A Bad Day for the Vaxxer Crowd
San Diego Schools Go for Vaccines, National Scams Revealed
The door for accomplishing any of their stated goals is closing fast for the nation’s anti-mask/vaxxer political movements. Yesterday wasn’t what you'd call a good day for these groups.
Locally, the San Diego Unified Board of Trustees approved a phased in vaccine mandate for employees and students in the face of statewide calls to protest the proposal. Two local news outlets included mentions of an Antifa counterprotest, even though there is no such organization and no evidence that such an action was called for.
Nationally, the financial networks underlying prominent groups opposing vaccines and advocating for unproven alternative treatments were exposed on Tuesday via hacked files released through The Intercept. America’s Frontline Doctors, working in tandem with a small network of hastily organized healthcare companies extracted vast sums of money from tens of thousands of people concerned about Covid-19 but resistant to recommendations of public health authorities. (More on this further down the page)
Threats of mass resignations aimed at corporate entities requiring vaccinations have turned out to be an illusion in all but a few cases. United Airlines, for instance, now says less than 1% of its employees have failed to honor the requirement to get a Covid-19 vaccine. Following a claim by the State Police Association of Massachusetts that dozens of State Troopers were resigning because of the vaccine mandate, the state’s HR department revealed it had received only one letter of resignation.
https://twitter.com/JamesFallows/status/1443198664130842634?s=20
YouTube announced this morning that it has (finally!) banned all anti-vaccine content and prominent anti-vaccine activists. Admittedly this is like closing the barn door once all the livestock has escaped, but the lost revenue streams will have an impact.
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Sadly, I was only able to cruise by the San Diego Board of Education property yesterday afternoon on my way to addressing my latest post-surgery complication. (I’ll live. These things are never simple.)
I’d had fantasies about showing up early with a few real estate-type signs in tow, one directing passersby to audiences for the 2021 Darwin Awards and another pointing to VIP parking for an imaginary Antifa contingent.
https://twitter.com/MalikEarnest/status/1442984611651276801?s=20
From what I saw in the way of media coverage, the protest against consideration of a vaccination mandate went about as expected. A few dozen protest vagabonds, who reliably show up at demonstrations for right wing causes in California, were met with dozens of local (almost feverishly misinformed) supporters.
https://twitter.com/SDUTdyer/status/1442936026985492481?s=20
Conspicuously absent were parents of the majority of SDUSD students, who happen to be non-white. This should surprise no one since, disruptive tactics of this type aimed at school boards date back to the 1920s, part of a four-pronged effort by the Ku Klux Klan as documented in the Washington Post:
The Ku Klux Klan thus turned to school board politics. In cities across the nation, from Indianapolis to La Grande, Ore., local groups ran for school board; they disrupted meetings with solemn processions of robed and hooded Klansmen; and they agitated to have progressive teachers — and Catholic teachers — fired. The Klan couldn’t achieve its grandest ambitions on a state or national scale. But it did force many local school boards to discuss the dangers of Catholicism and race-mixing instead of budgets and busses.
Although the group originally calling for the protest, Let Them Breathe, pulled out of the event due to “security concerns,” its leadership was on hand to guide KUSI viewers into the reasoning at play.
Security concerns, touted on-line as a “threat” by Antifa, amounted to a handful of parents favoring the mandate waving signs.
Here’s the “Antifa” call to action
Documented hate group Defend East County responded to an internet call for “men” to defend against Antifa. Chad Alvarez, who became famous on the internet for macing himself at an El Cajon protest earlier this year, made the rounds threatening assorted parents and children.
https://twitter.com/Wendy4SD/status/1443249983940038663?s=20
In the end, the SDUSD Board created a system-wide phased-in mandate for employees and students, joining Los Angeles Unified, Oakland Unified and Culver City Unified schools. State health officials said last week they are considering a statewide COVID vaccine mandate for students age 12 and older.
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Now, on to the Big Reveal…
Short version: the people behind prompting anti-mask, vaxxer, and alternative treatments are infested with grifters, hustling people to enrich themselves. In other words, part of the pro-Trump wing of the Republican Party.
Long Version: The Intercept had a bunch of hacked documents dumped on their doorstop, including financials on the big players in the we love COVID movement.
A NETWORK OF health care providers pocketed millions of dollars selling hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and online consultations, according to hacked data provided to The Intercept. The data show that vast sums of money are being extracted from people concerned about or suffering from Covid-19 but resistant to vaccinations or other recommendations of public health authorities.
America’s Frontline Doctors, a right-wing group founded last year to promote pro-Trump doctors during the coronavirus pandemic, is working in tandem with a small network of health care companies to sow distrust in the Covid-19 vaccine, dupe tens of thousands of people into seeking ineffective treatments for the disease, and then sell consultations and millions of dollars’ worth of those medications. The data indicate patients spent at least $15 million — and potentially much more — on consultations and medications combined.
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America’s Frontline Doctors, which debuted in the summer of 2020, has close ties to a network of right-wing efforts to undermine public health during the pandemic, including the Tea Party Patriots. AFLDS’s founder, physician Simone Gold, was arrested and charged after the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. She and other doctors have appeared in widely shared videos arguing that the drugs hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin — which are primarily used to treat malaria in humans and parasitic worms in livestock, respectively — are effective treatments for Covid-19, despite warnings from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention against using them.
In California, 8,600 people paid $90 for telehealth consultations thru America’s Frontline Doctors’ stepchild MyFreeDoctor.
Let’s check their info with the Better Business Bureau:
According to information in BBB files, SpeakwithanMD.com has a pattern of complaints alleging Billing and Collection Issues, Service Issues, and Delivery Issues.
Consumers are stating they are directed to SpeakwithanMD.com when requesting a virtual doctor's appointment through America's Front Line Doctors website due to having Covid - 19. According to consumers they are not allowed the chance to speak with an actual doctor after paying for a tele-med appointment. They are emailed instead, informing them that their prescription is being sent to an unknown, unrequested pharmacy and will be delivered by a certain date. Consumers also state that once the date has passed for the delivery of the prescription, they are unable to contact the pharmacy and have the prescriptions delivered or transferred to a preferred pharmacy.
Consumers allege when attempting to contact Speakwithanmd.com about their paid appointment, as well as requesting a refund of unreceived services or products, all communication from the business ceases.
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