Having been banned and suspended from major social networks, federal MP Craig Kelly has turned to one of the few platforms he has left to share anti-vaccine rhetoric: the Australian Parliament House email lists.
On Thursday afternoon, the former Liberal-turned-independent member for Hughes sent an email to all federal MPs and senators with the subject “FW: Urgent see attached”.
Starting by greeting his “Dear Parliamentary College” (sic), Kelly shares snippets of information released by the US Center for Disease Control showing similarities in the Delta strain’s infection rates and viral load comparisons between vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans.
The implication is that this shows vaccines aren’t effective. While it’s true that vaccinated Americans are contracting the Delta variant, vaccination still remains an incredibly potent weapon at stopping serious illness and hospitalisation.
Kelly, who has been been banned from Facebook for being a major source of COVID-19 misinformation and has recently served a suspension on Twitter, asks that his parliamentary colleagues consider the evidence.
Not long afterwards, Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson sent a reply-all email pointing out that vaccines are stopping people from getting gravely ill.
“Do you accept this M8?” Whish-Wilson asked, signing off “Senator Whishy”.
In response, Kelly claims the jury is still out while referring to “the most recent data from Israel and Iceland”. While Israel and Iceland are both enduring a new wave of COVID cases, vaccination continues to reduce its severity.
Then, without any prompting, Queensland Liberal National Party MP Andrew Laming replied to all federal politicians saying that “nothing prevents the clinician use of ivermectin off label”, referring to the unauthorised use of an anti-parasitic drug that hasn’t been proved to cure COVID. He added that new data about the Delta variant doesn’t change the need for vaccines and lockdowns, signing off “Lammo”.
Kelly’s and Laming’s different responses show the cracks appearing in the Australian conservative movement as the governing Coalition has to grapple with discontent from its base, many of whom are sceptical or outright opposed to government public health restrictions.
With Kelly standing as an independent and Laming hinting at an intention to stand for reelection despite not being preselected by the party, both men’s responses show their sympathy towards a populist, anti-lockdown stance for the next election.
How is it that lunatics like Kelly and Laming are even allowed to be in Parliament? They are anti-science, dangerous, ignorant, and contagious in their insanity. You wonder how low the standards of politics have sunk when the governing party won’t even condemn such views.
Or gear their selection processes so they don’t get a start.
Not just that, for example Morrison has really gone the extra mile before now to ensure Kelly was not deselected after Kelly’s local party decided they’d had more than enough of the frothing lunatic.
Coalition crackpot MPs are modelling themselves on this lot, and Scovid gets a guernsey here too.
“Republican politicians compare the vaccination drive to the Naz.. persecution of the J..ws or to the KGB knock on the door and when Republicans at state level have forced out public health officials for pushing the vaccine too energetically.
Of course, these twin tenets of Trumpism are conjoined. What they share is disdain for expertise and contempt for facts, whether the experts be scientists or election officials and whether the facts relate to the nature of a virus or the sum total of votes cast last November.
Trumpism demands instead that the facts bend the knee before the mighty helmsman. It is truth that must defer to the ruler, not the other way around.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/06/trump-trumpism-american-presidential-run-republican
Murdoch is being starved of social media Youtube and fronts up to a senate inquiry. Kelly, Christensen et al are free to say what they want thanks to Morri$sin needing them to keep a slender majority.
Be prepared for this to hit Australia from Murdoch and his maggot ridden miasma of churnalists and liars.
Nothing will stop them nor will the removal of video from Youtube for 7 days; and ACMA are useless.
“with unvaccinated Americans – notably and conspicuously residents of states and counties that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2020 – succumbing to the Delta strain in large numbers, Trump Republicans are falling back on their proven method of deflecting attention by blaming immigrants crossing the southern border.
Last week, Trump issued a characteristic charge: “ICYMI: “Thousands of Covid-positive migrants passing through Texas border city,” linking a New York Post article claiming that “nearly 7,000 immigrants who tested positive for Covid-19 have passed through a Texas city that has become the epicenter of the illegal immigration surge.”
Trump has employed this racist-nationalist theme before.
Trump acolytes are adopting the same demagoguery.
As hospitalizations in Florida surged past 12,000 this week, exceeding a record already shattered last weekend, Florida governor Ron DeSantis accused Joe Biden of facilitating the virus by not reducing immigration through the southern border.
“Why don’t you do your job?” DeSantis snapped after Biden suggested DeSantis stop opposing masks. “Why don’t you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about Covid from you, thank you.”
The Trumpist media is quickly falling in line behind this nativist rubbish. In the last week, Fox News’s Sean Hannity has asserted the “biggest super-spreader” is immigrants streaming over the southern border rather than the lack of vaccinations.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/08/us-covid-delta-republicans-deflect-demagoguery
Well it could be argued that at least half the parliament is anti-science w.r.t. global warming issues, or at least what to do about it.
Come to think of it, both major parties are on a unity ticket in favor of expensive methane production. So make that 95% of the parliament is anti-science w.r.t. global warming issues, or at least what to do about it.
So a few that have even nuttier views is neither here or there.
Trawling the ocean floor for the dregs of the hard right, watch our PM crab walk away from condemning this idiocy.
We can only hope that the whack jobs and conservatives who vote Kelly, Christiansen and the rest, and definitely One Nation and LNP follow their American counterparts decision on getting vaccinated. That way they may be doing the world a favour and signing their own death warrants. . Substitute the American players for those here:
And so the single greatest predictor of whether an American has been vaccinated or not is whether they voted for Biden or Trump last November. As of last month, 86% of Democrats had received at least one shot; among Republicans it was only 45%.
This article is worth a read as it demonstrates what death and destruction the Murdoch psychotic scrawlers and presenters here
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/06/trump-trumpism-american-presidential-run-republican
Evolution succeeds, devolution recedes.
It’s the slow pace that irks me – their way out will waste a lot of resources the longer they linger.
(Apologies to the Cranberries, vale Dolores.)
Devo: freedom of choice or beautiful world?
In fact an article I’ve just read had similarities to what’s going on here with the Morri$sin disaster.
“Trumpism has infected its every organ. Whether or not Trump himself returns is almost secondary. The disease has already devoured the political party that constitutes half of America’s body politic – and it’s not done yet.”
We seem to have an earlier virus already in our electoral blood system – the JWH Unflushble mutant had the an easy run once we’d been weaked by the PJK Zegna strain.
Yes Keating was a disaster for Labor and the nation
Vaccine skeptic US cardinal on ventilator after Covid diagnosis Cardinal Raymond Burke: ‘Please pray for me’
Conservative cleric is leading critic of Pope Francis
Cardinal Raymond Burke, a staunch conservative in the US Catholic church who has emerged as a leading critic of Pope Francis and a vaccine skeptic, was placed on a ventilator just days after testing positive for Covid-19.
Maybe there is some sort of god
The cardinal, who has had strong ties with the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, has also spoken out against immigration
Any wonder his business went down the pan, with those millions in ‘toilet paper’ left floating..
He should stick to supplying the parliamentary furniture polish.
And “DIY buffing”.
Sounds like the definition of junk mail, report to Spam and forget. I’m sure with his commitments to ignorance, prejudice, credulity and innumeracy he will end up with a gig on talkback radio and a column in the Murdoch press. He could replace Savva next to Credlin.
My bet is Craig will get a seat in the little red clown car that is Sky AfterDark.
He may even get a tin medal as did Peta Crudlin in the recent Betty Windsor thankyou honours.
If there ever was an excuse to become a republic. Old Betty did not even bother to scrutinise the list of to be honoured people.
If I receive an email with subject FW: Urgent see attached I promise you it is going straight in the bin.
Laming is technically right, “off label” prescribing is a “die on this hill” issue for the medical profession.
I tried to explain why the evidence base isn’t there for ivermectin to Craig Kelly on twitter and he blocked me. What a snowflake.
The only study that had enough data to swing meta-analyses in favour of ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19 was found to be fraudulent and when that’s removed the effectiveness of ivermectin against Covid-19 disappears.
That shows how much some of our elected ‘representatives’ know or understand about data let alone ethics.
The scary thing about Kelly is – that he was ‘elected’.
The PM thinks himself one of the Elect – self (s)elected, of course.
That there are enough people in just one electorate that think Kelly’s politics not only reflect but also represent their own.
Morrison was elected to represent Crook : another “(paradisiacal) electorate” ….. if you can believe him?
“The Member for Crook” if you like?
Some conservative voting electorates would vote for a killer, oh wait, they have, Gladys Berjikilian