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Pelosi BANS Inciters from Trump Riot Commission, Republicans LOSE IT
The House of Representatives is putting together a commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol riots and Nancy Pelosi has already had to step in to ensure the committee won’t become a complete gong show. Two of the Republican members that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy chose to serve on the committee were rejected by the House Speaker, who said their presence would sacrifice the “integrity” of the investigation. The two GOP members rejected from the committee are Indiana Representative Jim Banks and Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan. Both men parroted Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being fraudulent and both voted to overturn the election results in the hours after a mob of Trump supporters broke into the Capitol. Leader McCarthy called Pelosi’s decision “an egregious abuse of power” and said the Republican Party won’t participate in the commission if these two members aren’t allowed to serve on it.
The only reason Jim Jordan was chosen to be on the committee was so that he could distract and derail the hearings in his typical fashion. The same can be said about Jim Banks, who would also serve to run interference and talk about how left-wingers are the violent ones. The strategy for these Republicans was to include “what built up to” the insurrection, which in their minds includes the summer of 2020 protests that on occasion got destructive and violent. Now since they can’t make it all about Antifa and Black Lives Matter, Republicans will claim the January 6th commission is simply a partisan witch hunt devised to make Donald Trump look bad. But the fact that Jordan and Banks were selected for this committee in the first place goes to show that Republicans were never interested in making a good faith effort to get to the bottom of the Capitol riots. Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who will serve on the committee, called out the rhetoric by McCarthy, Jordan, and Banks as “disgraceful” and “unworthy of our republic.”
Anti-Vax Trumpist Conspiracy Theorist Dies of COVID
Linda Zuern, a conservative politician who propagated coronavirus conspiracy theories, passed away at the age of 70 due to complications from COVID-19. Zuern was a staunch Trump supporter and was a big believer in hydroxychloroquine and preventative measures for COVID that did not involve getting a vaccine. Not surprisingly, she was not vaccinated for COVID-19, according to a close friend and one of her neighbors. The tragedy is that this woman’s life could have likely been saved if she had gotten the shots. She was in a sense, like so many others needlessly dying of coronavirus today, a victim of disinformation. There are some people who say that we need not worry about these people or that they had it coming, but that cannot be our approach if we want to save lives and simply exist in the world as empathetic people. Hopefully stories like this one will convince people who remain skeptical of getting the shots that they need to do so in order to be protected and help finally bring an end to this pandemic.
From yesterday’s show:
Marjorie Taylor Greene Press Conference Raises Mental Health Questions
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is at it again with her anti-vaccine nonsense. A reporter recently asked the Georgia representative whether she has been vaccinated, to which she responded: “your first question is a violation of my HIPAA rights. You see with HIPAA rights, we don’t have to reveal our medical records and that also includes our vaccine records.” It should come as no surprise that Greene has no idea what she’s talking about on this. While it’s true that she doesn’t have to tell anyone if she’s vaccinated if she doesn’t want to, it’s not a violation of HIPAA rights for a reporter or anyone else to ask if she has received the vaccine. HIPAA has to do with medical care providers and insurance providers protecting the records of patients. It has nothing to do with people casually in conversation asking others whether or not they’ve taken a COVID shot. Greene should probably know this by now, but her supporters don’t actually care whether she’s right on this. For them, it’s all about pushing an anti-vaccine anti-Biden agenda by whatever means necessary.
--More on the show:
--Dean Baker, Senior Economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and visiting professor at the University of Utah, joins David to discuss the state of the economy, whether we're heading to a recession, and much more
--Republicans decide to push dangerous, baseless conspiracy theories in response to the January 6 Trump riot probe
--Notable discussions from the David Pakman Show subreddit, including about whether COVID will ever end in the United States, George W Bush's comments about Afghanistan, and much more
--Suddenly, conservatives claim to care about COVID vaccines and getting people vaccinated
--Republican Senator Rand Paul now says he would like to see Dr. Anthony Fauci criminally charged
--Voicemail caller asks how conservatism and the Republican Party became as unhinged and disconnected from reality as they have become
--On the Bonus Show: Ben & Jerry's Israel controversy, states propose $26 billion opioid settlement, CA couple whose gender-reveal party caused wildfire charged with 30 crimes, much more...
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