Why we can't escape the pandemic

From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, disinformation and conspiracy theories have plagued social media, contributing to a spotty and often ineffective response to the coronavirus. Then came the vaccines, which were supposed to put an end to it, but it wasn't that simple. Vaccine refusal allowed the Delta variant to spread, putting to rest our hopes that the pandemic was safely in the rearview mirror. Even healthcare workers, more taxed by the pandemic than almost any other group, aren't immune to disinformation. Hundreds have quit their jobs rather than comply with vaccine mandates, and a small number of doctors have established themselves as some of the highest-profile purveyors of false information on COVID-19 online.

• — "This is personal for me." Enough is enough, say public health advocates. The newly formed group No License for Disinformation is filing complaints with state medical boards against doctors who, it says, have spread false statements about Covid. "We see the effects of disinformation firsthand because we see the victims of disinformation campaigns that come into our emergency departments," says Taylor Nichols, an emergency room doctor in Sacramento and one of the founders of the group. —BuzzFeed News
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• — Facebook is a big culprit. No surprises here, but the social media behemoth is a major hub for Covid disinformation. Last month, Media Matters for America found 60 public and private Facebook groups dedicated to ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug, most commonly used for livestock, that some claim can treat COVID-19. The avalanche of misinformation about the dewormer has caused a series of national problems, from increased calls to poisoning centers to a shortage of the medicine itself. Like hydroxychloroquine before it, ivermectin has been touted as a "miracle cure" by politicians and other public figures, exacerbating an already bad situation. —The Hill
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• — YouTube takes a stand. As disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines started spilling over into disinfo about all vaccines, YouTube decided to crack down. Yesterday, the video-sharing platform announced that its current community guidelines, which already prohibit the sharing of medical misinformation, have been extended to cover "currently administered" vaccines that have been proven safe by the World Health Organization and other health officials. The site had previously banned content containing false claims about COVID-19 vaccines. Will it help? No one knows for sure. But it’s a step in the right direction. —NPR

The final countdown

Today is the last day for Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill in order to avoid a government shutdown at midnight. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last night that a deal had been reached, and the Senate passed the bill today to keep the government funded through December. The ball's in the House's court now. The final House vote on the $1.2 trillion Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill is also happening today, but it's future is unclear. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said an "overwhelming" number of House Republicans will oppose it. That means House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can't afford to lose more than a handful of Democratic votes. She has been furiously trying to strike a deal between moderate and progressive members of her caucus. Leaving a meeting with the speaker, moderate Rep. Josh Gottheimer optimistically told reporters, "The vote is not going to fail." We'll see about that. —CNN

MORE: Manchin offers alternative plans to Democrats' 'fiscal insanity' —Politico

Latkowski: Saving democracy $25 at a time

"For the past six years, Seattle has experimented with a new system of campaign finance—and the results are promising. The idea is simple: Every resident gets four democracy vouchers, worth $25 a piece, that they can give to candidates, who then redeem those vouchers with the government for campaign dollars. Seattle passed democracy vouchers in 2015, and it's been used in all three election cycles since. There's one catch: Candidates can accept vouchers only if they stop taking money from companies and huge donors." —Tom Latkowski in The Nation

Tom Latkowski is a policy researcher at the Democracy Policy Network and the author of "Democracy Vouchers: How Bringing Money into Politics Can Drive Money Out of Politics."

More subpoenas in Capitol attack

The House select committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 has issued more subpoenas in its probe of the attack. Eleven officials who helped plan rallies in support of the ex-president—including the massive event in which he told his supporters to "fight like hell"—were subpoenaed. Among them are Amy and Kylie Kremer, co-founders of Women for America First; Cynthia Chafian, who submitted the first permit for the rally; Caroline Wren, the national finance consultant for Trump Victory, a joint fundraising venture with the Republican National Committee; Maggie Mulvaney, niece of former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who was listed on the permit as "VIP Lead"; and former Trump campaign official Katrina Pierson. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson has ordered witnesses to provide documents to the panel by Oct. 13 and appear at separate depositions scheduled from late October through early November. Stay tuned. —The Boston Globe

MORE: Jan. 6 rioter who said she looked for Pelosi 'to shoot her in the friggin' brain' pleads guilty to misdemeanor for illegally protesting —CNN

Rubin: If you're pro-democracy, act like it

"Democrats must project a greater sense of urgency about the fate of our democracy. They cannot rally their base and keep disaffected Republicans on board if they allow a senator or two to prioritize the filibuster over preserving our democracy. The White House must unequivocally condemn Republicans for unanimously refusing to even debate voting rights bills and for unanimously opposing a measure that would preserve the treasury's credit standing. Being deferential to politicians who operate in bad faith is no way to mobilize the electorate." —Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post

Jennifer Rubin is an attorney and political opinion columnist at The Washington Post.

MORE: Two Democrats, one Republican vote against parties on debt ceiling —The Hill

Focus on global democracy

Japan is preparing for new leadership. Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister, was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party yesterday, assuring him of becoming the nation's next prime minister. An establishment choice who, like his predecessors, supports a strong U.S.-Japan alliance, Kishida is concerned about China's military expansion and has called for Japan's missile defenses against China and North Korea to be beefed up. Parliament will convene on Monday to formally select the new prime minister. Kishida will succeed Yoshihide Suga, who announced his resignation in early September. —The Wall Street Journal

• — Poland. Poland's interior minister said on Monday that material related to Islamic extremism had been found in the phones of migrants crossing into Poland from Belarus. He called for a 60-day extension to the state of emergency along the border. Not everyone is sure if that's true, however. Poland's opposition and human rights groups have accused the ruling Law and Justice party of stoking prejudice against immigrants for political gain. Piotr Bystrianin, head of a refugee aid charity, said the minister showed no proof of the security threat. "The aim was precisely to stigmatize these people, arouse fear, and try to find some pseudo-reasons for maintaining the state of emergency," he said. —Reuters
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• — Russia. Russia has opened a new criminal case against opposition figure Alexei Navalny that could leave him in jail for an additional decade. Navalny, who survived an assassination attempt by Russian security forces last year, is already serving out a three-year prison sentence on parole violations that he and Western nations have condemned as politically motivated. Now, he has been named as a suspect for founding and leading the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was created to expose corruption at the Kremlin and was identified as an "extremist group" by a Russian court last June. —Axios

1. — Tunisia. Last Sunday, thousands protested in the Tunisian capital, where President Kais Saied, once a revered professor of constitutional law, has launched a series of moves that, despite his denials, appear to be a coup. Saied's initial steps to trample the constitution and dismantle any semblance of democracy in the North African country came in late July, when he abruptly fired the prime minister and disbanded Parliament. He claims he's simply trying to get the country through a tough time. Yesterday, he named Najla Bouden Ramadhane, a university engineer with World Bank experience, Tunisia's—and the Arab world's—first female prime minister. —World Politics Review

Schieffer: Remember empathy? More of that, please

"Keeping me afloat during this time of deep division is my deeper belief that we have the tools to fix this mess. We always have, we just forgot because our minds are clouded by judgment, misinformation, and distrust, all of which can be cleared up with a healthy dose of empathy. We can change our path if we dig in, get uncomfortable, and commit to bringing back a society of people who care about each other. It's going to be messy, but it must be better than what we see today." —Chantel Schieffer in Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Chantel Schieffer is the president and CEO of Leadership Montana, a Bozeman-based nonprofit focused on leadership development.

MORE: Thomas B. Edsall: Political polarization may not be all it's cracked up to be —The New York Times

I believe the old saying that we deserve what we get certainly fits the situation in our country at this very moment. The news stories this week have to do with Jan. 6 (just a tea party and friendly tour of the U.S. Capitol); our military leaders testifying before Congress (if you can call those clowns a Congress) about the Afghan exit disaster; the pseudo-audit in Arizona and the attempt to try the same chicanery in other states (including those TFG even won); the Republican and Democratic "leaders" we're supposed to believe are acting in our best interests (no politics here), playing a very dangerous/deadly/onerous game of chicken with funding the government that will directly impact my retirement and my all-too-short future (the righties just to be nasty and the lefties because they can't get every little thing they want); folks who won't get the jab because it might not protect you 100%, or they're actually injecting chips in all of us (better lose the cellphone, buddy); and going from a wannabe dictator who made prevarication into an art form to a president who can't seem to get out of his own way.

Good Lord, we as citizens had better wake up and smell the roses (I think they're already withered away), or it will be too late for our next generation and the one(s) that follow. The United States of America will exist only as a name (maybe) and not as the grand experiment our forefathers bred and nourished. We should all be well and truly ashamed of ourselves for letting these idiots ruin the (ex)greatest country in the world. —Steven B., Florida

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