Data and Research Manager , CD3 DFL

The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online

Researchers and regulators say Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines.

SAN FRANCISCO — The article that appeared online on Feb. 9 began with a seemingly innocuous question about the legal definition of vaccines. Then over its next 3,400 words, it declared coronavirus vaccines were “a medical fraud” and said the injections did not prevent infections, provide immunity or stop transmission of the disease.

Instead, the article claimed, the shots “alter your genetic coding, turning you into a viral protein factory that has no off-switch.”

Its assertions were easily disprovable. No matter. Over the next few hours, the article was translated from English into Spanish and Polish. It appeared on dozens of blogs and was picked up by anti-vaccination activists, who repeated the false claims online. The article also made its way to Facebook, where it reached 400,000 people, according to data from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned tool. Continue reading.

Republicans increasingly look to ballot initiatives as way to enact voting measures

Voting rights advocates say they fear the efforts in three states will prove successful and spread to others where such initiatives are legally possible.

Republicans seeking to change state voting laws in the face of opposition from Democratic governors or unwilling legislatures are zeroing in on another path — enacting fresh restrictions via ballot initiatives.

In Michigan and Pennsylvania, key battlegrounds that President Joe Biden flipped back blue in 2020, as well as in Massachusetts, Republicans are at the beginning stages of a lengthy process to put proposed limits directly to the voters.

Voting rights advocates who connect the moves to the proliferation of restrictive voting laws advanced in states where the GOP enjoys total control say they fear those efforts will prove successful and spread to other states where such initiatives are legally possible. Continue reading.

CDC: Vaccinated people in COVID hotspots should resume wearing masks

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated guidance on Tuesday recommending that vaccinated people wear masks in indoor, public settings if they are in parts of the U.S. with substantial to high transmission, among other circumstances.

Why it matters: The guidance, a reversal from recommendations made two months ago, comes as the Delta variant continues to drive up case rates across the country. Millions of people in the U.S. — either by choice or who are ineligible — remain unvaccinated and at risk of serious infection.

Details: Community leaders in areas with high transmission rates should encourage vaccination and masking, the agency says. Continue reading.

‘Some are still suffering’: Months after Capitol riot, police who fought the mob contend with physical, psychological pain

More than six months after Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell battled the mob that stormed the Capitol, he remains hobbled, a hand scarred, a shoulder aching, recovering from surgery to an injured foot that swelled so large it no longer fit his shoe.

The 42-year-old Capitol Police officer and Army reservist is also seeing a therapist to help with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), first diagnosed after he served in the war in Iraq.

He said bouts of anxiety returned after his battle on American soil in the Jan. 6 riot. Continue reading.

In the Know: July 27, 2021

Governor Tim Walz
Minnesota Adopts Clean Car Standards In Push For More Electric Car Availability; Gov. Walz Calls It ‘A Win Across The Board’, WCCO

Minnesota News
Mayo Clinic will require employees to be vaccinated as of September 17, Pioneer Press
What are Minnesota’s social studies standards — and does critical race theory have anything to do with them?, MinnPost
MDH: Virus circulating nearly entirely among unvaccinated people; delta variant accounts for vast majority of cases, KSTP

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris News
Biden to address intelligence community for first time as President, CNN
Biden to national Latino group: ‘My administration will always have your back’, NBC News
Vice President Kamala Harris set to meet with Native American leaders on voting rights, Miami Herald

Commentary: Inside observers say the Arizona ‘auditors’ are backtracking — and the reality only supports Biden’s win

The “big lie” that President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected is not going away. One reason is Americans who care about their democracy are not learning how votes for president in 2020 were counted and verified — neither from the big lie’s promoters nor from most of its fact-driven critics.

Most visibly, the absence of a clear and accurate explanation can be found among former President Donald Trump’s ardent supporters. As seen in a July 15 briefing in Arizona’s legislature, the contractors hired by the state Senate to assess the 2020 election’s results unleashed a new thicket of finger-pointing and innuendo that fans doubts about Maricopa County’s election administration and votes for Biden.

Critics of the big lie, who range from state officials (including Republicans) to voting rights advocates — and, of course, Democrats— have mostly emphasized that the Arizona Senate’s inquiry and copycat efforts in other states are bad faith exercises led by Trump supporters who lack election auditing experience. Continue reading.

Virus resurgence menaces economy just as rescue programs unravel

A new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists.

The resurgence of the coronavirus is threatening to undercut the U.S. economic recovery and upend Americans’ plans to return to work just as the sweeping social safety net that Congress built during the pandemic is unraveling.

That one-two punch — a new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs — is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists who say that while widespread business shutdowns are unlikely, renewed fears of the virus alone can slow the economy just as it’s getting back on track.

That could dampen hiring and keep some workers on the sidelines of the job market — stalling or even reversing the labor recovery, the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. New unemployment claims jumped last week to 419,000, well above expectations and the highest since mid-May, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. Continue reading.

Today at 5:30 pm: Majority Leader Winkler meets with violence prevention group We Push For Peace

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Starting today, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler is meeting with violence prevention groups to discuss a new state grant program dedicated to innovation in community safety. The new state budget appropriates $800,000 for organizations that provide youth, young adult, and family anti-violence outreach programs; offer community healing and wellness; and help address mental health needs.

Members of the press are welcome to attend and should RSVP to matt.roznowski@house.mn to receive details about location of meetings.

What: Meeting to discuss new grant program for innovation in community safety

When: Tuesday, July 27 at 5:30 pm

Who:

Majority Leader Ryan Winkler
Rep. Frank Hornstein
Members of We Push For Peace

Republicans kick Arizona audit ‘director’ out of the building as GOP chaos escalates: report

Republicans once referred to Ken Bennett as the “director” of their widely-panned audit of votes in Maricopa County, but he has reportedly lost his privileges to even enter the building where the fiasco is taking place.

Bennett, who served as Arizona’s Secretary of State and president of the state Senate, was the one person associated with the recount with experience in elections. He was officially listed as the liaison to the state Senate, which paid $150,000 of the $9 million the audit is reportedly costing.

“Questions are mounting about who is in control of the long-running partisan review of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results — the Arizona Senate, which ordered it, or the outside firms that are running it,” The Arizona Republic reported Friday evening. “On Friday, Ken Bennett, the Senate liaison to the audit, was not allowed into the building at the state fairgrounds where the audit is taking place, a day after he shared data with outside critics from an ongoing ballot count.” Continue reading.

GOP Senator Dismisses COVID Deaths Of 400 Children

Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican of Kansas and an obstetrician, dismissed the deaths of 400 children who have died from COVID-19 during a Senate hearing Tuesday with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

Sen. Marshall’s remarks were based on his false claim that “probably zero” of the 400 children who died of COVID (that number has not been confirmed) had no pre-existing condition.

“Children are not supposed to die,” Dr. Walensky told Sen. Marshall, right before he delivered his remarks dismissing their deaths, as if having a pre-existing condition makes it acceptable for a child to die of COVID-19. Continue reading.

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