Police wield batons during XR’s London Bridge bus blockade

Move on ninth day of latest protest campaign appears to mark change in use of force against the group

Police wielded batons and against Extinction Rebellion protesters as they battled to gain control of an open-top bus blocking London Bridge 

Photograph: Edmond Terakopian/Photo: Edmond Terakopian/www.terakopian.com

Damien Gayle
@damiengayle
Tue 31 Aug 2021

Police in London wielded batons and threw punches against Extinction Rebellion protesters as they battled to gain control of an open-top bus blocking London Bridge on Tuesday, in a step-change in their use of force against the group.

On the ninth day of XR’s latest protest campaign, the Guardian witnessed officers from the Metropolitan police climb the sides of the bus parked across the junction at the south of the bridge, striking and wrestling with protesters.


Extinction Rebellion protesters block Tower Bridge in London

At one point in the melee, an officer appeared to hit a colleague who was climbing on the bus. Inside, officers appeared to put one protester in a headlock and beat them.

Paul Stephens, a retired detective sergeant with the Met, who is now an Extinction Rebellion police liaison, described the Met’s actions as “an appalling example of policing”. “Clearly they’ve got orders to use force on protesters that are trying to protest peacefully in the street,” he said.

One window of the bus was smashed by the time police had managed to climb aboard and gain control. Gail Bradbrook, the XR co-founder, who was marching with the protest, said: “What we witnessed from the Met police there was breaking glass when people were nearby, and use of truncheons and use of force. I saw someone in a headlock, people being thrown around. It was an act of aggression in the face of peaceful civil disobedience.

“It begs the question of quite what instructions these officers were given this morning.”

The drawing of truncheons against XR protesters marked an apparent change in the Met’s approach to the group. During previous XR campaigns, which have often involved roadblocks and peaceful civil disobedience, officers have taken an incremental approach to clearing blockades, carefully removing protesters from barricades and carrying them away.

“It’s the police committing mindless violence when they’re supposed to be protecting us,” one XR supporter at the scene, 66-year-old Carol Jones from Southport, said.

Protesters remained around the bus for several hours after the fracas, while the officers involved appeared to be relieved and replaced. At 4pm, the Met imposed a section 14 order, requiring the protest to end immediately. Protesters moved on, following a samba band down Borough High Street and west along Southwark Street. A number of activists remained inside the bus and locked beneath.

A Met statement said given the demonstration was an “attempt to cause major disruption to one of London’s busiest bridges” the use of force “was reasonable and proportionate”. They added that 43 arrests were made.

The fracas came after XR protesters gathered by City Hall before beginning a march through London Bridge. This week, the protest group said it wanted to begin targeting the nearby City of London financial district to drive home their key demand of an immediate end to investment in new fossil fuel projects.

Siân Berry, the Green party London assembly member and candidate for London mayor, who briefly joined the march, said: “When it comes to driving the extinction that everyone’s worried about, it’s the continued investment in fossil fuels [that’s the problem], and the City needs to mend its ways as quickly as possible.”


Vegan activists block dairy distribution centre in Buckinghamshire

Also on Tuesday, a so-called “pram rebellion action” began in Parliament Square, while an XR Families group was expected to meet at St Paul’s Cathedral for a “play-in and feed-in”. In the afternoon, activists gathered in front of the Bank of England to discuss a recent Unicef report on the impact of the climate crisis on children.

Earlier, about 50 vegan environmental activists from the Animal Rebellion group blockaded the Arla dairy distribution centre in Buckinghamshire, calling for a transition to a plant-based food system.

A dozen other activists from XR Youth Solidarity occupied the headquarters of WWF in Woking in a protest against conservation activities they said were leading to persecution and eviction of indigenous peoples in Tanzania, Cameroon and Kenya.

A spokesperson for the XR Youth Solidarity occupation said they had been threatened with arrest, but were trying to negotiate with WWF. “Hours ago [they] said they will get in touch with WWF Tanzania and WWF Kenya to see what they could do about the demands but we haven’t heard back from them about it in a while,” he said.

A WWF spokesperson called the occupation disappointing, adding: “We share the same ambition to protect our world, tackle climate change and ensure a future where people and nature thrive.”

Former Afghan minister hopes for an 'inclusive government'

VIDEO DW spoke with Nargis Nehan, Afghanistan's former minister of mines and petroleum, about the situation for women in Afghanistan and the possibility of working with the Taliban.

Evacuated Afghan minister: 'It's not only the fall of Afghanistan, it's the fall of humanity'

Nargis Nehan, a former minister in the Afghan government who was evacuated to Norway, told DW on Tuesday that she could consider working in an Afghan government under Taliban rule, but with conditions.

"I'm committed to my people, and I want to do whatever I can for bettering their life," she said. "If that means that I have to go and work with the Taliban, as long as they actually accept human rights and they provide us with the basic human rights that we deserve to have, then we are willing to collaborate with them."

The Taliban said they would announce their government after the US finished withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

"If they want women's support, they should understand that we have expression, we have expectations... we want to be part of the government, we want to be part of the decision-making. We are just watching what kind of government they will form."
'The fall of humanity'

Speaking just hours after the last US forces left Kabul airport, Nehan called it "not only the fall of Kabul, it's actually the fall of humanity and the fall of an effort of the whole international community for the last 20 years."

The Taliban had tried to strike a conciliatory tone shortly after they seized control. They promised press freedom and vowed to honor women's rights within "the limits of Islam."

But the Taliban's "moderate" claims faded quickly, with reports of rounding up former government employees, cracking down on dissent and targeting journalists' families.

Nehan said she was wary of the Taliban's promises to be less oppressive of women this time around as they do not have clear policies.

They have said their rules are based on "Islamic rights and Afghani culture, that is where the confusion started because Afghanistan is a very diverse country and you have different and diverse cultures. So when they say our culture, it was confusing for us to understand exactly which cultures they mean," she said.

"We hope that once they form the government, it will be an inclusive government," Nehan said. "It should have representation from different genders, from different social background, people of all ideologies, so that whoever is living in Afghanistan, somehow they see themselves part of that government."

Prominent female Afghan politician under house arrest flees country
BY RACHEL SCULLY - 08/31/21 

© Getty Images


A prominent female Afghan politician has successfully fled the country on one of the last evacuation flights after having been put on house arrest by the Taliban after it captured Kabul, the Washington Post reported.

Fawzia Koofi, a former Afghan legislator and vocal Taliban critic, fled to Qatar saying that the country now felt unsafe for her and many others. Hours later, though, she said she intends to eventually return to the country.

Koofi, a widowed mother, was reunited with her two daughters in Doha, who fled the country on earlier flights, according to the Post.

Koofi was the first female vice president of the parliament and was even one of the select women who participated in negotiations between the now ejected government, which Washington backed, and the Taliban. Now, she is pleading with the insurgent group to stop the violence.

"Taliban, hear us out: we must rebuild together! This land belongs to all of us," she tweeted.

Koofi fled the country just as the last American evacuation flight left the country Monday. More than 123,000 civilians have been evacuated.

Just 10 days earlier, Koofi said she had no plans of leaving the country, the Post noted. However, that changed as violence in the country started the escalate.

She has not clarified how she managed to flee the country, but she thanked the Qatari government for helping facilitate evacuations.

Afghanistan’s minister for women, Hasina Safi, is also among those who fled the country, according to Australia's ABC News. She said that leaving the country was her life's "most difficult situation and decision."

These 666 new Texas laws go into effect Sept. 1
Texas Tribune
August 31, 2021

YouTube/screen grab

"666 new Texas laws go into effect Sept. 1. Here are some that might affect you." was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

Six hundred and sixty-six new Texas laws will go into effect this Wednesday. Debated, passed and signed during the 87th Texas Legislature, these laws include changes to public safety, health care and K-12 education.

Not every bill signed into law during the regular session will go into effect Sept. 1. Some bills went into effect as soon as they were signed. For example, Senate Bill 968, which banned “vaccine passports" in Texas, became law when Gov. Greg Abbott signed it in June. Other bills, like one that revises eminent domain negotiations between landowners and companies, will become law on Jan. 1, 2022.

The legislature is currently in its second special session, which Abbott primarily called to advance the GOP-backed voting restrictions bill. Lawmakers are discussing other topics, including changes to the bail system and limits on transgender Texans from competing on school sports teams. At least one more special session will be called this fall to address redistricting.

But in the meantime, here's a list of the new laws you should know:

Texas' 2022-2023 budget: SB 1 provides nearly $250 billion for Texas, with notable funds going toward public higher education. Abbott line-item vetoed the part of the budget that funds the Texas Legislature and the people who staff it — but lawmakers may restore funding during this summer's second special session.

Permitless carry: House Bill 1927 allows Texans ages 21 and older to carry handguns without training or a license as long as they are not legally prevented from doing so.

Abortion restrictions: SB 8 prohibits abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy. In lieu of government enforcement, private individuals can sue abortion providers or people who assist abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat. Abortion providers are suing to block the law. Additionally, HB 1280 would outlaw abortion in Texas 30 days after any potential U.S. Supreme Court decision overturns Roe v. Wade.
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Medical marijuana expansion: People with any form of cancer or post-traumatic stress disorder now have access to low-THC cannabis for medical purposes. HB 1535 is an expansion of the Texas Compassionate Use Program, which allows people with conditions such as epilepsy and autism to access medical marijuana.

Reducing barriers to SNAP: SB 224 simplifies access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for seniors and disabled people on fixed incomes. Eligible individuals can forgo enrollment interviews and have a shortened application process.

Funding the “1836 Project": HB 2497 establishes an “1836 Project" committee to produce patriotic Texas history materials, which will be distributed through channels such as when people receive driver's licenses. The initiative's name mirrors the “1619 Project," a New York Times publication examining U.S. history from the arrival of enslaved people.

Social studies curriculum changes: HB 3979 limits teachers from discussing current events and systemic racism in class. The bill also prevents students from receiving class credit for participating in civic engagement and bans teaching of the “1619 Project."

“Star Spangled Banner Protection Act": Professional sports teams with state funding are required to play the national anthem before games under SB 4.

Reducing pre-K class sizes: Prekindergarten classes are now capped at 22 students — the same maximum class size of other elementary school grades — under SB 2081.

New state employee retirement accounts: SB 321 enrolls new state workers hired after Sept. 1, 2022, in a cash-balance plan, which deposits a percentage of a worker's annual compensation in retirement accounts and is similar to a 401(k) retirement account. Currently, employees have defined-benefit retirement accounts based on employment position and previous salaries.

Shielding companies from car crash liability: HB 19 requires drivers of commercial vehicles — including Ubers, Lyfts and delivery trucks — to be found liable in court for causing a car crash resulting in injury or death before a case can be brought against their employer.

Active shooter alert system: HB 103 creates the Texas Active Shooter Alert System, which will notify Texans in the vicinity of an active shooting scene through their phones. The system can be activated by request of local law enforcement.

Police body cameras: HB 929 requires police officers to keep body cameras on during the entirety of active investigations. The law is named after Botham Jean, who was fatally shot in his apartment while eating ice cream by a Dallas police officer in 2018.

Banning unnecessary police chokeholds: Police officers are now prohibited from using chokeholds or excessive force during arrests unless necessary to prevent officer or bystander injury under SB 69. Officers who witness violations are required to report the incident.

Online ballot tracking system: HB 1382 creates an online tracking system for mail-in ballots and applications for mail-in ballots. The system will be run by the Texas Secretary of State.

Punishing cities who cut police budgets: If municipalities with a population of more than 250,000 reduce their police budget, HB 1900 allows the state to financially punish the cities by reducing sales tax revenues and preventing increases in property taxes.

Felony punishment for blocking emergency vehicles: HB 9 will make blocking access to a hospital or an emergency vehicle with its lights and sirens on a state jail felony. The bill was passed as a response to protesters being arrested for blocking ambulances during Black Lives Matter protests last summer.

Criminalizing homeless camping: HB 1925 makes camping in unapproved public places a misdemeanor crime that carries a fine of up to $500. Cities cannot opt out of the ban.


Disclosure: Lyft, Texas Secretary of State and New York Times have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/31/new-texas-laws-september-2021/.
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The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Madison Cawthorn spokesman freaks out on CNN fact checker who highlighted his unhinged 'bloodshed' remarks

Matthew Chapman
August 30, 2021


Madison Cawthorn (Screen Grab)

On Monday, CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale flagged a speech Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) gave to a group of Republicans in Macon County, North Carolina in an event on Sunday, in which he not only continued to push former President Donald Trump's "big lie" that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, but suggested conservatives may need to resort to violence to prevent such elections from happening again.

"If our election systems continue to be rigged, continue to be stolen, then it's gonna lead to one place and that's bloodshed," said Cawthorn. "There's nothing I would dread doing more than having to pick up arms against a fellow American. And the way that we can have recourse against that is if we all passionately demand that we have election security in all 50 states."

In response to Dale's fact-check, a spokesperson for Madison Cawthorn quickly tried to walk back the congressman's suggestion of civil war: "Cawthorn is CLEARLY advocating for violence not to occur over election integrity questions. He fears others would erroneously choose that route and strongly states that election integrity issues should be resolved peacefully and never through violence."

Cawthorn also provoked controversy at the Macomb County event by suggesting the jailed participants in the January 6 Capitol attack are "political hostages" — and that he is "actively working" on a plan to bring Trump supporters back to the Capitol.

'He doesn't seem like the brightest bulb': MSNBC conservative blasts Madison Cawthorn's 'violent fantasies'

Travis Gettys
August 31, 2021

Screengrab.

MSNBC's Elise Jordan called on Republicans to denounce Rep. Madison Cawthorn's insurrection threats, even if they're likely toothless.

The North Carolina Republican defended the jailed insurrectionists as "political hostages" and told constituents that he was "actively working on" bringing Donald Trump supporters to Washington for some type of action, and the "Morning Joe" contributor said GOP leadership should impose consequences.

"In an alternative universe, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, you would have had GOP leadership doing something to clamp down Madison Cawthorn from his violent fantasies, but today it gets him slots on cable news, juices his fundraising and he's allowed to say and do whatever he wants, no matter how damaging," Jordan said, "and if it's inciting violence which we saw from the top, Donald Trump, and what he brought and how plenty of Republican leaders did nothing to clamp down on Donald Trump's calls for repeatd violence."

Jordan, who served as an aide in the George W. Bush White House and as an adviser to Sen. Rand Paul's presidential campaign, said she doesn't think Cawthorn's threats are serious, but she said they're still way out of bounds.

"He doesn't seem like the brightest bulb, seems like he's going for the attention and isn't a mastermind of planning an insurrection," Jordan said. "But this is the rhetoric Republicans need to decry, and the fact that they aren't and the fact that he's seemingly operating in a consequence-free universe within the Republican Party, it's very troubling and it shows the state of the Republican Party right now."

  

 Calls to expel ‘traitorous’ Madison Cawthorn grow after he warns of ‘bloodshed’ and lies about ‘rigged’ election

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
August 31, 2021

Madison Cawthorn (Screen Grab)

Remarks made by U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) are being seen as so volatile and destructive some are calling for his expulsion from Congress.

The North Carolina Republican lawmaker was warned to stop campaigning across the country and start paying attention to his own constituents. On Sunday, The Washington Post reports, Cawthorn told his local Macon County Republican Party "that elections in the United States are 'rigged' and said there will be 'bloodshed' if the country's electoral system continues on its current path."

Immediately after holding a shotgun Cawthorn said, "I will tell you, as much as I am willing to defend our liberty at all costs, there is nothing that I would dread doing more than having to pick up arms against a fellow American. And the way that we can have recourse against that is if we all passionately demand that we have election security in all 50 states."

After urging President Joe Biden's Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, Cawthorn promised, “I will remove Joe Biden from office, and then, when Kamala Harris inevitably screws up, we will take them down, one at a time."

And he called those arrested in the January 6 insurrection, which he helped incite, “political prisoners" and “political hostages."

The Post also reported that on Sunday "a member of the crowd asked Cawthorn, 'When are you going to call us to Washington again?'"

In response, Cawthorn appeared to suggest that plans for a gathering were in the works, although he did not provide details.
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“That — we are actively working on that one," he said. “I don't have an answer to that one right yet. But we are actively working on this. We have a few plans in motion that I can't make public right now."

As news spreads of his remarks, many are furious and demanding he be expelled from Congress

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COVID-infected conservatives are being killed by their own 'industrial outrage complex': SE Cupp

Matthew Chapman
August 31, 2021

MarcBernier.com

On CNN Tuesday, conservative pundit S. E. Cupp weighed in on the recent reports of anti-vaccine right-wing talk radio hosts dying of COVID-19, including Tennessee's Phil Valentine and Florida's self-styled "Mr. Anti-Vax" Marc Bernier.

"Given this new trend in what we're seeing, is there any chance it could change minds?" asked anchor Kaitlan Collins. "Because we're hearing from Phil Valentine's brother saying, if he could tell you now to get it, he would."

"Look, you hope so," said Cupp. "I mean, these are anecdotal examples, but you hope they are jarring enough. I think this is a bigger problem, though, with right-wing media. You know, years ago I was asked to fill in for a right-wing radio host for a couple days. I did my job. I brought my strong opinions and passion and facts and was told after, by the station owner, that was great but you aren't outraged enough. I think the industrial outrage complex that's taken over right-wing media is corrosive. Outrage is all that matters."

"All of these guys you mentioned really, you know, took their characters seriously and wore their characters not just on the air, but when they got home, to the point that they refused a lifesaving vaccine in the midst of a global pandemic," said Cupp. "And look, even Trump wasn't that method. Trump got the vaccine eventually and is now getting booed at his own rallies for telling people to get it. But I think if you're a viewer or a listener and you are prone to these arguments, you are going to take these radio guys very seriously when really all they're doing is acting a part."

Watch below:
SE Cupp says right-wing talk radio hosts dying of COVID are victims of the "outrage machine"

Memorial wins court order to deny controversial drug ivermectin as COVID-19 treatment

Dean Olsen
State Journal-Register

A Sangamon County judge’s ruling Monday means an Auburn man hospitalized for COVID-19 at Memorial Medical Center will be denied a controversial drug thought to reduce viral complications, but normally used to treat people and animals for parasitic worms.

The wife of Randy Clouse, 61, lost her bid to force Memorial to allow her husband to receive ivermectin, a drug mentioned by Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham as a possible treatment for COVID-19.

“She should have a right to try to save her husband,” Ralph Lorigo, a lawyer from West Seneca, New York, who is representing Anita Clouse said at a 2½-hour hearing in front of Circuit Judge Adam Giganti.

But Springfield lawyer William Davis of Brown, Hay & Stephens, representing the Springfield hospital where Randy Clouse has been hospitalized almost six weeks, the last four of them on a ventilator, said ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment is unproven and potentially unsafe.

More: An animal dewormer to treat COVID? Poison control centers see uptick in calls; stores sell out

And Davis criticized the Chicago internist, Dr. Alan Bain, who prescribed the drug for Clouse and testified via video at Monday’s hearing. Davis said Bain failed to perform an adequate review of Clouse’s medical history and chose to ignore widespread medical advice on the use of ivermectin in COVID-19 patients.

“He wants to make Mr. Clouse a guinea pig,” Davis told Giganti before the judge denied Anita Clouse’s request for an injunction.

Bain said his study of the scientific literature and personal experience shows ivermectin is safe as a COVID-19 treatment. And he said he has empathy for Anita Clouse.

“I don’t think she could live with herself knowing that not everything was tried,” Bain said.

It’s unclear whether Lorigo will appeal Giganti’s ruling to the Illinois Appellate Court. Lorigo described Clouse’s condition as dire and ivermectin as a last-ditch effort to help him survive after conventional treatments.

Lorigo didn’t return a phone call and email seeking comment. Anita Clouse couldn’t be reached for comment.

Ivermectin isn’t approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Association for use in COVID-19 patients. The federal agency’s website contains a section labeled, “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.”

According to a USA Today Network story, interest in ivermectin is rising as the delta variant of the novel coronavirus has spurred higher COVID-19 transmission rates and increased concern among the vaccinated about becoming infected.
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Families of a handful of COVID-19 patients’ across the country have convinced courts to force doctors to use ivermectin, which also is not recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization.

Ivermectin in a pill form is used to treat parasitic worms in humans. A topical form of the drug is used to treat head lice and skin conditions such as rosacea, according to the FDA.

More:Ohio judge orders hospital to treat COVID patient with Ivermectin despite CDC warnings

Other forms of ivermectin are used to treat parasites in horses and cows and as a heartworm medicine for dogs.

Some initial research on ivermectin is underway, including six active clinical trials of ivermectin in the U.S. against COVID-19, according to a search of the U.S. National Library of Medicine's website, Clinicaltrials.gov. Most of the six trials call for ivermectin to be used with other drugs; all but one are small-scale, early studies. One study was withdrawn.

More study is needed, but there is “insufficient evidence to recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19,” the National Institutes of Health said.

Some farm supply stores label ivermectin products as unsafe for humans, and others pulled the product from the shelves to prevent customers from using it.

Multiple reports of patients treated or hospitalized after “self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses” led the FDA to issue a warning Aug. 21. “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the agency tweeted.

Randy Clouse, who reportedly was unvaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19 on July 21 and was admitted to Memorial the next day, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday by his wife, who is his guardian and medical advocate.

He was transferred to a Memorial intensive-care unit July 24, on a ventilator Aug. 3, and on dialysis Aug. 10, court documents said. His chances of survival are less than 30%, the documents said.

Memorial refused to administer ivermectin “despite the minimal downside and side effects” and even after Anita Clouse offered to release Memorial and any doctors from any liability, the documents said.

In a written response filed in court Friday, Memorial officials said Clouse’s medical condition is “presently improving,” and he no longer has an active COVID-19 infection.

“His treating physicians believe administration of ivermectin will likely result in kidney and lung damage, which can lead to organ failure and death,” Memorial’s response said. “Mr. Clouse already has weakened liver and kidney function (and) ivermectin is more likely to push these organs over the edge.”

Bain testified he has never examined Clouse in person and isn’t his primary care doctor. But Bain said he has seen a video of Clouse and reviewed Memorial medical records through Aug. 22 that were provided by Clouse’s wife.

Bain said 30 of the approximately 40 Illinois patients he has treated for COVID-19 are patients he hasn’t seen in person. He said he primarily has a “telemedicine” practice, and he has prescribed most of his COVID-19 patients ivermectin in combination with other drugs.

Bain said he has seen patients either get better because of ivermectin, or the drug has given “signals” that it is causing some benefit.

He cited the case of a 68-year-old woman with COVID-19 who was weaned off a ventilator and discharged from Elmhurst Hospital in suburban Chicago after Bain administered small amounts of ivermectin for 20 consecutive days in May.

The woman’s family, represented by Lorigo, persuaded a DuPage County judge to prohibit Elmhurst Hospital from stopping the woman from receiving the drug.

“I have not found any problems with the safety of this drug,” Bain testified Monday.

Giganti denied Lorigo’s request for a court delay for a day or two so Bain could review medical records of a cyst found on Clouse’s liver in tests Aug. 4 and Friday.

The judge said he was surprised Bain was still willing to recommend ivermectin even after learning of the cyst from Memorial’s attorney at Monday’s hearing.

“We have a paucity of time,” Bain said. “Everybody at the hospital is doing a good job. At this stage … we need to assure that this add-on happens. … It could save his life.”

Contact Dean Olsen: dolsen@gannett.com; (217) 836-1068; twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.

Bioethicist slams judge who ordered hospital to give ivermectin to severe COVID-19 patient

Sky Palma
August 31, 2021

(Shutterstock)

An Ohio judge ordered a local hospital to move forward with treating COVID-19 patient Jeffery Smith, 51, with the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin. But according to New York University bioethics professor Arthur Caplan, the judge's order was "absurd."

"If I were these doctors, I simply wouldn't do it," Caplan told Ars Technica.

The case was brought to court by Smith's wife Julie after he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and placed on a ventilator.

After her husband was on a ventilator for 19 days, Julie reached out to Dr. Fred Wagshul about using ivermectin to treat his condition, according to court documents. Wagshul prescribed 30mg of ivermectin to Smith, but the hospital staff refused to administer the drug.

As Ars Technica point out, ivermectin was initially developed as a treatment for river blindness and other parasitic infections. At high doses, ivermectin can cause serious side effects in humans, ranging from nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea to low blood pressure, seizures, coma, and death.

It has not been approved as a treatment for COVID-19 in humans. Nevertheless, it's been falsely touted in anti-vaccine circles as an effective treatment for the virus.

Ivermectin "is absolutely not indicated for COVID. There is no standard of care saying you have to use it. Indeed, major medical groups advising against using it because people have died from it," Caplan said, adding that the judge's order was asking hospital doctors to do something "unethical and illegal."
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"The doctors who are caring for the guy in the hospital are his doctors, not this guy," he said.

"The judge is trying to throw a life preserver to a dying man. The problem is what he's throwing is actually a 50 pound weight that'll sink him."

Dr. Ryan Marino 

Covid trends like ivermectin are deadly distractions. Why can't we stop them?

We need Americans to stop looking for false cures in the feed store — and just get vaccinated.

A person holds up a sign during an anti-mandatory COVID-19 vaccine protest held outside New York City Hall, on Aug. 9, 2021.

Andrew Kelly / Reuters file

Aug. 28, 2021
By Dr. Ryan Marino, emergency physician and medical toxicologist

"You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it." This actual tweet from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sounds better suited for an April Fool’s Day joke than for an actual federal health advisory posted just days before the FDA fully approved Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for those 16 and older.

It’s easy to joke about ignorant or desperate people taking horse dewormers, but misinformation like this really is deadly. Hydroxychloroquine was used off-label by many around the world, with devastating results, and the same thing is now happening again.



The internet was supposed to revolutionize how we share information. However, as we head into the second autumn of the pandemic with cases once again surging across the United States — despite a monumental vaccination effort — misinformation is still rampant. Risky coronavirus cures and unproven treatments, from hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to oleandrin and now ivermectin, prove an epidemic of science denial has flourished online.

Ivermectin is a medication widely used to treat parasitic infections in humans and animals. Some of the more common medical uses are against worms, mites and insects, like scabies and roundworms, and tropical diseases like river blindness. If you have a dog, you may know it as a heartworm medicine, and if you have livestock, like horses, cows and pigs, then you may know it as a deworming agent.

Ivermectin has shown antiviral effects at very high doses. However, it has never been proven to effectively treat or prevent viral infections in humans. Like much in vitro data, meaning research done on cell cultures in petri dishes, any positive findings have not been replicated in vivo in actual human subjects. And a quick look at this data suggests a reason why: The doses and concentrations necessary for antiviral activity are much higher than are safe for humans, and would be toxic to human life as well as viruses. If this sounds familiar it’s because the same misapplication of in vitro science has been used to promote hydroxychloroquine and disinfectants like bleach.

Right-wing media pushes people to animal anti-parasite drug as junk science Covid medicine   AUG. 20, 2021  04:29

Meanwhile, the human data on ivermectin tells a much different story. The available scientific evidence has consistently shown a lack of benefit in both treating and preventing Covid-19, and empiric evidence from widespread off-label use has objectively not made a difference. Notably, the only papers that showed any significant benefit for ivermectin have been retracted because they were fraudulent, but not before being shared hundreds of thousands of times around the world. The same disgraced Surgisphere server — a data sharing and analytics company that rose to prominence early in the pandemic — that posted fraudulent hydroxychloroquine science shared another fraudulent paper on ivermectin that set off this current craze.

That paper and Surgisphere no longer exist, but the damage is done. Another popularly shared study on ivermectin, which claimed to demonstrate better success than almost any other medical intervention in modern history, was also found to be falsified and was retracted. But again, only after being shared extensively online.

The pro-ivermectin crowd would have you believe that the science on ivermectin is being “suppressed.” It is not. Some of the largest scale scientific efforts ever have involved the study of ivermectin in Covid-19. Another claim is that the pharmaceutical industry does not want to lose potential profits to a relatively cheap, older drug. This claim conveniently ignores the fact that one of the only drugs with good evidence for use in Covid-19 is dexamethasone, a cheap, old drug that has been implemented worldwide during this pandemic. Even the manufacturer of ivermectin, the pharmaceutical giant Merck, has released statements warning against the use of their product for coronavirus, citing safety and efficacy concerns.

The pro-ivermectin crowd would have you believe that the science on ivermectin is being “suppressed.” It is not.

Groups of contrarian physicians have emerged to promote “cures” without adding any evidence, and despite names like “America’s Front Line Doctors” and “Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance,” their members often do not work clinically — meaning they do not actually have credentials to practice medicine in any hospital settings — and do not treat Covid-19 patients. The founder of FLCCC, who is not currently affiliated with any health care institutions, recently disclosed that he and his family came down with coronavirus despite taking his unproven ivermectin protocol. The AFLD is actually selling ivermectin prescriptions online, a conflict of interest.

True believers have turned to livestock preparations, which can be obtained at feed stores and other places that sell animal supplies without a prescription and without any oversight. And now poison control centers across the country are being overwhelmed with calls related to this off-label ivermectin use, because like most drugs that are used to kill pathogens, ivermectin can also easily be toxic to human life. Animal formulations, which are not FDA approved, usually contain higher concentrations and doses, making it much easier to get sick. But even human doses of ivermectin can have significant side effects and interactions. Not only are people poisoning themselves, there are now shortages of ivermectin for its legitimate uses and prices have skyrocketed.

Furthermore, the fixation on these false cures distracts from the tremendous achievement of Covid-19 vaccines, which we know not only prevent infection but also prevent disease severity in the way that ivermectin believers hope their drug will. I am a doctor and a scientist, and I desperately hope we discover more viable therapeutics for treatment of this pandemic. But here in the United States, we already have access to something much better: safe, effective, life-saving vaccines. Now we just need people to stop looking for false cures in the feed store and get vaccinated.


Dr. Ryan Marino
Dr. Ryan Marino is an emergency physician and medical toxicologist. Outside of the hospital he can be found countering misinformation about drugs and the people who use them on social media.