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Fox Host Delivers Shocking Nazi Rant
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro went on an anti-Hispanic rant during her show a few days ago and suggested that undocumented immigrants were bringing COVID with them across the Mexican border. Pirro was one of the many right-wing voices following the former president’s lead in downplaying coronavirus over the past year. Now all of a sudden, Pirro is concerned with the virus because it presents an opportunity to insult brown people and Democratic policies. She said in a heated exchange with Geraldo Rivera, that “illegals” at the southern border have COVID and “all kinds of diseases. They are being released into the United States.” Pirro’s statement was filled with the usual right-wing dog whistles, including by saying “released,” which is the type of thing people would say about animals.
There is a long history in the United States and around the world of scapegoating minority populations for diseases. The black plague in England, for example, was blamed on the Jews. Nazi Germany spread propaganda that Jews were an alien race that were uncleansing the German people and bringing diseases with them. This type of dehumanization is present in so many racist campaigns and genocides and it’s why the language has to be done away with. One could argue that Pirro is just trying to make sure COVID cases don’t spike in the US again, but right-wingers haven’t cared about mitigation efforts all year. It’s also a tough sell because Americans have an infection rate that is six times higher than Mexicans. For Pirro, this is much more about immigrant bashing than it is protecting anyone’s health.
$1400 COVID Cash Passes Senate, EVERY REPUBLICAN Votes No
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is one step closer to being signed into law, with the legislation passing in the Senate over the weekend. Now, the bill just needs to be approved by the House of Representatives for one final time before it can be signed into law by President Biden. The act includes $1,400 stimulus checks, $300 per week in enhanced unemployment benefits through the summer, a child allowance of up to $3,600 for one year, $350 billion for state aid, $34 billion to expand Affordable Care Act subsidies, and $14 billion for vaccine distribution. The legislation passed the Senate 50-49 because one Republican senator was missing, meaning Vice President Harris did not need to cast a tiebreaking vote.
Some on the left are disappointed with the provisions of the bill as they fall short of what was originally promised. The message Democrats campaigned on was that they would give out $2,000, which quickly became $1,400 when they took power. The minimum wage hike to $15 an hour got approved in the original House bill but had to be negotiated out to appeal to centrist Democrats in the Senate. So there is a huge critique of the Democratic Party to be made here, but Republicans deserve to be shamed as well. Not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for it, even though they were willing to vote for stimulus bills under President Trump. This is just the latest example of how Republicans view petty politics and obstructing Democrats as more important than doing what’s best for the American people.
From over the weekend:
Lunatic Pastor Sounds Left-Wing; Actually Just a Conspiracy Theorist
Televangelist and right-wing conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles went on a rant last week that got quite a bit of attention from the left. Wiles complained about the power of big tech and how billionaires have too much money. He even said that Bill Gates’s money ought to be taken from him and given to the poor. Some heard Wiles’s rant and thought he was all of a sudden a left-wing populist. But if you listen closely, the rant was largely right-wing commentary with some exceptions. For example, Wiles criticized the government, saying he doesn’t want them to be in charge of redistributing wealth because they would just mess it up. He even included some anti-vaccine conspiracy theories to boot. This is a prime example of how populist-sounding rhetoric can be appealing, until you dig below the surface, and find out it’s often just standard radical right-wing thinking.
--More on the show:
--Vaccination rates are climbing rapidly with nearly 3 million injections in one day over the weekend and almost 8 million injections in 3 days
--Job growth accelerates in February, although there's still a very long way to go in recovering from the coronavirus economic crisis
--Anti-mask parents and their children participate in a mask-burning protest on the steps of the Idaho state capitol building in Boise, Idaho
--Joe Biden's White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki absolutely destroys Donald Trump during a recent press briefing
--Right wingers set a record for conspiracy claims and nonsense allegations during the same time that Democrats were busy passing COVID relief
--Radical conspiracy theorist Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert hilariously claims that Democrats are obsessed with conspiracy theories during an appearance on Fox News
--Voicemail caller wonders whether David Pakman Show videos are filmed in one take
--On the Bonus Show: Kyrsten Sinema's enraging thumbs-down, car fatality rate up in 2020 despite less driving, Switzerland votes to ban face coverings in public, much more...
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