Posted on

Sarah Huckabee Sanders boasted of getting a ‘Trump vaccine,’ part of a campaign to claim credit for the shots

President Donald Trump stands with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who announced that she is stepping down as the White House press secretary, during his rally where he announced his candidacy for a second presidential term at the Amway Center on June 18, 2019 in Orlando, Florida..
President Donald Trump stands with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who announced that she is stepping down as the White House press secretary, during his rally where he announced his candidacy for a second presidential term at the Amway Center on June 18, 2019 in Orlando, Florida.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

  • Trump’s former press secretary Sarah Huckabee urged Americans to get “the Trump vaccine.”
  • The president has repeatedly claimed credit for the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
  • The multiple vaccines on the market were developed by teams of scientists across the world.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has urged Americans to take what she referred to as the “Trump vaccine,” continuing a process by which Trump and his circle seek credit for the shots and their rollout.

It came after former President Donald Trump told supporters on Saturday he had “come up with” COVID-19 vaccines.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that he deserves the credit for the rollout of vaccinations across the US, citing his administration’s Operation Warp Speed project which aimed to fast-track development and rollout of the shots.

Three coronavirus vaccines are currently approved for emergency use in the United States, including the Moderna vaccine which was developed using over $1 billion in US government funding.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which is the most widely used jab in the United States, was developed by a pair of Turkish-German scientists, and many others were also the result of global collaborative efforts between teams of scientists.

The Biden administration took over the vaccine program in January when he entered the White House. Most of the shots distributed in the United States have been given since then.

Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, urged readers in a column for Arkansas Online to take the coronavirus vaccine amid a rapid rise in new cases across the state.

Sanders, who is currently running for Arkansas governor, said she had decided to take a coronavirus vaccination after being “reassured after President Trump and his family were vaccinated.”

“If getting vaccinated was safe enough for them, I felt it was safe enough for me,” she said in the column.

Sanders said she had “determined that the benefits of getting vaccinated outweighed any potential risks” for herself. She didn’t say which shot she received.

She also blamed the media for characterizing Operation Warp Speed as ineffective, arguing instead that it had resulted in many Americans mistrusting the vaccines.

“It’s clear that the Trump vaccine works and is saving lives,” she said.

The column, which was published on Sunday, came after Trump on Saturday repeated his claim that he had “come up with” COVID-19 vaccines.

“How about the vaccine?” he asked an audience at a rally in Arizona on Saturday.

“I came up with the vaccine. They said it would take 3 to 5 years. Gonna save the world. I recommend that you take it but I also believe in your freedoms 100%.”

Sanders’ comments come as infection rates soared across Arkansas, where the case rate is growing faster than any other state, according to the Associated Press.

Public health experts last week compared the virus surge to a “raging forest fire” and predicted mass outbreaks in schools.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, on Sunday said he would continue to veto the introduction of a statewide mask mandate, per CNN.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

Families suing Boeing for the 737 Max crashes have been delayed a year after the pandemic closed courts

Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302
The crash site of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane, which crashed in 2019.

Xinhua/ via Getty Images

  • The coronavirus slowed cases against Boeing from 737 Max crash victims’ families, their lawyer said.
  • The pandemic meant new restrictions on courts, which Bob Clifford said meant limited court access.
  • He said: “Pre-pandemic, the case might be over by now. So we’re at least a year behind.”
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Legal cases brought against Boeing by the families of those killed in the two fatal 737 Max crashes have been delayed by at least a year by the coronavirus pandemic, one of the lawyers representing those families said.

Boeing’s 737 Max plane crashed twice: A Lion Air plane crashed and killed all 189 people on board in October 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in March 2019, killing 157.

Bob Clifford, who represents more than 70 families affected by the Lion Air crash, told Insider that the families’ cases against Boeing are running “at least a year behind.”

That means some of the families expect to still be pursuing the court case three years after their loved ones died.

This is because many federal courts suspended jury trials and in-person hearings over COVID-19.

Lion Air
Families of the victims of Lion Air flight JT 610, visit an operations centre to look for personal items of their relatives in October 2018.

Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images

The US District Court in Chicago, where many of the cases against Boeing are being heard, suspended civil and criminal jury trials. The number of in-person hearings were also greatly reduced.

Clifford said lawyers who represent the families had “very limited access to our courts.”

“Here we are, some two-and-a-half years, post-crash … and we’re at least a year away from any jury trial. Whereas, in the past, pre-pandemic, the case might be over by now. So we’re at least a year behind.”

Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302
An investigator with the U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) looks over debris at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 on March 12, 2019 in Bishoftu, Ethiopia.

Jemal Countess/Getty Images

He added: “I really don’t predict any meaningful, significant jury trials, certainly here in Chicago, but most likely anywhere in the US, in all of 2021. And then, we’ll see what happens in 2022.”

Some families have chosen to settle their cases against Boeing, avoiding the lengthy trial process.

Boeing declined to comment when contacted by Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

A couple is being sued for defamation after writing 1-star Google reviews of a roofing company, report says

Autumn Knepper and Adam Marsh
Autumn Knepper and Adam Marsh complained to the Better Business Bureau about the roofing company.

KGW8

  • A couple from Washington left one-star reviews of a roofing company after a receptionist was rude to them, KGW8 reported.
  • The couple said they were contacted by the company’s owner who demanded that they take down the reviews.
  • They’re now accused of defamation and are being sued for $112,000, according to Newsweek.

A couple from Vancouver, Washington is being sued for $112,000 after leaving a one-star Google review of a roofing company, KGW8 reported.

Autumn Knepper and Adam Marsh each wrote a negative review of Executive Roof Services after two phone calls with one of the company’s receptionists turned sour, they told the local broadcaster.

Now, the roofing company has served papers accusing them of defamation and intentional interference with business expectancy, according to Newsweek.

Read more: An elderly couple is suing JPMorgan for $20 million over claims they were misled on risky investments

Knepper called the office of Executive Roof Services to discuss how soon the company would be able to repair a leak in their attic, she told KGW8. The receptionist on the other end of the phone, however, was extremely dismissive, she said.

“She refused to give me any information. She said I would have to get it from the landlord. I asked to speak with the manager and she laughed at me,” Knepper recalled. “She told me I was verbally abusing her and that she was the office manager. She hung up on me.”

Marsh said he had a similarly bad experience with the same woman.

After the negative interactions with the receptionist, the couple posted their reviews and also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau because they hadn’t received a report on the expected timeline of the work, KGW8 reported.

Shortly after, they were contacted by the company’s owner – Michael Mecham.

“He told me that he knew where I lived. He said he had forensics guy and that he would gladly spend a hundred thousand dollars suing me,” Knepper told KGW8.

She said that she later received a text demanding that she take down the review before “more damages are done,” the local broadcaster reported.

Knepper said she responded by calling the police and thought that was “the end of it.” It wasn’t.

In late June, the couple was served a lawsuit filed on behalf of Executive Roof Services.

“Honestly, I cried immediately. I was terrified. I can’t afford a lawyer. I can’t afford to pay $112,000. And I can’t, I don’t want to file for bankruptcy,” Knepper told KGW8.

David Bowser, an attorney representing the roofing company, told the local broadcaster that the lawsuit is centered on Knepper and Marsh’s “improper” intent.

“They intentionally harmed ERS by posting one-star reviews for the purpose of getting a report they weren’t entitled to,” Bowser said.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

A healthcare worker who was hospitalized for a month with COVID-19 says she now has nearly $1 million in medical bills

Shenita Russie being interviewed, left, and in hospital, right.
Shenita Russie was put in a medically-induced coma.

THV11

  • Shenita Russie caught COVID-19 while working in Boston as a mobile respiratory therapist, Newsweek reported.
  • She became so unwell that she was put in a medically-induced coma.
  • Russie has racked up an eye-watering amount in medical bills. “Close to a million dollars,” she told THV11.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

A healthcare worker from Arkansas has said that she has racked up medical bills of close to $1 million after she was hospitalized from COVID-19, she told THV11.

Shenita Russie, 42, caught the virus while working as a mobile respiratory therapist for COVID-19 patients in Boston at the start of the pandemic, Newsweek reported.

She was hospitalized for a month and was placed in a medically-induced coma, according to the media outlet. During this time, she racked up an eye-watering amount in bills.

“The bills? They are incredible,” she told THV11. “I mean it was close to a million dollars just for how sick I was on life support.”

Read more: The anti-vax movement is killing people, and the right-wing media is egging it on

Now in Little Rock with her family and dealing with long COVID, Russie said that she is having to spend even more money on cardiologist consultations and rehabilitation.

She is unable to walk without a cane and hasn’t been able to work since getting sick, THV11 said.

Newsweek reported that her worker’s compensation is covering some of the cost, but she is still seeking to settle bills with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Baptist Health.

Baptist Health in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Russie is currently receiving treatment, said that the average charge per COVID patient is approximately $62,000.

Russie previously had a GoFundMe for her medical bills, but the fundraiser no longer appears to be online.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

Trump gets Taliban leader’s name wrong and impersonates him with grunts, videos show

Trump at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday night
Former President Donald Trump impersonated Hibatullah Akhundzada by making grunting sounds.

NEWSMAX

  • Trump referred to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada as ‘Mohammed’ at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
  • He then proceeded to imitate Akhundzada by making grunting sounds, videos show.
  • During the rally, Trump also recalled threatening to bomb the village Akhundzada lived in.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Former President Donald Trump imitated the leader of the Taliban and referred to him by the wrong name while speaking at the “Rally to Protect Our Election” in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday night.

At the rally, which marks Trump’s first trip back to Arizona since the presidential election, the former president recalled a conversation with Hibatullah Akhundzada from during his presidency.

“I told the Taliban, I spoke to the leader, and I spoke, I said, ‘let’s call him Mohammed,'” Trump said. “I said, ‘Mohammed, we’re leaving.'”

Trump later impersonated Akhundzada by making grunting sounds. “He’s a tough guy,” the former president added.

“Not a lot of social grace, but he was being nice, I think he was being as nice as he could be.”

“That’s all they do is fight,” he continued.

The former president then proceeded to recall a threat he claimed he issued to the Taliban’s leader.

“We’re going to come back and hit you harder than any country has ever been hit,” he said. “And your village, where I know you are and where you have everybody, that’s going to be the point at which the first bomb is dropped.”

The crowd then burst into applause.

Trump had a telephone conversation with Akhundzada, who has been the leader of the Taliban since 2016, in March 2020. At the time, he described it as a “very good talk.”

He told reporters that both parties wanted an end to the violence, the Independent reported, but just hours later the US military conducted an airstrike against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

Donald Trump bizarrely mused about how LeBron James could get sex reassignment surgery to compete in women’s sports, video shows

Composite image of Trump, left, and LeBron James, right.
Former President Donald Trump suggested that LeBron James might eventually get sex reassignment surgery.

RSBN, Amy Sussman/FilmMagic

  • Trump, during a speech at a rally in Arizona, speculated that LeBron James might get sex reassignment surgery.
  • He suggested that the basketball player could “get the operation” to compete in women’s sports.
  • James identifies as male and has never publicly expressed a desire to transition.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

During a rambling two-hour speech in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday night, former President Donald Trump bizarrely mused about how basketball player LeBron James could get sex reassignment surgery.

Trump speculated that the Los Angeles Lakers star could “get the operation” in order to compete in women’s sports, he said while speaking at the “Rally to Protect Our Elections.”

The former president joked that, as the coach of a women’s sports team, he would only recruit transgender athletes. “If I were a coach, I wouldn’t be talking to too many women as we know women,” he said. “I’d be getting some of these people that … they’re ‘women.'”

Trump then suggested that James might eventually choose to transition. “Somebody said that if LeBron James ever decided to get the operation, how would he be on the court? How would he be?” he mused.

James identifies as male and has never publicly expressed a desire to undergo gender confirmation surgery.

“LeBron James, you can have him,” Trump continued before further mocking the basketball player. “Did you see the basketball ratings that were terrible? They went up after his team was defeated.”

This isn’t the first time that the former president has taken aim at James. Trump called him “racist” and “divisive” after the Los Angeles Lakers star tweeted a response to the police killing of Ohio teenager Ma’Khia Bryant in April.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

Bloomberg canceled Prof Scott Galloway’s TV show after he joked about his sex life in a video, topless, in a hard hat

A screenshot of Prof. Galloway's promotional video for Bloomberg, in which he stands topless and with a miner's hat and pickax
A screenshot of Prof. Galloway’s promotional video for Bloomberg

Bloomberg/Twitter

  • Professor Scott Galloway will no longer make a show with Bloomberg, The Daily Beast reported.
  • The cancellation comes a couple of weeks after a strange, lewd promo video was posted and deleted.
  • The NYU professor is known for his sharp takes on the world of business and tech.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Bloomberg TV decided not shelve a planned show with popular academic Professor Scott Galloway after he posted a lewd video online, according to the Daily Beast.

Galloway, who is professor of marketing at NYU Stern, is known for his outspoken takes on business, many of which he has published on Insider.

In April, Bloomberg announced he would have a primetime streaming show with the Bloomberg’s Quicktake service, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Bloomberg confirmed to the Beast that the show had been axed, describing the move as a “mutual decision.” Galloway declined to comment to the Beast, and neither he nor Bloomberg immediately responded to Insider’s inquiries.

On July 2, Galloway appeared in a promotional video that was quickly deleted, but was spotted by New York Times media reporter Katie Robertson, who posted it quizzically. “This deleted video gives some … insight into what to expect?”

In the video, Galloway strides out topless to the tune of Lee Dorsey’s 1966 hit “Working in the Coal Mine,” and proceeds to make some sexually-charged jokes.

“The man of your dreams is here, if your dreams included the Village People meets a 47-year-old Jewish academic with erectile dysfunction who’s on testosterone,” he said.

Next he noted that he’s “in construction in addition to academia” as an apparent segue into construction jokes.

“I like to bring construction into my sex life. I’m a big fan of one-night stands. I call it the ‘nut and bolt.’ Anyway, bitcoin, b—–s. Here we go!” he said.

The words “CUE OUR INTRO” appear on screen at the end, suggesting this was not a finished product.

Robertson, the media reporter, said in a second tweet: “I’m reliably told people all over the Bloomberg office are playing this video right now.”

Galloway, who also hosts the “Pivot” podcast with tech journalist Kara Swisher, has something of rock-star status as a business commentator. Last year, GQ framed him as a “business guru for people who aren’t interested in business.”

His most recently skewered Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson’s forays into space in commentary on MSNBC.

Bezos and Branson’s billionaire’s space race “reflects something a little weird, quite frankly, a little unhealthy about our society,” he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

Kodak deletes Instagram post by photographer who called out Chinese oppression of Uyghurs

kodak
The Kodak headquarters in Rochester, New York.

James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images

  • Kodak deleted an Instagram post featuring the work of a photographer who criticized Uyghur suppression.
  • Patrick Wack’s images of Xinjiang, China, were deleted after blowback from Beijing supporters.
  • Kodak apologized on WeChat, saying: “We will continue to respect the Chinese government.”
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Kodak deleted an Instagram post featuring photos from the Xinjiang region of China, where the government has been accused of human rights violations against the majority-Muslim Uyghur people, after blowback from Beijing supporters, according to The New York Times.

The post featured the work of French photographer Patrick Wack, who is releasing a book of images from his multiple trips to Xinjiang between 2016 and 2019.

In the deleted post, Wack described his images as a visual narrative of Xinjiang’s “abrupt descent into an Orwellian dystopia,” The Times reports.

China has been accused of cracking down on the Uyghur people by forcing them into re-education camps, surveilling them, controlling birth rates, destroying mosques and shrines, and supporting settlement in Xinjiang of China’s majority race, the Han.

A post shared by Kodak (@kodak)

After receiving backlash from Chinese social media users, the post was taken down by Kodak, which subsequently released an apology on the site, The Times reports.

The company said that the content of the post “was not authored by Kodak” and its views “do not represent those of Kodak and are not endorsed by Kodak.”

“Kodak’s Instagram page is intended to enable creativity by providing a platform for promoting the medium of film … We apologize for any misunderstanding or offense the post may have caused,” the post says.

According to Hong Kong Free Press, Kodak also apologized on its WeChat page, a popular social media website in China, blaming the post on “management loopholes.”

A post shared by Patrick Wack (@patwack)

A post shared by Patrick Wack (@patwack)

A post shared by Patrick Wack (@patwack)

“For a long time, Kodak has maintained a good relationship with the Chinese government and has been in close cooperation with various government departments. We will continue to respect the Chinese government and the Chinese law,” the statement read, according to Hong Kong Free Press.

“We will keep ourselves in check and correct ourselves, taking this as an example of the need for caution.”

Neither Kodak nor Wack immediately responded to Insider’s request for comment on Thursday.

Wack told The Times that a Kodak social media manager was the first to reach out to him, taking an interest in his work.

He said that this manager reached out to him after the post was taken down to apologize, saying the decision had been made by upper management, The Times reports.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

Trump defended sending supporters to the Capitol on January 6, saying he wanted them to go up to it but not inside

Trump Jan 6
Donald Trump on screen as he gave a speech before the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Samuel Corum/Getty Images

  • Donald Trump said that he wanted supporters to “not go in” the Capitol on January 6.
  • Supporters attacked officers and breached the Capitol after Trump gave an incendiary speech.
  • Trump and his allies have tried to whitewash the events of January 6.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Former President Donald Trump defended whipping up his supporters ahead of the January 6 riot, arguing that he never wanted anybody to actually go inside the Capitol.

Trump told amassed supporters that day that he wanted them to “fight” for him, claiming falsely that he election had been stolen.

The justification came in an audio interview released Wednesday which Trump gave to Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.

Its contents informed their new book “I Alone Can Fix It”, an account of Trump’s tumultuous final months in power. The discussion took place on March 31 at Trump’s resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

Leonnig and Rucker played the audio for the first time in a Wednesday appearance on CNN with host Anderson Cooper.

In the interview Leonnig questioned Trump about his actions on January 6, when he delivered a fiery speech to supporters, groundlessly claiming that the presidential election had been stolen from him.

“If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he said, and exhorted them to march to the Capitol.

Shortly afterwards thousands of supporters were engaged in violent clashes with police and broke through police lines to breach the Capitol. The violence halted a proceeding to certify Joe Biden’s victory as president as lawmakers were evacuated to safety.

In the interview, Trump claimed his supporters went further than he wanted, though he also claimed they were less violent that commonly perceived.

“I would have said to them that you will show – not to go in,” Trump claimed, adding: “I mean, personally what I wanted is what they wanted.”

Trump went on to claim that the demonstrators were let in by police.

“I mean in all fairness, the Capitol Police were ushering people in,” he said.

“The Capitol police were very friendly. You know, they were hugging and kissing. You don’t see that but there’s plenty of tape on that.”

This is partly true – six officers in February were suspended after video footage showed them guiding rioters into the Capitol when police lines had been overwhelmed.

The interaction between police and rioters also involved violent clashes. More than 150 police officers were injured on January 6, sustaining serious head wounds, smashed ribs and cracked spinal discs.

Rioters used flagpoles, bear spray and batons to attack officers. A police officer was initially reported to have died as a result of his injuries, but a medical examiner in April concluded he had died of natural causes.

Trump in the interview described the protesters as a “loving crowd.”

In his speech, Trump had told the crowd he would go with them to the Capitol. Instead he returned to the White House, where he watched the chaos unfold on television.

He was banned from Twitter and Facebook for posts that day which the networks said incited futher violence.

Trump impeached on the charge of inciting the riot, but ultimately acquitted after the Senate did not reach the two-thirds majority required for conviction.

Trump’s comments underline a months-long campaign by some Republicans to whitewash the violence on January 6.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Posted on

Man who nearly died from COVID and now struggles to breath says he deserves ‘punishment’ for not bothering to get vaccinated

nurse treats a patient in hospital COVID intensive care unit
Registered nurse Andraya Zelle treats a patient in the COVID intensive care unit at UW Medical Center-Montlake, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, in Seattle.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

  • Abderrahmane Fadi spent nine days in hospital with COVID-19, where he was “between life and death.”
  • He said it was “the punishment I deserve” for not getting a coronavirus vaccine.
  • He said he regretted turning it down: “Why didn’t I go for the vaccine? Why?”
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

A man almost killed by the coronavirus said he deserves “punishment” for not getting vaccinated against it.

Abderrahmane Fadi told the BBC that he had to spend nine days in a UK hospital after he was infected in June and that he now still struggles to breathe.

“I regret not having the vaccine, actually. It hits me hard, it’s like a hammer in my head all the time: ‘Why didn’t you have the vaccine. You had all the chances, the opportunities, the appointments, the letters. Everything.’

“And I declined. And that’s consequences. That’s the punishment I deserve, to the honest.”

The BBC journalist asked the 60-year-old science teacher if he really felt he deserved to be punished.

Fadi responded: “Why didn’t I go for the vaccine? Why?”

He said that when he was fighting the virus: “I was out of breath. I was like a fish out of water. I could not even breathe, and I was thinking: ‘This is it. It’s my life.'”

His sons, aged nine and seven, were with him when the paramedics arrived: “They were crying.”

He said they saw him on the stretcher and likely thought: “Daddy’s gone forever.”

He said, for the first days he was in hospital, he felt “like I was between life and death.”

He credited the doctors for the fact that he is still alive today: “It wasn’t easy to sustain my life. They were trying everything just to keep me alive.”

Read the original article on Business Insider