Trump nominees should ‘steer clear’ of undermining polio vaccine, McConnell says

Published by: The Associated Press
Published on: December 15, 2024
By Moriah Balingit

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, says any of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees seeking Senate confirmation should “steer clear” of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine.

“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous,” McConnell said in a statement Friday. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”

The 82-year-old lawmaker’s statement appeared to be directed at Trump’s pick for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after a report that one of his advisers filed a petition to revoke approval for the polio vaccine in 2022. That vaccine is widely considered to have halted the disease in most parts of the world.

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convoy occupation

Pat King found guilty of mischief for role in ‘Freedom Convoy’

Published November 22, 2024

Published by: The Canadian Press
Published on: November 22, 2024
By David Baxter

Pat King, one of the most prominent figures of the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa, has been found guilty on five counts including mischief and disobeying a court order.

A judge in an Ottawa courtroom Friday said the Crown proved beyond a reasonable doubt that King was guilty on one count each of mischief, counselling others to commit mischief and counselling others to obstruct police. He was also found guilty of two counts of disobeying a court order.

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British Columbia

Anti-COVID mandate protester found not guilty of criminal charges

Published March 27, 2024

Published by: CBC News
Published on: March 27, 2024

WARNING: This story contains offensive and racist language.

A Kelowna man charged with causing a disturbance after yelling at a security guard at a vaccine clinic has been found not guilty by a B.C. judge.

Bruce Orydzuk, 60, was captured on video repeatedly yelling at the guard, who was wearing a turban. The guard had asked him to leave the property of a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in July 2021.

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anti-vaccine movement

Column: RFK Jr. gets around to blaming the Jews

Published July 17, 2023

Published by: Los Angeles Times
Published on: July 17, 2023
By Michael Hiltzik

It has been well noted that, whatever their starting points, conspiracy theorists sooner or later get around to blaming the Jews.

During a press dinner in New York last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is hoping to convert his portfolio of chuckleheaded conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and all sorts of other things into the semblance of a presidential campaign, went there last week.

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anti-vaccine movement

Residents abandoned to a violent occupation during ‘Freedom Convoy’: Report

Published January 30, 2023

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 30, 2023

People who live and work in downtown Ottawa endured several weeks of widespread human rights abuse, amidst a climate of threats, fear, sexual harassment and intimidation marked by racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and other expressions of hate and intolerance.

While convoy organizers claimed there was diversity among the participants and supporters, and that was true to a limited extent, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of people involved in the protests were white males.

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convoy occupation

Anti-vaccine protest in Canada spurs outrage

Published February 1, 2022

Published by: The Associated Press
Published on: February 1, 2022
By Rob Gillies

In a scene at odds with Canadians’ reputation for niceness and rule-following, thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions descended on the capital over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill.

Some urinated and parked on the National War Memorial. One danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas.

In the aftermath of Canada’s biggest pandemic protest to date, the demonstrators have found little sympathy in a country where more than 80% are vaccinated. Many people were outraged by some of the crude behavior.

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Tag: racism