Republicans Say Omicron Variant Is Plot To Steal Election, Storm Border, Other Things Probably We Bet
Objective reality just a subjective construct, man.
Did you know "omicron" is an anagram of "moronic"? And also "oncomir" which is an RNA molecule associated with cancer?
Obviously this means the government is either having a big laugh trying to lock us all down forever, or trying to give us cancer through the booster shots. But don't take the word of internet randos for it, you need to DO UR OWN RESEARCH.
Unless you are an IRL medical doctor who should bloody well know better, like Texas GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson. The former White House physician, whose nomination to head the Veterans Administration imploded over allegations that he's a filthy, drunken lecher, is now a proud member of the House of Representatives.
"Here comes the MEV - the Midterm Election Variant!" he tweeted this weekend. "They NEED a reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots. Democrats will do anything to CHEAT during an election - but we're not going to let them!"
It's less stupid than Trump economics crank Peter Navarro saying that Dr. Anthony Fauci cooked up COVID in cahoots with the "Wuhan Bioweapons Lab," but only marginally.
If we have understood this burning cow fart correctly, Democrats invented a new variant and managed to get South African scientists to sequence it. Or perhaps there is no new variant at all, who even knows. Anyway, the PLAN is to get everyone to CHEAT with mail-in ballots. Of course, this will involve tanking the economy again if everyone gets sick — pretend sick? — which will probably cause Democrats to lose the House and Senate, but sacrifices must be made.
The point is, Ted Cruz predicted that COVID would disappear after the election when Democrats didn't need to scare people anymore, and this just proves it. Why else would a new variant appear an entire year before Americans go to the polls again, right?
Meanwhile over at Fox, the Galaxy Brains agree with Dr. Feelgood that the omicron coronavirus variant is fake news cooked up by Democrats to steal the election.
"Count on a variant about every October, every two years," quipped host Pete Hegseth, who is good at "months," and who was also considered to head the VA during Trump's disastrous tenure.
Fox News hosts suggest coronavirus variants are made up to help Democrats:\n\nCAIN: \u201cAlways a new variant.\u201d\n\nHEGSETH: \u201cCount on a variant about every October, every two years.\u201d\n\nCAIN: \u201cYou\u2019re probably right\u2026\u201d\n\nHEGSETH: [mimicking phone call] \u201cWe\u2019re gonna need a new variant here.\u201dpic.twitter.com/cXhbWY2vWa— Heartland Signal (@Heartland Signal) 1638040049
Unlike our Pete, RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel has a calendar, and she knows Thanksgiving does not fall in October. So she's going with the boringass blame Biden strategy, despite Republicans waging a concerted campaign to discredit the vaccine and basic public health measures to stop the spread of a contagious disease.
"Joe Biden promised he would shut down the coronavirus," snarked the RNC via the @GOP Twitter account. "He failed."
Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott has also worked out that this is November. But he is sadly missing a map in the governor's mansion, apparently. That is the only possible explanation for his bizarre allegation that South Africans are pouring across the Southern border.
"Biden banned travel from South Africa because of the new Covid variant. Immigrants have recently been apprehended crossing our border illegally from South Africa," he fumed. "Biden is doing nothing to stop immigrants from South Africa entering illegally. Pure politics and hypocrisy."
That's not a thing. Does he think South Africans swim across the Atlantic, cross into Mexico, ford the Rio Grande, but are then unable to evade border patrol?
In summary and in conclusion, the omicron variant is fake. Unless it's real, which case it's all President Biden's fault. And everything would be fine if he would just crack down on the hordes of, uhh, six South Africans who are able to both sequence viruses and swim across the ocean. Masks are tyranny, lockdowns are Stalinism, viruses are a plot, and Democrats are trying to steal the election by making it easier to vote.
You got all that?
OPEN THREAD.
[WaPo]
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Centrist Rep. Tom Suozzi Latest Dem Who'd Like To Be New York Governor Instead Of Kathy Hochul
No, thank you!
Democrat Kathy Hochul became the first woman governor of New York after she replaced scumbag Andrew Cuomo in August. She plans to run for a full term in 2022, but already has challengers from within the party. There’s New York Attorney General Letitia James, who declared her candidacy earlier this month. Here’s her campaign launch video.
I'm running for Governor of New York because I have the experience, vision, and courage to take on the powerful on behalf of all New Yorkers.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nLet's do this, together.pic.twitter.com/JA21M19p5m— Tish James (@Tish James) 1635528694
JAMES: I’ve spent my career guided by a simple principle. Stand up to the powerful on behalf of the vulnerable, to be a force for change.
James is a public defender, and as attorney general she’s not hesitated to go after drug companies and the NRA. She’s also making Donald Trump and his scuzzy family very uncomfortable.
JAMES: I’ve sued the Trump administration 76 times — but who’s counting?
I like James, and if she wins, she’d be the first Black woman governor in the country ... ever.
According to a new poll released Sunday, 40 percent of Democratic primary voters currently support Hochul. James is a distant second with 17 percent. Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has filed paperwork to set up a run for governor, and so far just seven percent of New Yorkers are interested. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams enjoys the same meager level of support and he wasn’t mayor of a major US city.
Thirty percent of New York Democrats are undecided, so nothing’s certain right now. Today, yet another candidate entered the race, and boy is he annoying. Democratic Rep. Thomas Suozzi from Long Island announced his candidacy with a stale assortment of platitudes.
“I’m a common sense Democrat. I don’t believe it’s about going to the far left or the far right, it’s about trying to find the answers to the problems we face,” Suozzi told reporters in a Zoom call. “When it comes to my experience and my ideology, there are clear differences with the other folks.”
Suozzi apparently thinks the “clear difference” between him and the other Democrats running is “common sense.” The New York Times describes him as a “vocal centrist,” which is a decent way of describing someone who won’t shut up about how middle-of-the-road he is.
“It’s not about being politically correct,” said Mr. Suozzi, who outlined an agenda that includes lower property and income taxes, robust efforts to fight crime and reduce homelessness and a focus on combating the coronavirus pandemic and its effects on the economy. “It’s about doing the correct thing to actually help people.”
But ... if you’re a politician who does the correct thing, isn’t that being politically correct? I’m surprised he didn’t get the “woke” memo. Proudly declaring that you’re not "politically correct” is very 2015.
Hochul is a Democrat seemingly in full possession of common sense, so when asked what “sets him apart from” her, Suozzi said without irony, “I’m the only one with proven executive experience.” Hochul doesn’t have theoretical experience as New York’s chief executive. She’s literally governor right now.
[Stares in EVERY WOMAN EVER]https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1465355072662028293\u00a0\u2026— Liz Dye (@Liz Dye) 1638202986
James is the state’s chief legal officer, which seems like executive-level experience. She’s not interning or anything. James also won a statewide race, which Suozzi hasn’t. He lost the 2006 Democratic primary for governor to Eliot Spitzer, who ended up resigning in disgrace.
“I ran for governor once before. Didn’t work out very well for me. Didn’t work out for Eliot Spitzer, either,” Suozzi joked to The Hill in an interview last month.
That remark seems more petty than self-deprecating. Besides, Democrats can probably safely choose either Hochul or James without worrying that either woman is secretly involved in a prostitution ring.
With the news that @RepTomSuozzi is going to announce a run for governor of New York, House Democrats have more retirements than they did in 2010, when they lost 63 seats. \n\n17 retired in 2010. 18 have retired this year.— Jake Sherman (@Jake Sherman) 1638199667
President Joe Biden handily won Suozzi’s district, but his retirement is probably welcome news for Republicans who want to flip the seat next year. Jake Sherman at Punchbowl News reports that now 18 House Democrats have announced their retirements leading up to midterms.
I think the “common sense” move for Suozzi would’ve been staying put and fighting to hold this seat.
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Same GOP Stupidity, New Variants
It's your Sunday show rundown!
There's a new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, out in the world. Not to be confused with Unicron or Galvatron, the evil Transformers voiced by Orson Welles and Leonard Nimoy respectively, and despite conspiracy theories based on idiots never learning the Greek alphabet, outside of incel culture or Joe Rogan. This new variant will inevitably make it here and cause some sort of havoc, due to the same issues we've been dealing with since 2020.
Let's see what the Sunday shows had to say about it.
CNN's 'State Of The Union'
National Institute of Health Director Francis Collins appeared on most the Sunday shows to try to get people to do the right thing and get vaccinated or boosted in the face of this new variant.
\u201cThere's no reason to panic, but it\u2019s a great reason to get boosted,\u201d NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins says about the Omicron variant.\n\nWhile scientists aren\u2019t sure if it causes severe illness, \u201cwe do think it's more contagious when you look at how rapidly it spread.\u201d #CNNSOTUpic.twitter.com/S22bIdcROy— State of the Union (@State of the Union) 1638109214
On that very same show, Dana Bash asked Arkansas GOP Governor Asa Hutchinson if he would institute vaccine mandates, as his state has the eighth lowest vaccination rate in the country, with at least half of the state still unvaccinated.
.@DanaBashCNN on Arkansas having 8th lowest vaccination rate in the country: "Is it time to acknowledge that your approach isn't working?"\n\nGov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR): "Not at all ... In Arkansas, that information-based education is what is working ..."pic.twitter.com/fV2UatfmUC— The Recount (@The Recount) 1638109282
Is it really "working," governor? Because since President Joe Biden instituted his vaccine mandate for federal workers, nine of 10 federal workers and military personnel are vaccinated. I'm not a mathematician, but 90 percent seems higher than 50 percent. Considering how Hutchinson said the Delta variant has "been tough on us" and "we don't welcome a new variant," you would think he would finally take proactive measures. But just like with "trickle down" economics, being disproven constantly will never make Republicans change the religious dogma of their failed policies.
NBC's 'Meet The Press'
Speaking of fanatical religious zealotry and dogma, Chuck Todd had on Mississippi GOP Governor Tate Reeves to spew disproven vaccine misinformation with little pushback. Here is the video, cued up to Gov. Reeves's appearance.
When asked if he will reinstitute their Covid state of emergency after it expired this weekend before news of the Omicron variant, Reeves played cute with the numbers to make it look like Mississippi is more prepared than it is:
REEVES: We're certainly monitoring this new variant. We don't have all the data that we need to make decisions at this time. [...] This is a state of three million. [...] So our case numbers are way down. Our vaccination numbers continue to rise. We have 1.6 million Mississippians that have been vaccinated. That's not enough. But in talking to our state health officers, we believe that somewhere between 80-85% of Mississippians have some level of immunity, either natural immunity or immunity from having taken the shots.
Mississippi has 1.6 million out of 3 million population vaccinated. That's nearly half of its population unvaccinated, like Arkansas, but Reeves tries to play like they are more prepared for what could be a more contagious variant by doing the Aaron Rodgers immunity play to fudge the numbers up to 80-85 percent. Watching these states basically do nothing as the inevitable next wave comes to ravage their citizens is infuriating in its predictability.
But Reeves wasn't done showing he doesn't understand science, as answered questions about the Mississippi 15-week abortion ban, which the Supreme Court will hear arguments on this week. So Chuck Todd just let Reeves say this crazy shit:
Chuck Todd didn't exactly push back as Tate Reeves recited right-wing talking points to defend Mississippi's abortion banpic.twitter.com/s7Nc05ooKZ— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1638114709
Todd let Reeves lie about the efficacy of vaccines while making scientifically disproven claims on fetal development, all the while giving Reeves the "appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us" treatment.
It's appalling.
'Fox News Sunday'
GOP Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, who we've spoken about before and who claims he's "Wyoming’s Doctor," seems to be utterly confused on how booster shots work.
BARRASSO: The president has divided the country because of the mandate. Now you have a couple of governors saying, oh, two shots isn't enough. Now you have to have three.
Despite Barrasso being an orthopedic surgeon and not a virologist or a general practitioner, it's pretty clear he understands how vaccines work. So, in a world where yearly flu shots are a thing, his alleged ignorance is as genuine as faux folky costumes worn by Mitt Romney or Kelly Loeffler in campaigns.
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