NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD for Sunday, July 25, 2021
323rd Weekly Edition
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Covid data 7/25/2021 1:00pm EDT
Click here for Covid-19 data from Worldometer Real Time World Statistics.
USA NC Total Cases New Cases Total Deaths New Deaths Total Recovered Active Cases 1,031,929 13,570 1,001,590 16,769
Track NC Covid Data Track NC Vaccine Data
There were many bad Republicans saying and doing bad things all week. Because that’s every week of course. But, bless his heart, Madison was so awful, he doesn’t even get to share the award. Congratulations Congressman.
Following are stories and information I hope you find interesting and useful. Click the titles for complete stories. Please jump the fold, the floor is yours.
Sowing death and destruction for political gain: the GOP and vaccine hostility
BlueNC, Rob Schofield, 7/20/2021
There have been many contributing factors to the disastrous scope and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States over the past year, but right now, tragically, misinformation and ignorance top the list.
As NC Policy Watch investigative journalist Lynn Bonner reported last week, despite the rapid spread of the deadly and highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, millions of North Carolinians are still steering clear of vaccination because they’ve embraced or fallen prey to the lie that the vaccines are dangerous, or because they’re not paying attention and simply don’t understand how beneficial and critically important it is for everyone to get a shot.
Not that long ago, such a level of aggressive, head-in-the-sand ignorance seemed unimaginable. Last fall, as the COVID-19 death toll continued to soar, the clamoring for a vaccine spanned the political spectrum.
Madison Cawthorn attacks Dr. Fauci: ‘We want to prosecute this guy to the full ability of the law’
The New Civil Rights Movement, David Badash, July 22, 2021
U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying House Republicans will "prosecute" the esteemed immunologist and director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as a "pawn of the Chinese Communist Party" and for lying to Congress.
There is no evidence either of those claims are true.
Speaking to former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, the host of "Just the Truth" on the Real America's Voice website, Cawthorn falsely claimed Dr. Fauci has "directly lied to Congress," echoing a claim made by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) on Wednesday. Ellis, who claims to be a "constitutional law attorney," did not mention to Cawthorn that the House of Representatives does not have the power to criminally prosecute.
"I'll tell you when we take the majority back in 2022, I'll make sure consequences are doled out," Cawthorn promised. "But we want to prosecute this guy to the full ability of the law because I'll tell you to lie to the American people just to get your name in the news just to see your face on the cover of books just to get fame or fortune, I'll tell you, Dr. Anthony Fauci does not deserve either fame or fortune."
Madison Cawthorn: 'I think we should indict Jill Biden'
he New Civil Rights Movement, David Badash, July 21, 2021
U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) on Wednesday attacked President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, a college English professor and former school teacher, calling for the latter to be "indicted."
"I think we should indict Jill Biden," said Cawthorn, who keeps company with the QAnon and sedition camps of the House GOP. "I'm not saying indict in terms of criminal. But I'm saying that we should call her out for being so cruel to her husband."
Cawthorn, on the far right media outlet Newsmax, mocked President Biden by saying "I don't think he could find his way to Congress," an attack on the Commander in Chief's age and mental acuity. The right regularly and falsely claims Biden is not cognizant of his actions and is incapable of basic thought, claims reinforced on the right through manipulated video.
"The man is clearly mentally unstable," said the freshman congressman who first gained notoriety when he was still a candidate after bragging that visiting Adolf Hitler's summer home had been on his "bucket list for awhile" and "did not disappoint."
Opinion: Socialism? The irony of Madison Cawthorn's fearmongering
Asheville Citizen Times, Moe Davis, July 17, 2021
Nothing gets the right lit faster than tossing the word “socialism” into a conversation. For them, anything a Democrat proposes is radical-leftist socialism, and any person who disagrees is a socialist.
As frustrating as that is for those of us who are not in the right-wing camp, you have to admit that they have honed the socialism tag into an effective tool to mislead, manipulate and mobilize their base. What inevitably ends up missing when the pin is pulled and the socialism grenade is lobbed is context: What does socialism mean and how does it apply to the topic at which it is directed?
Consider: Madison Cawthorn. In a statement on his campaign website about why he ran for Congress, he uses the words socialism and socialist three times in the first four sentences. What he omits is what he means when he uses those words.
Cawthorn was injured in a car wreck on an interstate highway in Florida. The wreck was investigated by local law enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol. He received a $700 disability check in the mail every month from the Social Security Administration and part of his health care costs were paid by Medicare. He sued for millions of dollars in both state and federal courts. And now he is in Congress. All of those things involve government agencies and government programs operated by government employees who receive government paychecks.
So, is Madison Cawthorn a socialist?
Thanks for reading and contributing, have a safe week.