Ask Dr. Conley and the testing people in the White House Medical Unit who was tested when then where was the information sent.
Want to know exact dates & results of Trump's COVID tests? Don't trust Meadows! Ask Dr. Conley & the White House Medical Unit. But since they won't tell the press, demand the @COVIDOversight ask them. It's their job. #Maddowpic.twitter.com/uG6S0PSgtI
They can demand confidential documents and issue subpoenas to find out what Trump’s White House did or did not do and when they did it. That can include illegal acts, fraud and “improper activities” related to the coronavirus crisis. They can interview Dr. Sean Conley, the White House Medical Unit, Mark Meadows & Trump’s campaign staff. In fact, they already asked back on June 22, 2020!
Around the time of the Tulsa rally Trump said to, “Slow down the testing!” So the committee send Pence, Azar and Director Redfield this letter.
The Trump White House ignored the request. But in Feb 2021 they asked for the same info from Ron Klaine. I don’t know if they have that info yet. I called to ask, but haven’t heard back.
My goal now is to get the Committee the names of the people who know what happened when regarding testing and obstruction of testing.
UPDATE Dec. 8th. I called into The Majority Report to discuss this.
When Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky put this photo of him posing with his family & their guns, my friend Jeff Tiedrich tweeted. “Every single one of these guns cost more than a Le Creuset pot.”
So I asked some of my friends in the Gun Violence Prevention movement if they knew what all these guns were, how much they cost and the cost of the ammo to fill their magazines.
I expect this photo will be discussed on the cable shows and late night comedy because this is the kind of sick trolling that the GOP engages in and is easy to talk about. “That’s disgusting! Here his Joy Reid calling Massie the “Absolute Worst”
In tonight's "Absolute Worst," @JoyAnnReid slams the apparent reality that for prominent sectors of the GOP, people who wave guns and shoot people seem to be their chosen heroes. #TheReidOut#reiderspic.twitter.com/k2e2FzAnT2
Good for Joy! I’m liking her more and more. Sadly that will be the end of it. Few things change their behavior, unless it might cost them money. I wanted to know if there was anyone whose opinion Massie cared about he would listen to. So I looked up his donors. It’s filled with right wing PAC money from right wing donors & gun rights groups.
I haven’t contacted corp donors directly yet, like Judd Legum did with the corporations who donated to the elected officials who voted not to certify the election results on January 6th. Corporation PR departments usually have an answer, ranging from, ‘No comment to” “While the photo is in poor taste, Rep. Massie did not violate any laws by publishing that photo.”
But some people might be disgusted, especially Joe Kiani, who founded medical tech company Masimo and is a big Biden donor. He was appointed to President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He might want to make a donations to the #Oxford victim funds that is the equivalent of what he donated to Massie.
NRA blood money was used to fund Trump and other politicians, but because of the weakness of the FEC, nothing has happened. The pro-guns everywhere people know how to fund politicians who think as they do. Corporations fund these people because they are on important committees. But these corporations need to be alerted to just how extreme these people are, and the consequences of continuing to support them.
I don’t expect any corps to engage in a twitter thread about funding Massie, that will be done behind the scenes, unless they are called out on it and need to make a comment because there is pressure internally or from the public. So if you want these companies to know, just tell them. You don’t have to threaten to boycott, just let them know so they can change their donation pattern.
Earlier this year the FEC was presented with evidence that the NRA illegally coordinated with GOP campaigns to use the same personnel and vendors to run ads for GOP candidates, claiming the vendors were “functionally indistinguishable.” That’s illegal. But the FEC didn’t act. So a federal judge granted the Giffords’ nonprofit the right to sue the NRA.
It calls for the court to prevent the NRA from “violating the law in future elections” and for the gun rights group to pay a fine to the Treasury Department equal to the alleged total in the donation scheme.
The lawsuit alleges as much as $35 million in “unlawful” and “unreported in-kind campaign contributions” went toward a scheme that goes back as early as 2014, with $25 million allegedly going toward Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
This is an important development, because it shows what can be done when one of the institutions that is supposed to keep the blatant corruption in check, fails to act. I’m a big fan of civil lawsuits because in America money is power.
The story about how the NRA used shell companies and vendors to coordinate is in the lawsuit.
The races at the heart of the lawsuit include the following (with the candidate receiving the NRA’s support in bold):
2014: Thom Tillis in the race for Senate in North Carolina (vs. Kay Hagan); Tom Cotton in the race for Senate in Arkansas (vs. Mark Pryor); Cory Gardner in the race for Senate in Colorado (vs. Mark Udall) 2016: Ron Johnson in the race for Senate in Wisconsin (vs. Russ Feingold); Donald Trump in the presidential race (vs. Hillary Clinton) 2018: Josh Hawley in the race for Senate in Missouri (vs. Claire McCaskill); Matt Rosendale in the race for Senate in Montana (vs. Jon Tester)
The NRA shell game. Using vendors to avoid FEC laws.
When a group is busted for illegally obtaining or using money, there should be penalties. But if the agency that is supposed to impose those penalties is rendered weak or ineffectual, we need to figure how to fix the agency.
If the FEC failed to act on this very clear violation of the law, what else are they failing to act on? For example, WHERE did the money that the NRA used for these campaigns come from?
If the FEC doesn’t act on the issue of money coming from Russia and being funneled via the NRA to campaigns, there needs to be another lawsuit. Maybe the people who lost the elections could get the Campaign Legal Center Action to file on their behalf.
I’m mentioned the Russian money because it gives me a chance to show the cool animation I made in 2018.
What did Chris Cox, Josh Hawley & Tom Cotton know about the source of NRA’s funding?
Chris Cox, the head of the NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF
What will show up in the discovery of this lawsuit? What happens if the source of the funding is traced to foreign entities? New York’s attorney general said in August that the NRA had failed to root out rampant internal corruption. What else will show up?
Who at the NRA knew? Surely Chris Cox, the head of the NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF, knew. Who else knew and when did they know it?
Which of the vendors working for the candidates knew? Which of the candidates knew? Hawley? Cotton?Who on their staff knew?
Because there are so many different ways to LEGALLY get money from outside groups, I’m always astonished when someone violates the bright lines of FEC laws on foreign contributions. Frankly it just feels lazy on their part.
Breaking FEC laws has become “Just the cost of running for office” for the GOP
For Trump and the modern GOP, violating FEC laws is like cheating on your taxes, it’s “just smart business.”
For GOP candidates to NOT accept money from foreign entities would be “leaving money on the table.” To them getting caught and paying a tiny fine is “just the cost of running for office” in an election.
Part of the problem is that violations of FEC laws currently results in small fines and “Don’t do that again!” administrative warnings. The candidates are likely doing a cost/benefit analysis of getting busted compared to the huge financial/power benefit of winning an election.
The business mentality of “Do the crime, pay the fine” works for them. But prison terms don’t. When the chance for prison isn’t one of the penalties, the fine should be bigger. In this case, the NRA would have to “pay a fine to the Treasury Department equal to the alleged total in the donation scheme.” Making the NRA pay $35,000,000 would be cool.
But if it can be shown the candidates knew money was coming from Russian, and didn’t report it, that needs to be more than a fine. It needs to be identified as a TREASONOUS act. There should be criminal penalties.
“Here is the evidence showing you KNEW this money was from Russian via the NRA. Why didn’t you report it? What kind of “patriot” does that?”
My niece works at a hospital. The day that they announced on the intercom that every employee had to get a vaccine or would be terminated, she said a cheer went up that could be heard throughout all the corridors.
Don’t feel bad about cheering when one of these crackpots gets sacked. It’s only human to want to survive.
I love to hear stories like this. It more accurately expresses how the vast majority of the public feels toward anti-vaxxers than what you see in the media.
The press uses fuzzy math and headlines that focus on a tiny percentage who are embracing rabbit-hole conspiracies about a vaccine that nearly 200 million Americans have safely taken.
For example, on October 13, 2021 United announced that 99.7% of its 67,000 employees were vaccinated, the 232 who weren’t were going to be fired. Now check out the headline used by Forbes, Newsbreak, Business Insider and NY Post.
Headlines are hard, I suck at them myself, but these have no context & focus on the 232 who won’t get vaxxed, not the 66,768 who have been vaccinated. I flipped that headline around to focus on the happy, vaccinated employees.
66,768 vaccinated United Employees Happy To See 232 Selfish, Jerks Fired. Those would be fun interviews @suekroll. "You know what? I'm going to say it. I'm GLAD they fired those people! Where do they get off putting my life in danger? Jerks." https://t.co/9XGTkKYDVP
The sympathetic, 2,000-word Journal piece focused on a minuscule portion of the workforce that has irrationally decided not to take a free, safe, and effective vaccine. Instead of presenting these actions as delusional, the press often frames the quitting as being principled or even heroic. (The “resistance” is “unwavering,” the New YorkTimes announced.)
The continued, hand-holding coverage — “brainwashing” is virtually never used — represents the latest example of the press helping to normalize irrational, nihilistic behavior by Trump followers.
The mainstream media doesn’t really like to run the “HA HA! Idiot anti-vaxxer got COVID and died!” karma stories, but they will run stories of people who get fired after being required to get vaccinated and choosing not to . The press should make sure the headlines for those stories have context, like including how many are vaccinated in the entire company. But they won’t–so we need to add it before retweeting. It’s important to do because as Eric adds,
The anti-vaxxer coverage also creates the false picture that Americans are deeply divided over vaccines, and that the inoculation push under President Joe Biden has been a failure. Neither are true.
During the Town Hall Anderson Cooper said that in ‘as many as 1 in 3 emergency responders in cities like Chicago, LA and Baltimore are refusing to comply with city vaccine mandates. ” and asked Biden about vaccine mandates for them.
Biden said that cops and first responders should be mandated to get the vaccine and if not, they should stay at home or be let go. The audience cheered and applauded.
What media won’t do is return to the “1 in 3 first responder refusing to comply” story after the requirement date passes, but they should, since it will show that mandates work. That’s the time to get stories from the first responders who are pissed at their colleagues and happy they were required to be vaccinated or tested daily. I want to hear from the vaccinated who believe in protecting and serving.
Fox News HR says: We’re 90% Vaxxed! Employees will either get vaxxed or test daily.
I wonder how many of the 8,100 Fox Corp employees cheered when they heard of the vax or test requirement? We’ll never know. We’ll only hear from the ones (likely vaxxed!) who want to make this a political issue.
You know what I find mildly fascinating? News Corp is allowed to ask about a worker’s vaccination status, which is not protected by HIPAA. The law, which protects a patient’s confidential health information, applies only to companies & professionals in the healthcare field. pic.twitter.com/IMcwpV82sN
Brainwashed Covid zombies will continue to walk away from good paying jobs and put their families at risk, economically. But that doesn’t mean we have to care. And that doesn’t mean it’s news.
The right wing harasses, intimidates and threatens people online. They aren’t going to stop, because it works for them.
When you watch someone screaming and punching a flight attendant when they are asked to wear a mask, it changes what you might do when you see someone not wearing a mask.
When people show up with guns at school board member’s house they aren’t there using their 1st Amendment rights. it’s not a conversation about an issue. It’s a threat.
In today’s Justice Department oversight committee hearing, AG Merrick Garland was asked to re-edify Jamie Raskin’s colleagues on what the 1st Amendment protects and what it doesn’t protect. He said, “What they are not allowed to do is threaten people with death or serious bodily injury.”
I admire the school board member who spoke out about her death threats, but how many people think, “I’m not going to be on a school board if it means getting death threats & people coming to my house with guns.”?
I’ve noticed that the media is very reluctant to push for any consequences for threatening speech. They get all balled up into questions of, “What is free speech?” and bend over backwards to give people the benefit of the doubt for their threatening speech.
The media never want to be seen as being against people’s speech. But threatening speech is not protected speech. When I use that phrase, it starts questions of definitions. What is the definition of a threat? What is “true threat”? What is actionable by law enforcement? What was the intent?
The justice system is slow. Social media & TV news is fast. When the media run threat stories, they usually can’t show any immediate legal consequences to the ones making the threats. Occasionally they can show people getting fired. Or kicked off social media. But often there are no negative consequences at all.
People are rewarded for their violent rhetoric with likes and shares. In some cases it leads to donations, electoral votes and political power.
Were any of these people at Jennifer Jenkins home armed with guns? Maybe photos can be compared. Photo by Malcolm Denemark, Florida TodayMore than a dozen protestors waved signs and called for a recall of Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins Wednesday evening outside of her home in Satellite Beach. They are unhappy with her support of a school mask mandate. Malcolm Denemark, Florida Today
If people are arrested, tried and punished for their threats, those cases can take years to be resolved. I think that the resolution of those cases should be widely publicized, but they are not.
I’ve been following up on cases of death threats to public health officials in Colorado, Idaho, California and Oklahoma from the start of the pandemic. Cases are still pending. The public hears NOTHING about what happened to the people doing the threatening until months or years later. But the impact on those threatened lingers, especially with no resolution.
Following the killing of Sir David Amess, there have been renewed concerns about whether lockdowns have created the conditions for a surge in hate, as frustrated extremists or people vulnerable to radicalisation hunkered down over their laptops and mobile phones.
‘Nastier than ever’: have Covid lockdowns helped fuel online hate? Guardian. 10-21-2021
Intimidations and threats to election workers, health care officials and politicians is all part of Trump’s legacy. I’ve seen multiple stories on Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes & Lawrence O’Donnell’s shows about this, but because they just happened, we can’t see the negative legal consequences to the people making the threat.
One way to address the slowness of the justice system regarding threats would be when the media runa a story about a NEW death threat, they could look at similar cases that have already made it through the legal system.
For example, do you remember the guy who called Rep. Ilhan Omar’s D.C. office on March of 2019 and threatened to shoot and kill the congresswoman? It made the news with the line that someone, “ought to put a bullet in her skull.” but few people know what happened next. I wrote about it here in May of 2019
Patrick W. Carlineo, 55, of Addison New York spent a year in prison. He was released in March of 2021. The sentence could have been longer, but it wasn’t because of a request for leniency from Rep. Omar.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr., she had urged leniency and a restorative justice approach at sentencing, writing: “The answer to hate is not more hate; it is compassion.”
She said a lengthy prison term or a burdensome fine would “only increase his anger and resentment” while restorative justice would let him “make amends and seek redemption.”
In death threat case, court nixes penalty Rep. Omar urged, AP May 21, 2021
Carlineo spent a year in prison, partly because of a request for leniency from Rep. Omar. He was released in March of 2021.
What has happened to all the men and women who have threatened AOC, Omar and others BEFORE 1/6? What about the people who threatened Dr. Fauci and multiple health care officials? How many have been charged? Are any in prison? How many were given a slap on the wrist?
When I’ve brought up the need for consequences for those making death threats and violent rhetoric I’ve suggested multiple responses. My preferred method is to cut their revenue streams. Others have contacted their employers and licencing boards.
Another way is to alert the people in their community and social groups they belong too. The key is to find the groups whose opinion they care about and who publicly will come out against death threats.
Is Carlineo Catholic? Get his parish priest to condemn the death threats to Rep. Omar. Make it clear that what Carlineo said was not protected free speech and they will condemn it. Does he call himself a Christian? Find his minster and ask what Jesus had to say about threatening to kill others.
“But Spocko, what’s the point? He was probably a member of a nutball church, Oath Keepers & Proud Boys! They love it when someone attacks a member of the Squad!”
Sure, it’s possible all the groups he belongs to are extremists, but most groups publicly condemn violent rhetoric, death threats and threats of physical violence. In fact, many of them have by-law’s and organizational rules against threatening speech. Until Trump became President, the Republican party would publicly condemn threats of violence.
Why bother getting statements condemning violence from the groups people like Carlineo belong to? To RE-NORMALIZE that making death threats is wrong.
Yesterday Stephanie Grisham was on CNN pushing her new book. She said she thought it was a coup. That Trump was fomenting violence. Jake Tapper asked her if she had talked to the 1/6 commission. She said no, but that she would if they, “reached out.”
Grisham thinks Trump was trying to stage a coup. She's ready to say this under oath. She might have hard evidence of that. The 1/6 committee should have her testify under oath against the mobsters she worked with. @BennieGThompson@AdamSchiffpic.twitter.com/UUTj0rXgxT
Brazilians of books are being written by former Trump staff. They’ll be careful not to incriminate themselves, but they might incriminate others. If they didn’t commit the crime, they might have witnessed others committing them.
People like Grisham and Omarosa aren’t experts on the law. They likely witnessed multiple crimes. They might have been told what was happening was legal. Or, they knew it was illegal, and looked the other way hoping the entire admin would never be prosecuted.
I think the DOJ, state AGs and various committees investigating the Trump White House should get early copies of the books.
Someone should be reading these books looking for crimes and prosecution worthy information. The publishers can send advance copies to former US attorney’s like Preet Bharara, Barb McQuade or former prosecutors, like Glenn Kirschner to review them on their podcasts.
Stephanie Grisham is ready to testify, under oath, against the mobsters she worked for. She can verify Trump's intent for 1/6 insurrection & MULTIPLE other crimes. I don't want to buy her book. I WANT law enforcement agencies & committees to interview her. #innerspic.twitter.com/kOGYQJPLuD
People complain that journalists like Woodward have withheld critical info for their books so they could make headlines and sell more books. If they want bigger headlines, the publisher of the book should send early copies to the various committees and the DOJ in appropriate states. They could say:
“Hey, based on our reporting it looks like Trump’s staff might have committed crimes in your state. You might want to check it out. People could have lied to our authors, since they weren’t under oath when we talked to them. The book is coming out in 2 weeks. You might want to subpoena some people
This would have been great for Carol Leonnig’s books. For example, when Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker wrote their books on the Secret Service and Trump, I spotted actions taken by Trump’s staff that were violations of Oklahoma’s COVID-testing reporting laws and New Jersey’s mask laws, but Leonnig & Rucker didn’t know it was a violation of specific testing laws. They couldn’t, since they weren’t allowed access to private data. But a state Attorney General getting the book and told to check it out, could. The committee that oversees the Secret Service could investigate. But only if they knew where to look for the info.
I”ve read these books. I know what will make the ears of the TV producers stand up. But I don’t know all the laws. I can’t read a story about a meeting and, based on the account they are giving, realize that the people were probably breaking laws. A prosecutor can say, “This needs to be investigated to get hard evidence and hear from witnesses under oath.”.
For example, in this disappointing interview by Brian Williams he refers to Trump’s “mishandling” of the pandemic. I think what he did was more than “malpractice.”
I found the word choices from Brian Williams for his question to Grisham to be incredibly weak. Saying "malpractice at the handling of the pandemic" makes it sound like Trump slipped up during surgery & one person died. "Mishandling" of the pandemic? Come on man! pic.twitter.com/J0kRc3dffO
We now have several books by insiders and journalists about what the Trump admin was doing during the pandemic. Someone needs to read those together with the goal of identifying the crimes committed, so they can be investigated.
The people promoting the book are looking for “newsworthy” stories when setting up interviews for the book like, “Trump was getting a colonoscopy but didn’t want late night comedians to make him the butt of their jokes!” That was covered by all the major late night comedy shows.
In the future when I see Trump-era books come out, I want more than juicy “newsworthy” items. I want to know who in the book is being investigated and prosecuting for the crimes they committed!
On Chris Hayes’ show he discussed how the Republicans are fighting Biden’s vaccine requirements and why.
Incentives don’t work. Mandates work. …These people are behaving like irrational children and therefore what do you do with children? You have to do what’s best for children.
Now a right winger watching this will say, “Look at that paternalistic, tyrannical person on MSNBC!” But that is the reality in a public health crisis going all the way back to George Washington.
Mehdi Hasan, All In with Chris Hayes 9-20-2021
I’ve developed 6 steps people can take to help make the vaccine mandates happen using the power of social media, existing national corporate HR policies, Federal OSHA reporting methods and local news coverage of the conflict over mandates.
1) Find videos and social media stories of people publicly saying, “I won’t get vaccinated!” Look for them at school board meetings, protests or of people in public places telling others about their intent.
2) Alert their employer via email, Facebook and Twitter. Let the company know you will be filing a complaint with *OSHA (I’ll do a piece on the process and issues of contacting OSHA later, but from OSHA.gov/workers. “anyone who knows about a workplace safety or health hazard may report unsafe conditions to OSHA, and OSHA will investigate the concerns reported.”)
3) After the mandate deadline is reached, resend the video or story to the company and ask for confirmation that the person(s) is vaccinated, is testing weekly, has quit, or was fired.
4) Share on social media what happened with that employee and employer
5) If the company doesn’t act, contact OSHA. Fines are about $13,000 per violation, and go up to $139,000 to the companies that willfully don’t follow thesafety regulations.
6) Share the stories of big fines on social media.
What are the reasons behind these steps? 1) It uses the anti-vaxxed own public statements against them. 2) It avoids retaliation for reporting against an individual they know who could attack them. Corporate HR policies and OSHA procedures are designed to handle issues of confidentiality, retaliation and due process. 3) These stories are designed for cable TV news, so hosts can talk about enforcement issues.
4) It uses the power of the national corporate HR systems already in place for enforcement in states with bad governors.
5) It uses the power of the Federal government in states with Governors that don’t want to enforce the rule and financial consequences for companies that don’t want to enforces the rule.
The deadlines and the details of the vaccination mandate aren’t out yet, when they are there will be a flurry of new stories. When that happens it will be an opportunity to use existing stories and develop new ones to help enforce vaccination mandates.
Help Vaccine Mandates Happen
Below is an example of me using my 6 steps based on this tweet I saw last week. I contacted the author, discussed her concerns and then followed my 6 step plan. Here’s the letter I sent to Home Depot via email.
Omg. I just left Home Depot. They have sign saying “Wear A Mask”. No one is. I go to checkout and I ask cashier how she’s handling it. She says their choice. She had Covid 2020 and her husband died from it but, “ I’m not letting them spear me with vaccine”. I cried and left.
I contacted the author of the tweet who said the clerk got angry when discussing the vaccination mandate and dropped her mask to say, “I’m not letting them spear me with vaccine.”
The author was concerned that other employees might feel the same way and local store managers won’t enforce the vaccination mandate when it is implemented.
I hope they will, but I’ve taken the liberty of copying OSHA’s Region 4 Office on this letter so when the rule goes into effect, they can confirm that all employees have attested to being vaccinated or will test weekly to meet the requirements of the new rule.
“FBS Manufacturing Corp.’s failure to implement legally required safety procedures led to tragedy for a worker and his family,” said OSHA Area Office Director Jeffery Stawowy in Atlanta-West. “The fact that this incident was preventable only deepens their loss. This case should remind all employers that prioritizing production or profits over safety is never an acceptable choice.”
The author has built 3 homes in East Cobb County with Home Depot as her primary source of materials. She was very frightened after the incident and will not return until she reads about the 100% vaccination compliance at your Marietta Georgia store.
As you say in your values statement, do the right thing, take care of people and you’ll increase your shareholder value.
Keeping your employees alive is good for business.
LLAP, Michal Spocko P.S. The author sent me a copy of the receipt with the date and exact time of the interaction which I have linked to here.
cc: Eric R. Lucero, Public Affairs, Department of Labor, OSHA, Region 4, Atlanta-West
The Home Depot Teresa Roseborough, EVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Chair Compliance Council Travis Lawrence, Vice President Human Resources Kathleen Eaton, Vice President Safety Chris Peters, Senior Manager Human Resources – COVID Strategic Response Sue Dorsey, OSHA Regulatory Compliance Specialist
——————— # # # —————–
I hope others will try this. I want to learn from what works, adapt based on the reactions, and respond to issues that develop along the way. I expect that there will be a lot of, “But what about…” scenarios. I learned a lot about the HR process in big corps by talking to friends and family. The process for employees to report is another issue to address, they pointed out that most companies have an ethics hotline that can be used for reporting violations of health and safety rules. I’m very grateful for their expertise and time.
If you want to know more, I suggest you read some of the articles below. If you want to discuss this I’m at michalspocko @ protonmail com or you can DM me at @spockosbrain.
“Yes, a compliant can be filed on your behalf by: an authorized representative of a labor organization or other employee bargaining unit; an attorney; any person acting as a bona fide representative, including members of the clergy, social workers, spouses and other family members; government officials or nonprofit groups; and organizations acting upon specific complaints and injuries from you or your coworkers. In addition, anyone who knows about a workplace safety or health hazard may report unsafe conditions to OSHA, and OSHA will investigate the concerns reported.”
Background on mandates, the law, OSHA rules, and corporate implementation of the rules.
I read dozens of stories about the issues and practicalities of the vaccination mandate, Here are 6 of the best.
I’ll admit it. I’m angry at anti-vaxxers and anti maskers. They are messing up our lives and plans. Yet only their anger is covered by the media? We get stories about how our officials are “frustrated” and “saddened” by their failure to get vaccinated. Where are the stories of our anger toward these “vaccine deniers and right wing loonies”?
What is bizarre to me is that the Anti-maskers are the ones showing rage. What are THEY so angry about? We are the ones whose lives they are f***ing up. I'm having a hard time finding stories of successful prosecutions of these anti-vaxers who threaten violence against others.
I don’t want to be like the right wing, screaming and threatening those who aren’t wearing masks or getting a vaccine. And I don’t want to inappropriately use the law like they have been doing with their Texas abortion ban. But I’m pissed and I want people punished for the harm they are causing.
What can I do to satisfy my need for an emotional catharsis without becoming a screaming banshee?
I’ve been watching Unforgotten, a British murder mystery show about police solving crimes that happened 40, 30 or 20 years ago. It’s excellent.
In the UK they call these cases historic crimes. Because they happened so long ago sometimes the person who committed the crime is dead. An arrest can’t deter a dead person.
While the detectives try to solve the crimes, we see the stories of the pain the victims’ family have suffered over the years. We learn all the ways people were damaged and when it comes time for justice, the detective asks the question: “What helps the families now?”
The lead, played by Nicola Walker, wants to solve the case. But unlike other murder mystery shows, she doesn’t talk about finding out who did it for “closure.” She wants to punish the people who did the crime.
Does punishment of the killers help the families now?
Unforgotten Season 1, Episode 1
I want to find who caused a pain that’s very much alive today–who took his life, who took hers–and I want to punish them.
DCI Cassie Stuart, Unforgotten, written by Chris Lang
On the Majority Report a few weeks ago Emma Vigeland and Matt Lech were talking about enforcement and punishment of those breaking public health laws. Matt said we should avoid going after individuals who didn’t get vaccinated who then infected someone in your family.
I listened to this and noted the difference between “punching down” at individuals and “punching up” at those whose intentional actions have led to infections of large groups of people.
Even Fox “News” ran the stories of arrests of fake vaccination cards being supplied and used by individuals because breaking the law has consequences. Showing the arrests to the target audience can act as a deterrent. But arrests only happen if the laws are enforced. No one is arrested for failing to follow a recommendation.
I think that the federal government should spend resources NOW to arrest people for violating public health laws.
Why Enforce Public Health Laws?
My logical Vulcan side thinks enforcing public health laws will deter others from breaking them.
I think publicizing the charging and sentencing of people who break public health laws helps prevent future deaths.
Most people change their behavior when they see and/or experience personally the negative consequences to breaking the law
My human side hopes that enforcing public health laws will scare people into not breaking the law. Fear should act as a deterrent, because most people fear being arrested.
I want to hear them cry about how they learned their lesson and wish they wore a mask or got vaccinated. I believe that most people would get the point from watching that and get vaccinated.
But I’ll admit my human side also wants people who intentionally broke laws to feel pain similar to the pain and suffering they caused others. As user Crathsor said on Reddit about Americans, “We don’t care about justice nearly as much as we care about retribution.”
Yep. There it is. I realize that I want others to be afraid, to feel pain, to suffer & be punished for their lawbreaking. I’m hoping that the fear, pain, suffering and punishment will act as a deterrent and a motivator.
I need to acknowledge I want people punished for intentionally acting in ways that harmed others and broke the law doing it. But since I don’t want to end up like them, using anger to satisfies a desire for retribution, I tried to figure out how to not fall into gleeful retribution. To do that I’m doing these four things.
Ensure that the punishment fits the crime (Don’t send people to jail during a pandemic!)
Work to get the laws applied equally with a focus on intentional violators and high level abusers
Push for appropriate next steps after enforcement
Focus on enforcement of intentional actions that have led to infections on large groups of people
I feel anger when there are no consequences for people intentionally harming others. I always endeavor to help the families first, but seeing appropriate consequences for the people breaking public health laws helps me by giving me some sense of peace. What is the chant? No justice, no peace? So let’s be specific:
An example of me seeking consequences for those breaking public health laws is my push to prosecute Trump and those in his campaign who intentionally helped spread COVID during their rallies.
Trump’s rally in Tulsa happened in June of 2020. In today’s news cycle that’s an historic crime. It led to pain and suffering for Oklahoma families and 100’s of thousands of others. If you want to see the individuals who suffered and died from COVID in Oklahoma read this great series, Oklahomans’ We’ve Lost from Frontier.
The people in Trump’s campaign who committed those violations of public health laws in Tulsa are still alive. Would an arrest now act as a deterrent to others? Would it stop future superspreader rallies? I hope so.
Trump’s August 21, 2021 superspreader event in Cullman County Alabama. Alabama.com
As of September 9th 2021 an average of 83 cases per day were reported in Cullman County, a 61 percent increase from the average two weeks ago. New York Times COVID tracking Alabama Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least 1 in 6 residents have been infected, a total of 13,118 reported cases. Right now, Cullman County is at an extremely high risk for unvaccinated people.
While the detectives in Unforgotten were trying to solve an old crime we saw the pain the victims’ family suffered over the years. It showed how people were damaged by the perpetrators of the crime. The lead detective acknowledged her desire for punishment, and asked the question: “What helps the families now?”
We on the left need to push to enforce public health laws. Especially in cases of people whose actions have a big impact on large numbers of people. The government didn’t pursue these lawbreakers in the past, so people knew there would be no consequences.
The cases need to be big. The arrests publicized. That acts as an early deterrent. The prosecutor needs to show the intentions of the lawbreakers clearly and the harm that was done. Legal cases take a long time to play out and when they are completed successfully the results need to be promoted, big time.
This is about sending a message to people breaking public health laws right now. If you break the law you will be in the Federal Government’s crosshairs. You will be arrested and tried. If you are found guilty, you will be punished.
Would these cases make me feel better when there are consequences for people who intentionally harmed others? Yes! I’ll admit it. It’s not just about me, but when I take actions I look for ways to focus my anger constructively. I ask myself these four questions:
“What is my goal?” To prevent future deaths. “Who do I want to punish?” Intentional violators, especially those whose actions impact large numbers of people “Who do I want to help?” The families of those who suffered. Innocents who might suffer in the future. “What can I do now?” Encourage the enforcement of public health laws.
A couple from Miami Beach was arrested in Hawaii last week after police say they attempted to use fake vaccination cards to travel into the island for a family vacation.
Enzo Dalmazzo, 43, and Daniela Dalmazzo, 31, were charged with falsifying a vaccine card, with Daniela facing an additional two counts for submitting fake documents for their two children.
Violating the state’s COVID-19 mandates, including falsifying a vaccination card, is a misdemeanor that can result in a fine of up to $5,000, up to a year in prison or both.
The couple was cited a total of $8,000 and posted bail. It was the second known case of visitors using fake vaccination cards to bypass quarantine in the last week.
A Chicago pharmacist was arrested Tuesday morning onfederal charges of stealing and selling authentic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 vaccination cards, federal investigators announced on Tuesday.
Tangtang Zhao, 34, is accused of selling 125 cards on eBay for $10 each during March and April 2021, according to court records. Investigators believe Zhao stole the cards from his employer: a pharmacy authorized to distribute COVID-19 vaccines.
Creating or having a vaccination card that an authorized source did not officially give to you is a federalcrime,Siobhan said, in part because the CDC is a federal agency, and the card includes a CDC seal.
California father and son arrested in Hawaii for fake COVID-19 vaccine cards, ABC7-LA August 15, 2021
I want to see more stories like this. Not just people arrested for using fake vaccination cards, but for breaking other laws that endanger the lives of others.
Why is enforcement of breaking public health laws important? As this FBI notice says , “…you endanger yourself and those around you, and you are breaking the law.”
It’s a misdemeanor to break some public health laws, a felony for others. Each crime has different levels of recommended punishment. When it comes to punishment of violations of public health laws we should look at intent and the scale of the crime.
Glenn Kirschner on his #JusticeMatters podcast suggested last week that Trump be investigated for negligent homicide for avoidable COVID death. I agree. My friend Dave thinks what Trump did is depraved-indifference murder, a type of murder where an individual acts with a “depraved indifference” to human life and where such act results in a death, despite that individual not explicitly intending to kill.”
I want to highlight these stories of enforcement for three reasons:
1) It’s good news. People got caught. Fox News covered it, so maybe it will be a deterrent. Of course if you are reading this fine blog you probably aren’t buying fake vaccination cards. You are already vaccinated. So what you want to know is:
2) How do we stop people who intentionally put lives in danger when they expose others to a deadly virus?
3) What’s the best punishment for people who intentionally endanger lives and break laws?
I noticed that the pharmacist case is a federal case. Federal crimes mean federal prosecutors that can operate in any state. I’ve found that states are often reluctant to enforce or prosecute violations of their OWN public health laws. In fact, Red state governors like DeSantis made it a point to PARDON people who violated their own state public health laws!
The Biden administration is now using federal government levers to get vaccination and mask mandates in place. Biden can do things like restrict federal funds if people don’t get vaccinations and mandate vaccinations for people employed by federal agencies.
They can also bust people for breaking federal laws. The federal government needs to do both.
In the CBSN video about the Chicago pharmacist, Steven Block, a former Federal prosecutor, explains that this arrest sends a message to healthcare professionals. He suggests that more arrests are coming. He also says that the DOJ probably won’t pursue the people who brought the cards. I think that is a mistake.
I’ve seen multiple elective officials say a reason not to have mandates is that it’s too hard to enforce the law. But making something a law sets into motion a number of societal and psychological responses. Just having the law leads to people being afraid of being arrested.
But when there is no enforcement, or weak enforcement of public health laws it sends the message that endangering lives isn’t serious.
And when there is no punishment, or weak punishment of public health laws it send the message that there will be no serious consequences for actions that endanger the lives of others.
I believe that people who put lives in danger should be arrested and charged for crimes related to the severity of the danger they put others in. Those who know of this danger, do it intentionally and with malice aforethought, need to be seriously punished. I say this as a green-blooded, bleeding heart liberal.
My message? It’s good that the Federal government and the states are arresting these people. I’m encouraged by this and want to see more.
Sam Seder had Carol Leonnig on his show the other day and asked her, “Who was Trump’s top enabler?” She gave a few names, but in the book they reported that someone ordered COVID testing to be halted & delayed the day of Trump’s Tulsa rally. By stopping the testing that person enabled the spread of COVID in the community. I wanted to know their name.
The studies have been done and the stories have been written about the COVID deaths attributed to Trump’s actions and inactions. Yet with all that sickness and death why won’t anyone hold Trump responsible for his horrific actions?
There are many reasons, both political and technical, why Trump isn’t charged with the crimes he commited. Often it’s because he and his people hid from the public the laws they broke. When they did get charged with crimes they blocked investigations, intimidated witnesses and delayed testimonies. Also, Trump usually has someone else doing the morally repugnant and/or illegal acts for him. (See Michael Cohen)
Besides these reasons for no one going after Trump, I’ve seen a real reluctance to enforce any public health laws on anyone. But I think that if you can show that people in the Trump campaign broke specific public health laws, actively covered up their actions and then blocked investigations into the laws they broke, that is a sufficient reason to warrant an investigation.
I’ve been investigating the spread of COVID though Trump’s rallies since before the Tulsa rally. I’ve done the research, talked to the experts and based on public reporting from Leonnig, Rucker and her colleagues; it appears public health laws in Oklahoma and New Jersey were broken during Trump’s rallies. But because of privacy laws, the public can’t know exactly who broke the laws.
Sam didn’t ask my question to Leonnig, but my friend Nicole Sandler was able to ask Philip Rucker the question, “Who gave the orders to halt testing?“
The answer? We don’t know.
I think that Carol Leonnig knows, but she wasn’t asked the question. And if she does, she might not say because she is protecting her sources.
Based on my conversations and emails with the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Tulsa’s Department of Health and public health experts, it appears that this person(s) violated Oklahoma law.
Halting & delaying testing the day of the rally prevented discovery of others who may be infected. This appears to be a violation of Oklahoma state law, Title 63. Public Health and Safety statutes. Specifically, under §63-6103, The Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act,
Someone in the Trump campaign prevented Oklahoma state and local officials from gaining immediate access to health information of individuals. Without truthful and timely information the public health authority couldn’t carry out their lawful duty, which is to “prevent, detect, manage, and contain health threats’ ( § 63-6103. Items 3-6)
The Oklahoma State Department of Health had the authority to impose a quarantine, isolation, or halt the event. They could have made an announcement to the people in attendance to self isolate and get tested. They could have told the general public so they could avoid those who attended the event.
They didn’t do any of those things, because they didn’t have all the relevant data about infected individuals.
Oklahoma Heath statutes §63-6103, The Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act,
Remember, there was no vaccine in June 2020. Getting COVID could be a death sentence, in fact, it was for hundreds of thousands of Americans. Someone in the Trump campaign broke the laws on the books at the time, Rucker didn’t know who it was, but the Attorney General of Oklahoma canfind out. But will he?
The people I’ve been talking to in Oklahoma have been telling me all the ways an investigation will be thwarted. For example, Gov. Stitt called up all the top hospital leaders to complain about the interviews doctors and nurses were giving to the media on the COVID-19 crisis. That’s standard bully Governor stuff, but he took it further. Stitt called Jim Gebhart, president of Mercy Hospital and told him,
..if doctors didn’t stop “fearmongering” about capacity issues it could force him [Gov. Stitt] to impose a ban on elective surgeries, which would be a financial hardship for many hospitals.
So what if I do find out who gave those orders to halt & delay testing? Someone needs to put together a request to investigate this. Because the rallies involved multiple jurisdictions and agencies, confirming this information and prosecution will require an official investigation by attorneys general, inspectors general and/or a congressional committee. Who’s going to do that? Me?
An entity with subpoena power needs to act on the information in the book. They need to investigate it to see if crimes were committed and who committed them. In this case we also need to know their intention. So often we have seen medical personnel assume that politicians would act to protect people from sickness. But that has been proven incorrect time and time again.
One of my big concerns is that in a narrow investigation lower level medical personnel will will be blamed. Yet we know from news reports that Trump and his people regularly threaten and intimidate people. We know they go after whistleblowers. What kind of political pressure from high up was put on public health officials to hold the rallies? Could contract nurses hired for the event to do the COVID testing insist that all the individuals that should be tested were tested that day and that the results be sent to OSDH immediately?
Who was in charge of all the testing? A doctor or a campaign staffer?
In my opinion, the people on the campaign who gave those orders and made those decisions should be held criminally liable, at a minimum.for their violations of the Oklahoma law.
Remember the liability waivers that everyone had to sign? The campaign prepared to protect assets, not the lives of Trump’s attendees or the people in the community.
I think the Trump campaign should be held financially liable for the pain and suffering they caused the people in the Tulsa community. If it can be shown that the Trump Campaign was grossly negligent in their safety protocols, then their liability waivers are invalid. If that happens it opens up the campaign to being sued by a large number of people such as venue staff who worked the event. Perhaps the unions representing the camera crews who were assigned to cover the event could sue.
I’ve talked to a lot of really nice people doing this research. One of the people I talked to asked, “You aren’t from Tulsa, you didn’t get sick. Why do you care?” It’s a good question. We are constantly being told to write off “the Red Staters” they made their beds, now that they are deathbeds, they can lie in them.
But I don’t want to write off huge swaths of the country because a small group of people used their power to increase sickness and death.
At a press conference on August 5, 2021 Dr. Dale Bratzler, the Chief Covid Officer at the University of Oklahoma, was asked about people who were exposed to unvaccinated people without masks inside a building. (Keep in mind that the Trump campaign knew which people were exposed to those who tested positive that day.)
Then he was asked what happens to the information if someone tests positive.
“So if you test positive the lab is required by law to send the data to the Oklahoma State Health Department. They will forward it to the county health department who has responsibility if they are going to do any contact tracing, case investigation, quarantine or isolation. “ –Dr Dale Bratzler, DO, MPH
Dr. Dale Bratzler, the Chief Covid Officer at the University of Oklahoma
Based on public reporting, it appears the campaign broke the law on test reporting when they actively avoided telling the state’s public health department about the infected individuals at their rally. And because there were no consequences for those people, we are seeing political power and threats overruling the doctors & policies designed to protect the health of the people in the community.
If my logical argument pointing to what the public can know isn’t enough, maybe seeing this photo of a child in a pediatric ICU will help people to understand why those with the authority to learn the full story must start an investigation. If it proves members of the Trump campaign are guilty, they should be held accountable.
