This installment of The David Pakman Show newsletter is free for everyone. I send these emails daily. If you would also like to receive it, join the newsletter today.
Note: This is totally separate from website Membership and does not affect your website Membership in any way.
YouTube SUSPENDS Rand Paul Over COVID Disinformation
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has been suspended from YouTube for pushing disinformation about the effectiveness of masking against COVID-19. Paul recently released a video to his channel wherein he said “most of the masks you get over the counter don't work. They don't prevent infection.” The senator also said, “trying to shape human behavior isn't the same as following the actual science which tells us that cloth masks don't work.” The video violated a company policy on COVID disinformation that bars creators from saying masks are ineffective at preventing transmission of the disease. Paul received a strike on his channel for violating this rule. Since this is only his first strike, the punishment is merely that videos cannot be posted to his channel for one week. Rand took to Twitter to complain about the temporary restriction, saying the strike was “a badge of honor . . . leftwing cretins at YouTube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work.”
YouTube is right to enforce this policy equally across the board and it shouldn’t matter that the violator here is a US senator. Twitter also ran into a similar issue this week, temporarily suspending the account of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene for saying that the COVID vaccines are “failing.” There is no doubt that conservatives will view Paul and Greene as heroes for standing up to these social media companies, but the truth is that the consequences aren’t even that big of a deal. In a matter of weeks, they can start posting to their social media sites again. They can even be skeptical about the need for mask mandates and COVID restrictions more generally. They just can’t spread disinformation like they were doing. If allowed to go unchecked, their followers will trust their dumb takes over scientists and doctors whom they believe to be working for the liberal media. Because these elected officials are not doing their job keeping the American people safe, sites like YouTube and Twitter have to do it for them. These punitive actions shouldn’t even be necessary in the first place because elected leaders should know better, but sadly they appear to be necessary.
Jen Psaki SMACKS DOWN Peter Doocy Over Dumb Vaccine Take
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki delivered a smack down of Fox News reporter Peter Doocy yesterday on the topic of COVID vaccines. Doocy tried to criticize the Biden administration for contributing to vaccine hesitancy in the United States. On it’s face, the comment sounded dumb since left-leaning Americans are at high vaccination rates while conservatives are lagging far behind. Nevertheless, Doocy asked “has there been any thought given, looking back, to the possibility that [Biden] may have created some vaccine hesitancy? . . . The now president said ‘I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump and at this moment, the American people can’t either.’” Psaki rebuked by saying “I think it’s safe to say [Biden] still doesn’t trust Donald Trump, so that hasn’t changed.” She went on to explain that Biden has given credit to the scientists and doctors who worked in Trump’s administration, some of whom helped develop the vaccines quickly. But more to the point, Psaki rightly acknowledged that Trump pushed quack remedies for COVID last year, going as far as to suggest that people should inject disinfectant into their bodies. These conservatives like Doocy are kidding themselves if they believe there has been any hypocrisy on the part of Biden when it comes to trusting the science.
From yesterday’s show:
Ted Cruz: No COVID Mandates Because My Liberty!!!
As coronavirus cases continue to surge in parts of the United States, so too are the calls for new mask mandates and social distancing measures. This is making Republicans, who can’t seem to convince enough of their followers to get vaccinated, upset and relegated to arguing that the return of these requirements are an infringement on their liberty. An example of one of these people is Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who went on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show this week to complain about the return of mandates. He argued that Democrats “do not respect your liberty. They do not respect your right to make your choices about your health care, about your children, about your lives. My views are very simple: There should be no mandates — zero concerning COVID.” What Cruz and these other conservatives fail to understand is that the rights of others are being infringed when disease is able to run rampant in a community. This is especially the case because the longer the virus stays around, the longer it has a chance to mutate and we know the vaccines, though effective, are not 100% effective. We’ll have to see if Cruz doubles down, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, if/when the virus gets completely out of control again here in the United States.
More on the show:
--Jesse Dollemore, host of the Jesse Dollemore YouTube channel and co-host of the "I Doubt It" podcast, fills in for David
--According to Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against OANN, the network in January brought on a swing set installer without a degree as an "election expert"
--Dominion is weighing a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump for his false claims about the company relating to the 2020 election being "rigged"
--More and more local communities are defying state bans on COVID mandates put into place by Republican governors
--An anti-vaxxer Red Cross nurse in Germany allegedly injected a number of people with a saline solution instead of the COVID-19 vaccine
--California will start mandating COVID vaccines for health care workers
--Day two of Mike Lindell's cybersymposium to prove the 2020 election was stolen by Donald Trump was arguably even worse than day one
--A Christian pastor named Perry Stone argues that humans don't have to worry about climate change because Jesus will be coming back soon
--On the Bonus Show: Cory Booker trolls Tommy Tuberville on "defunding" the police, some states not distributing federal rental assistance, Jen Psaki challenges Ron DeSantis on ventilators, and much more...
--Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership