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This week, the former head of the U.S. pandemic response testified before Congress’ Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. The committee originally was launched by House Democrats to investigate former President Donald Trump‘s administration’s response to COVID-19. Now helmed by Republicans, it is looking into … former President Donald Trump’s administration’s response to COVID-19.
While Dr. Anthony Fauci was technically under Trump’s employ throughout the pandemic, he nevertheless became a right-wing boogeyman for his stances on masks, social distancing, vaccines, and the virus’ origin. And yesterday, Republicans were ready to take him to task.
The hearing went viral for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) refusal to refer to him as a doctor. His written testimony also revealed fascinating information, including the fact that the CDC didn’t have any science to back up its social distancing claims.
But while Fauci was dragged for masking in schools, pushing for a vaccine, and undermining Trump (who had the ability to fire him every single day of the pandemic), some extremely far-right wingers felt Republicans on the panel dodged the biggest issue.
Biolabs in Ukraine.
The concern stems from a long-standing conspiratorial obsession that the U.S. (and, by proxy, Fauci) funded clandestine mobile biological weapons labs in Ukraine.
“Russian Military claim one of the main reasons they moved into Ukraine was because of US bioweapon development … We are in a proxy war with Russia, and on the verge of WW3, over these labs, and NOBODY brought it up?” Bioclandestine remarked on his Substack, saying Congress was “looking in the wrong direction.”
The post goes on to tie both Jeffery Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and Hunter Biden to COVID-19, but the gist is that the U.S. is skirting international treaties by making biological weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine. And testing novel coronaviruses like the one that kicked off the pandemic.
Russia also accused the U.S. of running the labs, however, little proof has been offered.
But BioClandestine’s righteous furor that Fauci was let off the hook for starting World War 3 sparked anger online.
“No one asked Fauci about the bio labs. Oddly, @congressdotgov didn’t ask ANY questions about the Biolabs created in Ukraine & WuHan, to evade the US Laws…” wrote one.
“These committees are looking in the wrong spot…Is nobody going to ask Fauci about the biolabs in Ukraine?” asked a Gab poster.
“DO BETTER REPUBLICANS!” hollered a third.
Which just goes to show that no matter how much the far-right gets to yell at Fauci, they’ll never be satisfied.
2) Musk’s secret Mossad connection
A feud that played out on X devolved into a full-on conspiracy in the farther reaches of the web, with Elon Musk and X being accused of helping Israel assassinate American citizens.
It began when MMA fighter and frequent poster Jake Shield shared a picture of a bomb that had his name on it, claiming that the Israeli military was using it to kill Palestinians in his name over his tweets.
Shields said that Musk was handing over home addresses to the IDF, to which Musk replied “why would we have your home address?“
Musk was corrected on his own platform that X does collect IDs that could have addresses.
But the phrasing of the response prompted a wild theory on Gab, a site not always known for its logic and understanding.
“When Jake Shields inquired about this, Elon Musk was not only unperturbed by the Israeli threats against Shields’ life … Musk replied to this inquiry about the IDF / Israeli government using the word ‘we.’,” wrote KeepGraniteNH.
While one might assume Musk was referring to X, the user wanted you to know, you’re dumb for thinking that.
“Shills will insist he’s simply referring to Twitter,” he wrote. “There’s no point of differentiation between Twitter and Israeli intelligence.”
The claim of Israeli agents at X stems in part from a report that Musk’s new user verification system he launched was helmed by former Israeli intelligence operatives.
“It’s clear,” keep Granite went on that “Musk is no longer a conservative champion and that all of X is an Israeli operation.“
And that includes sharing information with … Israeli assassin squads mad at a poster? Maybe.
3) The People’s Outlaw
When Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City last week, a right-wing meme instantly took off, with users online declaring their passion to vote for a “convicted felon.”
Now, they’ve taken the trial and its outcome even further, dubbing him “The People’s Outlaw.”
On Truth Social, Trump’s criminality is being praised.
“The choice is simple in November … You can vote for the people’s outlaw, President Trump … Or you can vote for the guy who showered with his teen daughter,” read the posts.
Trump’s crime, paying off an adult film star over sex, may not seem like a populist act, but with the former president, just about anything can be twisted into support.
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