COVID-19 Update

OK, let's go over it again for the intellectually challenged, and the dumbass jarheads and zoomies in the back who, apparently, haven't been paying attention.

1. You don't have to get the COVID vax
2. You don't have to stay in the US Military.

But here's the thing: "You will report to the the Medical Officer for vaccination" is a lawful direct order, and I think we're all clear on what happens if you disobey lawful direct orders.

Now get with the program or get out and run home to mommy. We're done fuckin' around with this cry-baby bullshit.

WaPo:

Marine Corps compliance with vaccine mandate on course to be military’s worst

Up to 10,000 active-duty Marines will not be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus when their deadline arrives in coming days, a trajectory expected to yield the U.S. military’s worst immunization rate.

While 94 percent of Marine Corps personnel have met the vaccination requirement or are on a path to do so, according to the latest official data, for the remainder it is too late to begin a regimen and complete it by the service’s Nov. 28 deadline. Within an institution built upon the belief that orders are to be obeyed, and one that brands itself the nation’s premier crisis-response force, it is a vexing outcome.

The holdouts will join approximately 9,600 Air Force personnel who have outright refused the vaccine, did not report their status, or sought an exemption on medical or religious grounds, causing a dilemma for commanders tasked with maintaining combat-ready forces — and marking the latest showdown over President Biden’s authority to impose vaccination as a condition of continued government service.

“Marines know they’re an expeditionary force, and pride themselves on discipline and being first to fight,” said David Lapan, a retired Marine Corps officer and former communications chief for the service. Leadership, he said, should be alarmed that the Marine Corps ethos of always being ready for the next mission appears to be tarnished in this case. “Why,” Lapan asked, “did they decide not to follow a direct order?”

Answering that question will be essential, he added, “if this is somehow indicative of a problem” that could arise again in the future.

The Marine Corps made no secret it has struggled with vaccine hesitancy in the ranks. Late last month, officials issued an ultimatum: get vaccinated, apply for an exemption or get kicked out.

Then, as the cutoff to be in compliance drew near, the Marines’ top general, Commandant David H. Berger, and his senior enlisted adviser, Sgt. Maj. Troy E. Black, distributed a video message to the force imploring those who had not been vaccinated to get it done. They appealed to Marines’ sense of fidelity and calmly explained that the Marine Corps would be less capable unless everyone met the requirement.

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COVID-19 Update

Somebody please tell Bill Maher this shit ain't over yet.

as of this morning, 11-20-2021:

WaPo: (freebie)

Delta variant dangerous during pregnancy, CDC reports say

Once the delta variant took hold in the United States, pregnant individuals and their fetuses or babies faced increased risks from coronavirus infections, according to two new reports released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One report found that 15 pregnant patients died of covid-related causes between March 2020 and early October, including nine who died after delta became the most prominent strain. All but one of the women who died had underlying health conditions, and none had been fully vaccinated. The second report found that the risk of stillbirth increased about fourfold for women with covid-19 as delta surged.

The reports’ authors emphasize the importance of preventive measures including vaccination, which the CDC recommends for pregnant people. Only about 30 percent of pregnant Americans are vaccinated, a rate far lower than the population as a whole.

Here’s what to know

• A panel of experts recommended the CDC expand eligibility for booster shots to include all fully vaccinated adults, simplifying federal guidance that had confounded some consumers. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to sign off on the recommendation as early as Friday evening.
• In the face of rising cases across the continent, the European Union’s regulator backed an anti-viral pill for coronavirus patients ahead of the drug’s formal approval. Early data shows that the drug reduced the risk of severe infection, hospitalization and death in patients who took the pill shortly after developing covid-19 symptoms.
• Parents can expect vaccines for children younger than 5 as early as next spring, Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with Business Insider this week.

The Verdict In Kenosha

Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted on all 5 counts, and he'll now embark on the celebrity tour part of his "career" here in USAmerica Inc.

And he'll probably be fairly well compensated, though it won't be a bump-free ride. And after the first blush, he'll have to get used to toiling away in relative obscurity, as even most of the staunchest ammosexuals don't like to be reminded too accurately of their fervent embrace of bloodlust.

Let's check in with George Zimmerman to get a hint as to what may be in store for young Kyle.

NY Daily News:

George Zimmerman event canceled by Idaho hotel after learning the man who fatally shot Trayvon Martin was speaking there

A weekend event featuring a speech by George Zimmerman was nixed by an Idaho hotel group after the company learned the man who killed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was slated to be a headlining attraction at their venue.

The gathering, billed as the Lethal Force Gun Laws 2021 Tactics & Strategies Conference, was to have begun Friday and ended Monday at The Riverside Hotel in Boise.

The Idaho Statesman reports that the hotelier pulled the plug on the conference after learning about its “incendiary details” on social media. That report said the hotel owners cited for its reason the “immense pain” Zimmerman caused its “guests, team-members and community” when he gunned down the unarmed Black teen in February of 2012.

A few thoughts:

1. That whole scene last summer was a full-on coast-to-coast cluster fuck in the first place, which was very much what the Daddy Staters wanted to see
2. I think the skateboarder (Anthony Huber) acted in response to what he thought was a bad guy with a gun, which reinforced Rittenhouse's fucked up hero fantasies
3. Mistaken identity and false conclusions were (and remain) the order of the day
4. Rittenhouse was acquitted on the phony basis of "defending himself" against a threat that he created.

This looked for all the world just like the stories I grew up hearing about the old west - particularly the ones about some asshole drifter with a gun and a shitty attitude who feels the need to prove himself, so he goads one of the locals into a fight in order to get a little thrill and boost his bad ass reputation, and then claims self defense, and blah blah blah.

It's nine kinds of fucked up, and we have to figure out how to get ourselves past this shit.

"It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street."

--just one of the victim's mother...

— Heal the Planet ✌✌🎸🎸 (@fwtoney) November 19, 2021

- and -

Will "self-defense" become an ever-expanding justification for political violence within a society of soaring gun ownership, mounting political extremism, increasingly violent political threats, and growing vigilantism?

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) November 20, 2021

Build Back Better

Democrats passed the BBB in the House very early this morning by a vote of 220-213.

Every Republican voted against it, and it now goes to the Senate, where every Republican will vote against it, even though many of them in both chambers make campaign promises that sound very similar to what Biden and the Dems are trying to deliver for us.

Reuters:

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion social policy and climate package, sending it back to the Senate where it is likely to be modified further.

Here is what the latest version contains, according to the White House:

FAMILY BENEFITS

• Free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds
• Support for childcare costs: Families that earn less than $300,000 a year would pay no more than 7% of their income on childcare
• Tax credits worth up to $300 a child per month
• Bolsters coverage of home-care costs for the elderly and disabled through the Medicaid health program
• Expands free school meals and provides $65 a month in grocery money during summer months for 29 million low-income children who are eligible for free lunches at school

CLIMATE

• Rebates and credits to cut the cost of rooftop solar systems by 30% and American-made, union-made electric vehicles by $12,500
• Incentives to encourage U.S. manufacturing of clean energy technology and shift other industries to reduce carbon emissions
• Creates a 300,000-strong Civilian Climate Corps to work on environmental and climate projects
• Creates a Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator to invest in climate-related projects, with at least 40% serving disadvantaged communities
• New spending on coastal restoration, forest management and soil conservation

HEALTHCARE

• Enables the Medicare health plan for seniors to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs that have been on the market for at least nine years
• Penalizes drug companies that increase prices faster than inflation
• Caps out-of-pocket prescription drug prices at $2,000 a year and lowers insulin prices to $35 a month
• Expands Medicare to cover hearing aids
• Reduces Affordable Care Act premiums by an average of $600 per person a year
• Expands Medicaid coverage to low-income people in the 12 states that have opted not to expand the program on their own

HOUSING

• Expands affordable housing, public housing and rental assistance programs
• Broadens down-payment assistance to bolster home ownership
• Expands lead-paint removal efforts
• Supports community-led redevelopment in low-income neighborhoods
• Encourages local governments to ease zoning restrictions that limit housing density

EDUCATION

• Increases Pell Grants for college costs
• More aid for historically Black colleges and other minority-serving schools
• Boosts the Labor Department's job-training programs by 50%

IMMIGRATION

• $100 billion in "immigration reform," which is additional funding beyond the $1.75 trillion
• Efforts to reduce backlogs, expand legal services and improve border processing and asylum programs

OTHER PROGRAMS

• Expands a tax credit for low-income workers to cover those who do not have children
• More money for rural projects
• Supports community violence intervention

TAXES

• 15% minimum tax on corporate profits for companies with more than $1 billion in profits
• 1% surcharge on stock buybacks
• 15% minimum tax on foreign profits of U.S. corporations
• 5% surtax on personal income above $10 million
• additional 3% surtax on income above $25 million
• close loophole to prevent wealthy from avoiding 3.8% Medicare tax
• bolster the Internal Revenue Service to improve customer service and focus enforcement on wealthy tax evaders
• expands a deduction for state and local taxes that primarily benefits upper-income households in high-tax states.

COVID-19 Update

Justin King - Beau Of The Fifth Column

"Welcome to the find-out portion of the show"

Pharmaceutical Technology:

On the heels of Merck antiviral molnupiravir’s UK approval, Pfizer has set out to get its own Covid-19 pill, Paxlovid, on the market. This week, the US drugmaker sought emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its novel antiviral candidate in individuals with mild-to-moderate Covid-19, who are at higher risk of hospitalisation or death.

Pfizer has also begun the process of seeking regulatory clearance in other countries including the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, and plans to file additional applications.

How does Paxlovid work?

Paxlovid is a combination of Pfizer’s investigational antiviral PF-07321332 and a low dose of ritonavir, an antiretroviral medication traditionally used to treat HIV. The treatment disrupts the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in the body by binding to the 3CL-like protease, an enzyme crucial to the virus’ function and reproduction.

According to an interim analysis, Paxlovid reduced the risk of Covid-19-associated hospitalisation or death by 89% in those who received treatment within three days of symptom onset. The drug was found to be so effective – just 1% of patients who received Paxlovid were hospitalised through day 28 compared to 6.7% of placebo participants – that its Phase II/III trial was ended early and regulatory submission to the FDA was filed sooner than expected. Moreover, while 10 deaths were reported on the placebo arm, none occurred among participants who received Paxlovid.

Like molnupiravir, Paxlovid is administered orally, meaning Covid-19 patients can take the drug at home in the early stages of infection. The hope is that new antivirals like those from Merck and Pfizer will allow people with mild or moderate cases of coronavirus to be treated sooner, preventing disease progression and help avoid hospitals from being overwhelmed.

Covid-19 drug competition

Merck’s molnupiravir, the first approved pill for Covid-19, has been touted a potential game-changer ever since studies found it reduced hospitalisation and mortality risk by around 50%. But that doesn’t mean Pfizer’s antiviral offering won’t have the edge in the market.

An interim analysis of molnupiravir’s efficacy is promising, but the dramatic risk reduction reported by Pfizer indicates its pill could also prove a valuable weapon in governments’ armoury against the pandemic.

In addition to being potentially more effective, Paxlovid may encounter less safety questions than its rival antiviral. Some experts have expressed concerns that molnupiravir’s mechanism of action against Covid-19 – mimicking RNA molecules to induce viral mutations– could also introduce harmful mutations within human DNA. Paxlovid, a different type of antiviral known as a protease inhibitor, has shown no signs of “mutagenic DNA interactions”, Pfizer has said.

WaPo: (freebie)

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine boosters for all adults on Friday, barring a last-minute snag, according to several people familiar with the situation.

The vaccine makers’ requests for broad authorization come as a growing number of states are offering boosters to all adults, going beyond the current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommends limiting eligibility to specific groups. Efforts to accelerate the booster campaign are designed to bolster waning immunity from the initial vaccinations and reduce breakthrough infections and viral transmission.

The CDC’s outside vaccine experts are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the FDA’s actions on the application from Pfizer-BioNTech and possibly Moderna. The advisers will recommend how the boosters should be used. If CDC Director Rochelle Walensky signs off on broader use, the extra shots could be available for all adults as soon as this weekend.

Here’s what to know

• The location of early covid-19 infections in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 suggests the virus most likely spread to humans from a market where wild and domestically farmed animals were sold and butchered, according to a peer-reviewed article.
• A Texas appeals court has ruled that a hospital cannot be forced to treat a covid-19 patient with ivermectin, a drug normally used to eliminate parasitic worms, after the wife of a patient sued to demand the treatment.
• Austria will reimpose a full coronavirus lockdown starting Monday and will also require its entire population to be vaccinated as of February, its government said Friday. A controversial lockdown was introduced this week only for the unvaccinated, but since then infections have climbed.

Top 20 Countries 11-19-2021

COVID-19 Update

Hard to work up any sympathy on some of this nonsense.

WaPo:

Dozens of health groups urge businesses to voluntarily adopt Biden’s vaccine rule

The American Medical Association and more than 60 other health care associations on Thursday called on employers to voluntarily implement President Biden’s contested vaccine-or-testing mandate, saying businesses had no time to waste ahead of the busy holiday season.

“We — physicians, nurses and advanced practice clinicians, health experts, and health care professional societies — fully support the requirement that workers at companies with over 100 workers be vaccinated or tested,” the organizations wrote in a joint statement. “From the first day of this pandemic, businesses have wanted to vanquish this virus. Now is their chance to step up and show they are serious.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the rule on Nov. 4, and the White House has said that the mandate will save lives by encouraging more people to get vaccinated. But Republican-aligned states, businesses and legal groups immediately sued to block it, arguing that it was government overreach, and a federal appeals court last week upheld a stay. OSHA has suspended enforcement of the rule, which was set to take partial effect on Dec. 5, pending further legal developments.

In Thursday’s joint statement, the health care associations said that Biden’s requirements for businesses were “reasonable and essential,” citing evidence that coronavirus outbreaks have been driven by viral spread at offices, retail locations and other business settings. “Requiring masks for all unvaccinated workers by the December 5th deadline will be key to keeping customers and fellow workers safe during the holiday shopping and travel season,” according to the organizations, which also include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Surgeons and the National League for Nursing.

The joint statement was coordinated by Ezekiel Emanuel, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania who in July organized a similar effort to encourage health systems to require workers to get vaccinated. Emanuel said that the renewed push by medical groups is necessary because only 59 percent of Americans have received two doses of coronavirus vaccine and cases are on the upswing again.

“We’re not getting [enough] volunteers coming forward” to get vaccinated, Emanuel said, arguing that U.S. health workers have been “pushed to the limit” and are frustrated that millions of people remain unvaccinated. “We’re going to need mandates. And we know they’re effective.”

Coronavirus cases have risen about 17 percent and hospitalizations have risen about 4 percent in the past week, according to The Washington Post’s rolling seven-day average, with unvaccinated Americans far more likely to suffer severe symptoms and require medical treatment.

Several dozen health care experts also signed onto the joint statement, including Michelle Williams and Ashish Jha, the deans of Harvard University and Brown University’s public health schools, respectively; Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute; former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Thomas R. Frieden; and former White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt.

The health care groups’ push conflicts with Republican-led efforts to blunt Biden’s vaccine-or-testing mandate. All 50 Senate Republicans on Wednesday filed a formal challenge through the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn rules issued by federal agencies if a majority in both chambers oppose them. A congressional vote on the rule is expected in coming weeks.

“Biden’s ultimatum exacerbates issues faced by hard-working Americans by forcing workers to get jabbed or be fired,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who is helping lead the party’s challenge, said in a statement. “Republicans are unified in our opposition to President Biden’s abuse of power.”

On Learning From History

I just finished listening to Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny" for the 2nd time.

Snyder put it out as Trump was beginning his efforts to entrench the Daddy State in 2017.

So even though Trump himself is slowly being extricated, the Plutocracy Project continues apace - and it's every bit as lock-step authoritarian as anything Qult45 tried to do, but maybe even more dangerous because they're very busily trying to put a friendlier face on it - Glenn Youngkin and Josh Hawley come to mind.

The outline:

1. Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You've already done this, haven't you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.
2. Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don't protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.
3. Recall professional ethics. When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges.
4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.
5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don't fall for it.
6. Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don't use the Internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps The Power of the Powerless by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czesław Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev.
7. Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy, in words and deeds, to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. And the moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.
8. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.
9. Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate foreign propaganda pushes.
10. Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.
11. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down unnecessary social barriers, and come to understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.
12. Take responsibility for the face of the world. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.
13. Hinder the one-party state. The parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections while you can.
14. Give regularly to good causes, if you can. Pick a charity and set up autopay. Then you will know that you have made a free choice that is supporting civil society helping others doing something good.
15. Establish a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the Internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Authoritarianism works as a blackmail state, looking for the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have too many hooks.
16. Learn from others in other countries. Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties here are an element of a general trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports.
17. Watch out for the paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-Leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over.
18. Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.)
19. Be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die in unfreedom.
20. Be a patriot. President Trump is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it.

Paul Gosar Censured

So, I guess voting for Biden's infrastructure bill is ample reason for GOP Leadership to shit on their caucus members, but putting up a thinly veiled death threat against a colleague is just good clean fun(?)

After the censure vote, Gosar retweeted the offending video, and Kevin McCarthy threatened the Democrats with reprisals if Republicans regain the majority and he becomes speaker.

Pretty fuckin' sick of this "living in interesting times" bullshit.

AP:

The House voted Wednesday to censure Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona for posting an animated video that depicted him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword, an extraordinary rebuke that highlighted the political strains testing Washington and the country.

Calling the video a clear threat to a lawmaker’s life, Democrats argued Gosar’s conduct would not be tolerated in any other workplace — and shouldn’t be in Congress.

The vote to censure Gosar and also remove him from his House committee assignments was approved by a vote of 223-207, almost entirely along party lines, with Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois the only Republicans voting in favor.

Gosar had deleted the tweet days ago amid the criticism, but he retweeted the video late Wednesday shortly after the vote.

He showed no emotion as he stood in the well of the House after the vote, flanked by roughly a dozen Republicans as Speaker Nancy Pelosi read the censure resolution and announced his penalty. He shook hands, hugged and patted other members of the GOP conference on the back before leaving the chamber.

Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called the censure an “abuse of power” by Democrats to distract from national problems. He said of the censure, a “new standard will continue to be applied in the future,” a signal of potential ramifications for Democratic members should Republicans retake a majority.

But Democrats said there was nothing political about it.

“These actions demand a response. We cannot have members joking about murdering each other,” said Pelosi. “This is both an endangerment of our elected officials and an insult to the institution.”

Ocasio-Cortez herself said in an impassioned speech, ”When we incite violence with depictions against our colleagues, that trickles down to violence in this country. And that is where we must draw the line.”

Unrepentant during tense floor debate, Gosar rejected what he called the “mischaracterization” that the cartoon was “dangerous or threatening. It was not.”

“I do not espouse violence toward anyone. I never have. It was not my purpose to make anyone upset,” Gosar said.

He compared himself to Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first Treasury secretary, celebrated in recent years in a Broadway musical, whose censure vote in Congress was defeated: “If I must join Alexander Hamilton, the first person attempted to be censured by this House, so be it, it is done.”

The decision to censure Gosar, one of the strongest punishments the House can dole out, was just the fourth in nearly 40 years — and just the latest example of the raw tensions that have roiled Congress since the 2020 election and the violent Capitol insurrection that followed.

Democrats spoke not only of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, but also the violent attacks that have escalated on both parties, including the 2017 shooting of Republican lawmakers practicing for a congressional baseball game and the 2011 shooting of former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords as she met with constituents at an event outside a Tucson grocery store.

Republicans largely dismissed Gosar’s video as nothing more than a cartoon, a routine form of political expression and hardly the most important issue facing Congress.

Yet threats against lawmakers are higher than ever, the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police told the Associated Press in an interview earlier this year.

The censure of Gosar was born out of Democratic frustration. Over the past week, as outrage over the video grew, House GOP leaders declined to publicly rebuke Gosar, who has a lengthy history of incendiary remarks. Instead, they largely ignored his actions and urged their members to vote against the resolution censuring him.

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said, “I would just suggest we have better things to do on the floor of the House of Representatives than be the hall monitors for Twitter.”

The resolution will remove Gosar from two committees: Natural Resources and the Oversight and Reform panel, on which Ocasio-Cortez also serves, limiting his ability to shape legislation and deliver for constituents. It states that depictions of violence can foment actual violence and jeopardize the safety of elected officials, citing the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as an example.

Gosar is the 24th House member to be censured. Though it carries no practical effect, except to provide a historic footnote that marks a lawmaker’s career, it is the strongest punishment the House can issue short of expulsion, which requires a two-thirds vote.

Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, the former chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, was the last to receive the rebuke in 2010 for financial misconduct.

It would also be second time this year the House has initiated the removal of a GOP lawmaker from an assigned committee, the first being Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Gosar, a six-term congressman, posted the video over a week ago with a note saying, “Any anime fans out there?” The roughly 90-second video was an altered version of a Japanese anime clip, interspersed with shots of Border Patrol officers and migrants at the southern U.S. border.

During one roughly 10-second section, animated characters whose faces had been replaced with Gosar, Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., were shown fighting other animated characters. Gosar’s character is seen striking another one made to look like Ocasio-Cortez in the neck with a sword. The video also shows him attacking President Joe Biden.

Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., whose receipt of repeated death threats has required her to spend thousands on security, said Gosar has not apologized to her. She singled out McCarthy for not condemning Gosar.

“What is so hard about saying this is wrong?” Ocasio-Cortez said. “This is not about me. This is not about Representative Gosar. But this is about what we are willing to accept.”

This is not the first brush with controversy for Gosar, who was first elected in 2010’s tea party wave. He has been repeatedly criticized by his own siblings, six of whom appeared in campaign ads supporting his Democratic opponent in 2018.

Earlier this year Gosar looked to form an America First Caucus with other hardline Republican House members that aimed to promote “Anglo-Saxon political traditions” while warning that mass immigration was putting the “unique identity” of the U.S. at risk. He’s made appearances at fringe right-wing events, including a gathering in Florida last February hosted by Nick Fuentes, an internet personality who has promoted white supremacist beliefs.

He has also portrayed a woman shot by Capitol police during the attack on the Capitol as a martyr, claiming she was “executed.” And he falsely suggested that a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was instigated by “the left” and backed by billionaire George Soros, a major funder of liberal causes who has become the focus of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

The Truth About Those Lies

Ol' Doc Maddow with the scoop:

And not one fuckin' word from the rest of the Press Poodles about a ridiculously important development in the fight to keep our little experiment in self-government alive.

COVID-19 Update

It'd be nice if, for once, we don't follow our usual pattern by patting the warriors on the head and then going out of our way trying to ignore them.

Here's more confirmation that the people in the trenches need real help now, and are going to need more help once the monster is brought to heel - WaPo:

Opinion: Covid-19 is taking a terrible toll on nurses. They deserve much more help.

Covid-19 can be a nightmare, especially if it becomes severe and requires hospitalization. But imagine the agony of seeing this nightmare over and over again, every day. Such is the intense stress on acute-care nurses, those in hospitals at front lines of the pandemic, and it is taking a terrible toll.

Across the country, evidence suggests nurses and other heath-care workers are experiencing a confluence of painful traumas: fear of becoming infected; strain from witnessing so many deaths, seeing people die alone; and worry about their own families.

In the early months of the pandemic, the problem was shortages, chaos and uncertainty. In response, health-care workers displayed heroic stamina and resiliency. Although there have been pockets of vaccine hesitancy, the American Nurses Association reports that 88 percent of nurses have been vaccinated or plan to be. But the pandemic is taking a toll on mental health. Acute-care nurses are suffering burnout, and many are quitting or considering doing so. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 426,000 workers left jobs in health care and social assistance in September 2020, while preliminary data indicate 589,000 quit this September, a quit rate that is the highest since data was first collected two decades ago.

The distress was captured in the third survey of mental health and wellness by the American Nurses Foundation, based on responses from 9,572 nurses between Aug. 20 and Sept. 2. Two-thirds or more reported stress, frustration and exhaustion within the previous two weeks. About a third said they had sought professional mental health support since the pandemic began. Asked whether they intended to leave their position in the next six months, 21 percent said yes, and 29 percent said maybe. When asked why, 47 percent said “work is negatively affecting their health and well-being.” Burnout has skyrocketed: “Today, 34% of nurses are not emotionally healthy, with substantially high numbers among emergency department, critical care, and young nurses.” These results were more serious than a similar survey taken earlier.

“They have given their all for a year and a half or two years,” Annette Kennedy, president of the International Council of Nurses, said recently. “They have worked long hours. They have worked without breaks, and they have been called to do a duty without protective equipment and without support. They are now burnt-out. They’re devastated. They are physically and mentally exhausted.”

The American Nurses Foundation survey said more than a third of nurses are now 55 or older, but it is the younger generation who will succeed them that struggles “disproportionately with mental health.” More than boxes of doughnuts and takeout pizza, nurses need respect from patients and managers, relief from the massive pandemic patient overload and understaffing, mental health support on-site, and all the support that the government and private sector can muster. Hopefully, the day will come when the American Journal of Nursing won’t be carrying letters to the editor that echo one it ran recently under the headline “Burnout at the Bedside.”

And right now, the most important first step in helping those people we love to call heroes is to keep pushing for vaccinations across the board.

WaPo:

Covid could be endemic illness by next year with more vaccine uptake, Fauci says

Anthony S. Fauci, the United States’ top infectious-disease expert, said Tuesday at a Reuters summit that covid-19 could be reduced to an endemic illness in the United States by next year — but only if more unvaccinated people get vaccinated and more fully vaccinated people get booster doses.

“I think it’s conceivable” that could happen by next year, Fauci said in a virtual interview. “I hope we do, and it might even be likely, if we implement a good vaccination of the unvaccinated and a really good uptake of boosting those who are fully vaccinated.”

Fauci said reaching endemic level, to him, means the virus may not be eliminated but “that infection is not dominating your life.” He added: “People will still get infected. People might still get hospitalized, but the level would be so low that we don’t think about it all the time and it doesn’t influence what we do.”

Federal officials continue to limit who can receive boosters for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, recommending them only for people age 65 and up or those who are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus because of their health, their job or where they live. (People who initially received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are eligible if they are above the age of 18 and received their last dose at least two months before.)

But a growing number of Democratic and Republican governors and other officials are circumventing that guidance to offer boosters to anyone over 18 in hopes of staving off a spike in coronavirus cases over the holidays. Officials in states including Colorado and Arkansas have endorsed boosters for all adults in recent weeks — and more states and jurisdictions are expected to follow. When asked if the Centers for Disease Control and Protection will expand eligibility for boosters soon, Fauci answered, “I hope so.”

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