(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Republican Plan for the next Pandemic: Make it worse [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-27 As you wish... Via Beth Mole at Ars Technica: BONKERS — Missouri House advances bill to limit nonexistent vaccine microchips—just in case The bill aims to stop COVID vaccine mandates while promoting conspiracy theories. Just when you think Republicans can’t get any worse, they exceed expectations, no matter how low. In the latest efforts by Republican lawmakers to enshrine into law Americans' right to freely spread deadly infectious diseases to each other, the Missouri House this week advanced a bill that would bar governments, schools, and employers from mandating certain vaccines—as well as things like vaccine microchips, which do not exist. The bill, HB 700 (PDF), was sponsored by Rep. Bill Hardwick, a Republican from Waynesville. Hardwick told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he believed people "lost their minds" during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that legally barring officials and employers from requiring life-saving vaccination, even among health care workers, feels "like it's the right thing to do." The bill specifically bars requirements for people to receive COVID-19 vaccines. But it doesn't stop there. It also bars any requirements for people to receive "a dose of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)," thus barring requirements for any future mRNA-based vaccines, should they be needed in upcoming pandemics or outbreaks. It also bars requirements for "any treatment or procedure intended or designed to edit or alter human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or the human genome," and "any mechanical or electronic device" that would be placed "under the skin." This bill essentially codifies into law assorted conspiracy theories — and allows anyone to claim an exemption if “the person "holds a sincerely held religious belief, which may include any deeply held nontheistic moral belief," that prevents them from being vaccinated.” But it’s not just a Missouri problem. Republicans don’t just embrace crazy: they spread it systematically. Still, the bill is one of many sponsored by Republican lawmakers around the country aimed at curtailing public health policies and vaccination requirements, specifically, in the wake of the pandemic. Since the start of 2023, there have been 53 bills proposed in 20 states related to vaccination exemptions, according to a database of health legislation maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Kansas, for instance, lawmakers are currently considering an anti-vaccination bill that would allow for wide-ranging exemptions to any immunization requirements. In Idaho, meanwhile, a bill introduced in February would make it a crime to administer an mRNA-based vaccine. A similar bill was initially proposed in North Dakota in January before it was edited to propose studying vaccine safety instead. This is of a piece with Republicans passing anti-abortion laws that are driving doctors to leave states where they are forced to either choose letting their patients get sick and die, or risk getting sued and going to jail — just for providing proper healthcare. It’s no longer enough that they deliberately sabotaged the response to the first pandemic. Now they are being pro-active. It's no wonder Republicans are trying to achieve permanent minority rule — they’re going to kill off their own voters. Again. We are still in the middle of a pandemic that really got rolling under Ronald Reagan, the pandemic of weaponized stupid now reaching crazy levels. Charlie Pierce in 2018: Scrapie is a prion disease, similar in its effect to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) and to the wasting disease that afflicts herds of deer, and to kuru, a disease first seen among tribes in Papua New Guinea that was transmitted in part through the ritual cannibalism of the tribe’s dead. Elsewhere in Asia, the custom of eating the brains of a monkey was responsible for cases of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease, yet another prion illness. Once established in the victim, prion disease destroys the human nervous system. It eats away at the higher functions of the brain. So, when I talk about the prion disease that afflicts the Republican Party, and the conservative movement that is its only life force any more, I do not use the metaphor idly. The party has lost what’s left of its mind. Far too many people are far too delicate about this. The Republican Party is completely mad, and it has been going in that direction for a very long time. It has been raving through all the halls of all the governments, large and small, like a lost soul with a big knife. The symptoms of the enveloping disease have been obvious for decades, ever since Ronald Reagan served up the first helping of monkey brains in 1976, when he nearly wrested the party’s nomination from Gerald Ford. It is full-blown now, and it is general throughout the Republic. The Republican Party has infected every institution with its own private insanity. There’s a method to their madness. Republicans don’t legislate to solve problems; they legislate to capitalize on them politically — even if they have to make up the problems in the first place. If you don’t live in a red state, feel free to select “Pie” in the poll below. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/27/2160271/-The-Republican-Plan-for-the-next-Pandemic-Make-it-worse Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/