yours

Striking workers ratify new contract with Kroger, score raises

California redwood forest returned to native tribal group

Lawsuit alleging Big Oil misled on climate change moves forward

Monday, January 24, 2022

GOP ex-speaker threatens 1/6 House panel with jail

NATO sends ships, jets east as Ireland rejects Russia war games off its coast

Today's Top Stories:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is advising GOP leadership, floats jail time for 1/6 committee members
"This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels," GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who sits on the committee, said.

RICH,
VIDEO OF THE DAY: GOP Sen. Joni Ernst falls on her face when asked how restricting voting makes it safer
Spoiler alert — it's not really about making voting "safer."

Republicans contend with WORST CASE scenario in Wisconsin
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Not looking good...

US weighs troop deployment near Ukraine, orders embassy families out
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin briefed President Biden about US options for responding if Russia invades Ukraine, while the State Department ordered family members of embassy employees in Kyiv to leave and authorized nonemergency diplomatic employees in Ukraine to depart, as well.

Bill Barr spoke with 1/6 House committee about Trump White House plan to seize voting machines
House investigators interviewed the former attorney general about a draft executive order written by the Trump White House that would have called for State Sec. Mike Pompeo to seize voting machines and begin a special counsel investigation into the 2020 election.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. invokes Nazi Germany in offensive anti-vaccine speech
At a rally against vaccine mandates in Washington, DC, RFK Jr. likened vaccine policies in the US to the actions of a totalitarian state, even suggesting Anne Frank was in a better situation when she was hiding from the Nazis.

Florida school district cancels professor’s civil rights lecture over critical race theory concerns
THIS is cancel culture.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn, and Lauren Boebert's extremism costing them support from their voters
United Rural Democrats: New extremists in Congress are taking their districts for granted while delivering nothing for them. United Rural Democrats is organizing on the ground to shock Republicans by winning back Middle America. But they need your help!

Aerial surveys detect dozens of methane "super-emitters'" in Texas and New Mexico
Around 30 oil and gas facilities across the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico spewed large amounts of methane for three years, emitting the equivalent climate pollution from half a million cars, according to a report released on Monday.

Video shows Trump suffering his own "please clap" moment at Mar-a-Lago
Six years after Jeb Bush secured his place in meme history as the "please clap" guy, the same fate has befallen the 75-year-old ex-president.

Mary Trump says uncle will "stop protecting" Ivanka and "throw anybody under the bus" if he thinks it will benefit him
"Donald isn't playing the card that she's his child to protect her. He's doing that to protect himself because he knows she may indeed have potentially damning information," Mary Trump said.

Lesbian sues US Army and Air Force over boss’s demand she grow her hair and wear makeup
Tech. Sgt. Kristin M. Kingrey, a 14-year member of the West Virginia Air National Guard, is suing the Army and Air Force, claiming a senior male leader said she should grow her hair, wear makeup, "and ultimately appear more feminine," or prepare to face the negative professional consequences.