7. Pentagon is still so woke, service members so racist
- In an effort to identify extremists within the ranks of the U.S. Military, the Pentagon has announced that they’ll be working with Moonshot CVE to go through data and determine which branches of the military have the most members who are becoming more extreme. Apparently, racism is so prevalent in the ranks that a company must be hired to find it.
- The company has said that they have “monitored a list of almost 1,600 indicators of interest in or engagement with White supremacism, focused specifically on anti-Black and anti-Semitic narratives being used by extremist groups.” Some of the phrases are “George Floyd deserved to die,” “the truth about Black Lives Matter,” and “Jews will not replace us.”
6. Georgia Democrats don’t know how to actually feel about voting laws
- State Senator Sally Harrell (D-GA) is now explaining how solving the issue of long lines at the voting precincts in Georgia actually harms people’s right to vote, attempting to further the narrative that the voting laws passed in Georgia are racist because fixing voting issues is as racist as the issues themselves.
- Harrell said that there is a portion of the law that addresses long voter lines and how to remedy this issue, but she said that it’s actually a “smoking gun” for restricting the right to vote since it orders that precincts should be split if they have issues of long lines. Harrell said it’s a “tactic” that could be used to suppress the vote, arguing people might not know where to go if their precinct is split. Apparently, black people are less likely to be able to figure out where to vote, according to Harrell, a white woman.
5. Committee to investigate the U.S. Capitol riot looks feisty
- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has chosen his five members of the GOP caucus that will investigate what happened that the U.S. Capitol on January 6. McCarthy selected U.S. Representatives Jim Banks (R-IN), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Troy Nehls (R-TX).
- Banks seems ready to make this about other issues as well and wants to ask questions about other political violence including “the hundreds of violent political riots last summer when many more innocent Americans and law-enforcement officers were attacked” and “why was the Capitol unprepared and vulnerable to attack on January 6?”
4. Brooks asks Biden to overrule military commanders on mask mandates
- U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) sent a letter to President Joe Biden requesting that he end the mask requirements for those at Fort Rucker in Alabama since the requirement is only for those who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus. Brooks called the order “discrimination.”
- Brooks discussed how there are side effects to the vaccine, and it should remain a personal choice to be vaccinated, not through pressure from the government. Brooks went on to state, though, that “small fibers” and “inks and dyes” in masks “have unknown cancer and other health risks.” He even said that “almost all masks reduce oxygen intake.” Lastly, Brooks said that wearing a mask in the “heat and humidity of summers in the South” could cause more concerns of heatstroke. While these risks are minimal, because in the three-page press release Brooks mentioned mask fibers and heat stroke, this is the main focus of the coverage.
3. Side effects cause vaccine hesitancy
- New data from a survey conducted by Economist/You Gov shows that 90% of people who don’t want to get the coronavirus vaccine are more concerned about side effects than anything else, including getting the coronavirus. About 75% of those unvaccinated believe that the concerns of the coronavirus were inflated for political benefit. There were only 29% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats who said they won’t get the vaccine.
- There are 25% of fully vaccinated people who also think coronavirus concerns were exaggerated for the same reasons. One in five people who are unvaccinated trust the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, but less than one in 10 said they don’t trust Dr. Anthony Fauci, and 83% of those who are unvaccinated are not worried about getting the coronavirus. According to the survey, 20% of unvaccinated respondents said they believe the vaccine is being used to microchip people.
2. No masks in schools, but parents can still have the kids wear them
- The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested that children three years and older be masked while in school, but Governor Kay Ivey has rejected this suggestion quickly. She views masks as unnecessary for schools in Alabama to go back to the classroom.
- However, Dr. Anthony Fauci also reacted to the suggestion from the organization during an appearance on CNN, and he said that children in school 3 years and older wearing masks is “a reasonable thing to do,” whether some of the kids are vaccinated or not. He added that the recommendation was made because the organization “just wants to be extra safe.”
1. Here we go again
- Concerns over a rash of high-profile breakthrough infections among vaccinated people being found with new positives lead the news. There is an increase in those being infected with the Delta variant in the United Kingdom and Israel, as well as an increasing number in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States. This includes in places with high vaccine numbers and without.
- New data shows that U.S. cases are up 66% from the previous week and 145% higher than two weeks ago. Hospitalizations are becoming more numerous as well, as 24,923 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, up 26% from last week and up 50% over the last two weeks. More Americans are dying too, as 258 Americans died on average last week from COVID-19, which is up 13% from the rate of daily deaths the previous week.
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