Right-wing media peddles HILARIOUS new vax conspiracy

 

Today’s Action: Pass the PRO Act!

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Trudeau holds onto power in Canada

Today's Top Stories:

Telling people to get vaccinated is leftist plot against Trump voters, Breitbart claims
The hysteria over simple, safe, effective vaccines has reached a most feverish pitch.

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VIDEO OF THE DAY: Fox News' Peter Doocy tries another gotcha question on Jen Psaki, instantly gets shut down
Imagine if the nation's largest conservative news outlet spent time worrying about the actual number of people dying of COVID rather than extracting imagined hypocrisies from credible White House health policy.

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Centrists pull FATAL stunt
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Beyond dangerous.

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Tucker Carlson has a bonkers new COVID vaccine conspiracy theory
Not to be outdone by the braintrust at Breitbart, the incendiary Fox News host is now baselessly claiming that the Pentagon's COVID vaccine mandate aims to identify "sincere Christians," "free thinkers," and "men with high testosterone levels" in the US armed forces.

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Justice Department urges Supreme Court not to overturn Roe v. Wade
The DOJ was one of over 40 parties to file a friend-of-the-court brief to support the Mississippi case involving the Jackson Women's Health Organization — the sole abortion provider in the state.

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US COVID death toll surpasses 1918 flu fatalities
It didn't have to go this way.

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Texas megachurch preacher and Trump devotee says there is no "credible religious argument" against COVID-19 vaccines
A little louder for those in the back, please.

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Biden announces plan to combat extreme heat caused by climate change
Extreme heat is now the leading weather-related killer in the US, and it is becoming more common and severe. This summer, at 2.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the historical average, was the warmest on record in the continental US.

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Democrats tie government funding to debt bill as GOP plays chicken again
Democratic congressional leaders backed by the White House say they will push ahead with a vote to fund the government and suspend the debt limit, all but daring Republicans who say they will vote against it despite the risk of a fiscal crisis.

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CIA director's team member reported Havana Syndrome symptoms during India trip
The official reported symptoms consistent with so-called Havana Syndrome, a mysterious affliction that has struck diplomats, spies, and other government workers at home and abroad.

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White House says images of Border Patrol with apparent whip are "obviously horrific"
"I've seen some of the footage. I don't have the full context. I can't imagine what context would make that appropriate, but I don't have additional details, and certainly I don't have additional context," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. "I don't think anyone seeing that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate."

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Seriously?

Biden using Trump-era policy to expel Haitians at Texas border

75 dogs killed in fire at Texas kennel

GOP state lawmaker to Dem colleague: I hope 'your car explodes'

Yes. Seriously.

Alabama recorded more deaths than births in 2020

Sudan thwarts coup attempt, dozens in custody

US easing virus restrictions for foreign flights to America

Politico pardoned by Trump accused of illegal campaign scam

Daughter blames Tucker Carlson, Fox for father's COVID death

Hope...

GoodGoodGood: Advocacy, fundraising driving worldwide HIV/AIDS deaths down

LGBTQ vets to receive full VA benefits under new Biden plan

Pfizer vaccine results for younger kids give anxious parents hope

J&J says booster shot provides robust protection

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Today’s Action: Pass the PRO Act!

Striking union workers employed by Nabisco just agreed on a deal with Mondelez International, the parent company of Oreo and Ritz. The 4-year contract was overwhelmingly approved by members and included hourly wage increases each year, a pension plan, and long-overdue updates to workplace policies. The strike involved workers from five different states and is an incredible testament to the power of a unionized workplace. 

The fact is, when unions thrive, American workers and families thrive, too. It’s that simple. For this reason, we must pass The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.

Call (202-224-3121) or write your representatives and demand they support the PRO Act! Send them this petition with almost 40,000 signatures in favor of its passage!

Everyone should have the right to organize their workplace and join a union like those at Nabisco, but  fewer than 11% of American workers are presently unionized. Meanwhile, wages have decreased while the cost of living has increased. Every worker has the right to fight for a living wage and better working conditions. The PRO Act would protect and guarantee the right to union membership and democratized workplaces. 

History shows that unions work. Teachers striking in LA in 2019 negotiated a 6% raise. Striking Frito-Lay workers in Kansas and Amazon workers in Alabama have shown us just how valuable the right to unionize is by fighting incredibly wealthy corporations for better working conditions. The struggle at Nabisco was no exception.

Call (202-224-3121) or write your representatives and ask them to support the PRO Act in solidarity with the Nabisco workers and organized labor throughout the US!

PS — Please don't forget to sign the petition demanding Fox News be held liable for vaccine disinformation that’s getting people killed, and be sure to follow OD Action on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

2017 still lives. It is easier to control people! And topple Democracy! When you can keep life chaotic, fearful and emotional.

Simply destroy stability!! CALM! And logic!

Then you can just walk in and take over.

Bannon does have ideological ties to Russia—and arguably they've had a profound impact on the administration's relationship with the Kremlin.

NEWSWEEK.COM

Inside Steve Bannon's ideological ties to Russia

Steve Bannon doesn't seem to be caught up in the Russiagate probes, but he does have an ideological link to Moscow

Alexander Dugin and Steve Bannon's Ideological Ties to Vladimir Putin's Russia

BY OWEN MATTHEWS ON 04/17/17

pdated | These days, having any sort of ties to Moscow is politically toxic in Washington. Recent reports indicate President Donald Trump may have borrowed Russian money to keep his property empire afloat—while several investigations are underway into alleged Kremlin interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, hasn't been implicated in any of the ongoing probes. But Bannon does have ideological ties to Russia—and arguably they've had a profound impact on the administration's relationship with the Kremlin.

At least until now. In early April, Bannon was booted off Trump's National Security Council in a White House coup that was at least partly a scuffle over how to confront a resurgent Russia. Days later, after the Moscow-protected government in Syria killed civilians in a chemical attack, Bannon lost a heated debate with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, over whether to punish the regime in Damascus. Despite these setbacks, Bannon remains an influential voice in the Trump administration, and his revolutionary brand of conservatism is a powerful force in the Republican Party.

Related: Why Putin's power has always been linked to terrorism

White House chief strategist Steve Bannon left, and senior advisor Jared Kushner speak after President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the White House in Washington, February 3.REUTERS

A former banker turned film producer and right-wing polemicist, Bannon has praised not only Russian President Vladimir Putin but also a brand of Russian mystical conservative nationalism known as Eurasianism, which is the closest the Kremlin has to a state ideology. Eurasianism proclaims that Russia's destiny is to lead all Slavic and Turkic people in a grand empire to resist corrupt Western values. Its main proponent is Alexander Dugin, a Russian political scientist. Dugin's philosophy glorifies the Russian empire—while Bannon and the conservative website he formerly led, Breitbart News, revived the "America First" slogan, which Trump later adopted in his campaign.

Despite their nationalism, Bannon and Dugin have something in common: They both believe global elites have conspired against ordinary people. Their enemies: secularism, multiculturalism, egalitarianism. In both Bannon's and Dugin's worldview, the true global ideological struggle is not between Russia and the United States but between culturally homogenous groups founded on Judeo-Christian values practicing humane capitalism on one side and, on the other, an international crony-capitalist network of bankers and big business.

Bannon's fix for the world is to revive the nation-state—precisely what Putin's Kremlin is promoting as it backs anti–European Union candidates from Hungary to France. "I happen to think that the individual sovereignty of a country is a good thing and a strong thing," Bannon told an audience of Catholic thinkers at the Vatican by video link from the U.S. in 2014. "Putin is standing up for traditional institutions, and he's trying to do it in a form of nationalism."

Dugin agrees. "We are unfairly described as nationalists—but this is not old-fashioned nationalism in the sense of ethnic chauvinism but reflects the idea that we believe in many civilizations that are all equal and have the right to their own identity and decide their own course."

Both men are also self-styled revolutionaries. Bannon—though he once worked at Goldman Sachs—reportedly described himself as a "Leninist" who wanted to "destroy the state." And Dugin was the founder of the radical nationalist National Bolshevik Party, whose members have been imprisoned for attempting to foment armed uprisings among Russian minorities in former Soviet republics such as Kazakhstan.

Trump's election was greeted with delight in Russia and encouraged by state television, which lionized the New York real estate mogul as a man who would finally give Russia respect. In the early days of the Trump administration, the Kremlin had hoped for a better relationship with Washington based on Trump's promise that he would work closely with Putin to destroy the Islamic State militant group in Syria.

Trump's starting team gave the Kremlin even more hope. Bannon was head of strategy. Michael Flynn—who had accepted a $40,000 fee to appear at the Moscow anniversary party of the Kremlin-sponsored RT television channel, where he sat next to Putin—was named national security adviser. Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil CEO, who negotiated a $7 billion oil exploration deal in the Russian Arctic with close Putin ally Igor Sechin, was appointed secretary of state.

The love-in between Trump and the Kremlin proved brief. Bannon apparently made no move to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia imposed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. At the same time, damaging allegations—including an unverified dossier alleging contacts between Trump advisers and Russian spies—plagued the White House. In the wake of Flynn's resignation in March—he was untruthful regarding his discussions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about the possible lifting of sanctions—Trump tweeted that he would be "tough on Russia"—and the White House announced it would not lift sanctions against the Kremlin until Crimea was returned to Ukraine. At the same time, Flynn's replacement, General H.R. McMaster, along with Secretary of Defense General James Mattis, seemed to gain power within the administration and take a harder, more mainstream Republican line against Russia.

Many factors contributed to Bannon's ouster from the National Security Council: He was instrumental in two travel bans on Muslim countries that the courts struck down, he was one of the key architects of a failed health care bill, and he was embroiled in a high-profile row with Kushner. But it was also clear in the aftermath of Flynn's fall that admiration for Putin—or any kind of appeasement of Moscow—has become politically impossible for fear of giving congressional and FBI investigators evidence of collusion.

Bannon's admiration for Putin has come into direct conflict with the White House's new policies. In mid-April, in the aftermath of the Syria attack, Trump described U.S. relations with Russia as at "an all-time low" and reversed his earlier position on NATO, saying the alliance was "no longer obsolete." At a G-7 meeting in Italy, Tillerson spoke out emphatically against the Kremlin. And when he reached Moscow to meet Putin, his reception was chilly.

The political honeymoon between Trump and Putin is over, and Bannon has found a way to survive with at least some juice in the White House and his party. The question now is whether he can do the same if the Putin-Trump relationship ends in a bitter divorce.

LINK

Collins took more money from the billionaire behind Breitbart than from all of Maine

April 10, 2019

MAINEBEACON.COM

Collins took more money from the billionaire behind Breitbart than from all of Maine

 

Yesterday, the Maine People’s Alliance called on Sen. Susan Collins to return thousands of dollars she received from Robert Mercer, the billionaire backer of Breitbart, the racist, misogynist and bigoted website proud to position itself as the “platform of the alt-right.”

Mainers for Accountable Leadership has launched a petition demanding the same.

Breitbart is known for spreading conspiracy theories and inciting xenophobic fear, with constant headlines attacking women, LGBT people and immigrants and a series of articles devoted to cataloguing “black crime.”

With at least 10 million dollars from Mercer funding its operations, the site was instrumental in radicalizing the Republican party and helping President Donald Trump rise to power. Breitbart executive chairman Steve Bannon became Trump’s chief strategist in the White House.

Leaked internal documents have demonstrated Breitbart’s close ties to white supremacists, with notorious neo-Nazis even secretly writing copy for the website as a way of mainstreaming their racist beliefs.

More than 4,000 companies have already pulled their ads from Breitbart in protest of the site’s racism and bigotry.

Robert Mercer and his wife, Diana Mercer, both gave the legal maximum to support Collins’ re-election. Their $10,800 total contribution is more than the $9,200 in itemized contributions she reported receiving from all Maine residents this quarter, combined.

Last year, Collins praised town leaders in Jackman for firing white nationalist town manager Tom Kawczynski, whose social media presence (I don’t recommend seeking it out) is awash in links to Breitbart. She also publicly disavowed state Rep. Larry Lockman (R – Amherst), whom she had previously endorsed and backed financially, over his comments about a “war on whites.” Breitbart uses the exact same language extensively.

Based on her own previous standards, and basic human decency, Collins should have refused Mercer’s money. The fact that he gave it and she took it is another example of her sharp turn to the right, apace with her votes to confirm some of Trump’s most extreme executive and judicial nominees, give new tax breaks to billionaires and cut Mainers’ health care.

LINK