The one happy byproduct of the delta variant is that as it causes a surge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the U.S., it also appears to be inspiring people, by scaring the shit out of them, to get vaccinated. On Thursday, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters that in the prior 24 hours alone, the U.S. had administered more than 864,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 585,000 first shots. Are these people months late to the party? Yes. Is it better late than never? Also yes.
Then you have the Americans who continue to refuse to get inoculated against a deadly disease which, among other things, infected 84% more children and teens this week than last week. Why won‘t these people—not the ones who have some kind of medical issue preventing them from getting the jab but ones who simply don’t want to—take an extremely simple step that will protect their health and the health of those around them? Ignorance is one reason. Selfishness is another. And then you have the fact that a contingent of terrible politicians and conservative pundits are infecting their brains with all manner of misinformation, cheering them on in their refusal to do something for the greater good, and, in at least one instance, suggesting they shoot anyone encouraging people to get vaccinated.
Unsurprisingly, that politician is Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose own existence is hopefully inspiring scientists to develop a vaccine against crazy. At an event last month in Alabama, the Georgia representative, who has previously compared mask mandates to the Holocaust and vaccine requirements to segregation, suggested that the Biden administration’s door-to-door vaccination push will result in government officials showing up to people’s homes and demanding personal information for extremely nefarious purposes, and that those people should be greeted with the barrel of a gun.
“You lucky people here in Alabama might get a knock on your door, because I hear Alabama might be one of the most unvaccinated states,” Greene told the crowd, reportedly prompting cheers over the state’s low vaccination rate. “Well, Joe Biden wants to come talk to you guys. He’s going to be sending one of his police state friends to your front door to knock on the door, take down your name, your address, your family members’ names, your phone numbers, your cellphone numbers, probably ask for your Social Security number, and whether you’ve taken the vaccine or not. What they don’t know is in the South, we all love our Second Amendment rights, and we’re not real big on strangers showing up on our front door, are we? They might not like the welcome they get.”
Later, Greene bashed Anthony Fauci, claiming, like a QAnon thread come to life, that COVID-19 “is his baby,” adding: “That is his experiment, and he’s getting to watch it in the real world, like on a live television show where he has a front row seat. He gets to watch what happens.”
Asked by NBC News for comment, Greene’s spokesman, Nick Dyer, said, “These claims are ridiculous and yet another conspiracy theory from the left.” He neither specified what claims he was talking about nor acknowledged the fact that there is video footage of Greene’s remarks.
This isn’t the first time that the congresswoman from Georgia, who has loads of time on her hands after being stripped of her committee assignments, has encouraged violence. Prior to being elected to Congress, she claimed, on more than one occasion, that Nancy Pelosi was guilty of treason, noting that’s “a crime punishable by death.” She also did a Facebook Live broadcast from Pelosi’s office in which she suggested the House speaker would “suffer death” or “be in prison” for her “treason.” In another video the same day, she suggested Representative Maxine Waters was “just as guilty of treason as Nancy Pelosi.” She also liked comments on Facebook calling for either John Kerry or Barack Obama to be hanged. Just something to think about when she insists she never meant people should be hurt when she encouraged a Second Amendment–style “welcome.”
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North Carolina rep. claims requiring children to wear masks is “psychological child abuse”
Republicans care deeply about children, except when it comes to actually protecting them from a highly contagious virus.
And speaking of children…
The state of Texas now appears to be actively trying to get kids (and their teachers) sick. No, really:
While the agency said that if a school learns a student or students have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID, it should inform the students’ parents, it noted that said parents are under no obligation to keep their kids home and are free to keep sending them to school without interruption where, obviously, they could subsequently infect other people.
Elsewhere!
Cuomo Aide Who Says He Groped Her Files Criminal Complaint in Albany (NYT)
The full picture of Trump’s attempted coup is only starting to emerge (CNN)
States, companies shift from carrot to stick on coronavirus vaccinations (The Washington Post)
It’s Chaos on Wall Street as Delta Variant Upends Return (Bloomberg)
“We’re back to panicking”: Moms are hit hardest as camps, day cares, and schools are closing again (The Washington Post)
J&J shot effective against delta variant in large South Africa study (Politico)
MyPillow Guy Loses It as CNN Reporter Tells Him: You Have “Proof of Nothing” (TDB)
“So the team’s designers gave their monster a massive, bulging body and a severe underbite. They gave him an excessive orange neck beard and swinging, deranged eyeballs. They gave him a bellybutton that could change colors. And then they gave him a name—a name that might have been a bit too on the nose, had they given him a nose. They named him Gritty.” (NYT)
Woman sues McDonald’s after burger ad compelled her to break Lent fast (NYP)
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