Tag: ivermectin
Candace Owens

Right-Wing Pundits Apparently Profiting From Ivermectin Craze They Pushed

Right-wing media helped dupe their audiences into believing that drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were miracle cures for COVID-19. Now, conservative commentators are apparently cashing in on that credulity thanks to the paid sponsorship of a mail-order pharmacy that provides easy access to the medicines.

The Florida-based All Family Pharmacy has sponsored a slew of right-wing commentators, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham, presidential son Donald Trump Jr., podcaster (and now deputy director of the FBI) Dan Bongino, One America News Network’s Matt Gaetz and Chanel Rion, The F1rst’s Bill O’Reilly, podcaster Candace Owens, and radio hosts Lars Larson, Michael Savage, and Howie Carr.

These pundits tout the company in social media posts and live ad reads as a way for their followers to acquire drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. Some even offer personal testimonials about their own experiences as its customers.

All Family Pharmacy, in turn, points to being “featured” by the commentators on its website, and provides dedicated pages for several of them that include their images.

The company is careful, both on its website and in the ad copy read by its right-wing promoters, not to explicitly invoke the use of ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine as treatments for COVID-19 without disclaimers. But it’s very clear what’s going on.

How right-wing pundits built demand for dubious COVID-19 cures

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, right-wing media outlets combated the public health consensus by promoting the virtues of unproven drugs.

In March 2020, they touted the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as an alternative to stay-at-home orders. A year and a half later, they highlighted the purported therapeutic benefits of the antiparasite drug ivermectin as an alternative to the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines they typically deplored.

Unfortunately, studies found that the drugs do not actually work as COVID-19 therapies, and a slew of health agencies and the manufacturers warned against their use for that purpose.

As a result, when consumers of right-wing media asked their doctors to write off-label prescriptions for the drugs that the media figures they most trusted had recommended for COVID-19, the doctors sometimes refused.

But telemedicine companies filled that gap in the market, offering credulous right-wingers easy access to prescriptions and mail-order drugs.

When NBC News reported on one such company, SpeakWithAnMD.com, in September 2021, I wrote that its success “shows how the right-wing movement functions as a money-making operation that serves up its hapless members" to organizations trying to cash in on conservative trends, but noted that while right-wing media figures “play an essential role” in the scheme, “there’s no reason to think they directly profit from it.”

That is no longer the case.

All Family Pharmacy sells easy access to the drugs

All Family Pharmacy’s operation is similar to that of SpeakWithAnMD.com. “We work with doctors all over the country to help get access to medications normal pharmacies don't or are unwilling to dispense including but not limited to Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine,” its website says.

The Florida-based telemedicine company promises an “easy as 1-2-3” process of obtaining medicines in which customers “choose your meds, fill out the medical form, and pay,” and then, after “a licensed doctor reviews your form and writes your prescription,” receive the drugs by mail.

While All Family Pharmacy says it provides “Easy Access to 200+ Medications,” its website emphasizes the availability of drugs that became conservatives’ causes célèbre during the pandemic.

An image of a box of ivermectin and capsules of the drug is splashed across the website’s landing page and separate pages for the right-wingers it sponsors, and the company is currently offering a “Buy One Get One FREE” sale for both that medicine and the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine.

All Family Pharmacy provides would-be purchasers of ivermectin with their “Covid-19 Treatment Dose” and “Covid-19/Viral Prevention Dose,” but also informs them that the drug is “not FDA-approved for … COVID-19 treatment or prevention” and instructs to “consult a licensed healthcare provider for advice.”

All Family Pharmacy co-founder Michael Kuenzler touted the company and sale in a March 17 appearance on Howie Carr’s radio show.

Kuenzler explained that their business took off during the pandemic due to “patients contacting us because their doctors were not prescribing medications that they felt were helpful toward the illnesses that they were having or enduring. My brother and I, we started pushing to help patients outside of their traditional PCP doctors get access to antibiotics, hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, any drugs that physicians just purely weren’t prescribing for whatever reasons.”

“I’m not a pharmacist, I’m not a doctor, I’m just here to help patients get access to a lot of these medications that they’re unable to get access to for various reasons,” he added.

The right-wing commentators pitching All Family Pharmacy’s ivermectin

Carr described himself as a “very satisfied customer” of All Family Pharmacy’s ivermectin during Monday’s interview with Kuenzler, praising the company’s pricing and easy process. “The first time I ordered it, I had it within 48 hours,” he said.

“I remember,” Kuenzler replied, chuckling. “A lot of our advertisers, they like to try the ivermectin out, and I promise you this — within 30 days, I have another request coming. It's becoming a very popular drug of choice.”

Dan Bongino, the newly minted deputy director of the FBI, is among the right-wing pundits who are not only sponsored by All Family Pharmacy but say they are also its customers.

“Need ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, emergency antibiotics, or other essential medications — you got it,” Bongino said during an ad read for one of his final podcasts. “I use All Family Pharmacy. They’ve been great to me, helped me on a couple of vacations I was on. They step up when the system fails you.”

“I never travel without my emergency kit!” Matt Gaetz said on social media last month while promoting his ad-read touting All Family Pharmacy’s ivermectin.

Donald Trump Jr. read ad copy for All Family Pharmacy on his podcast earlier this month, saying that the company is “cutting through the red tape to get you the meds you need fast, easy, with no interference, whether it’s ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, you know, those ‘bad things’ that other guys wouldn’t want you to have but have been proven to be really effective.”

Bill O’Reilly told his audience that buying drugs from All Family Pharmacy gives them protection during pandemics and political chaos.

“Yes, they’ve got the miracle drug everyone’s been talking about, ivermectin,” he added in an ad read on The F1rst in late January. “Here is the truth: When the system collapses and shortages happen, the unprepared suffer. Do not be one of them.”

Here are some more All Family Pharmacy ads from right-wing commentators who tout its supply of ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, or both:

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Greene Touts Her 'Common Ground' With Anti-Semite Farrakhan

Greene Touts Her 'Common Ground' With Anti-Semite Farrakhan

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who repeatedly has used Nazi and Holocaust rhetoric and has been labeled antisemitic on Monday declared she has found "common ground" with the hate group Nation of Islam, founded by the far right wing extremist, anti-LGBTQ activist, and anti-semite Louis Farrakhan.

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Why Modern Americans Are Behaving Like Medieval Peasants

Why Modern Americans Are Behaving Like Medieval Peasants

Americans are currently experiencing one of the most peculiar public episodes of my lifetime. Amid a deadly worldwide disease epidemic, many people are behaving like medieval peasants: alternately denying the existence of the plague, blaming an assortment of imaginary villains, or running around seeking chimerical miracle cures.

Feed store Ivermectin? I've administered it to horses, cows and dogs. But to my wife? No thank you. It says right on the label that it's not for human consumption. But at least you won't die of heartworm.

Donald Trump's idea of injecting bleach somehow never caught on, although one Florida family (where else?) was prosecuted for fraud after making a bundle peddling the stuff as medicine through their church. The charges were Federal. I'm only surprised Florida's governor didn't award them a medal.

Incapable of dealing with reality, too many exist in an odd state of denial. In essence, as a friend observed recently, "millions of Americans are engaged in a deeply weird suicide lottery."

Strangest of all, of course, is that a genuine miracle cure does exist. A scientific miracle that is: vaccines with the capacity to bring the pandemic to an end. Shackled by ignorance and paralyzed by fear, however, millions of our fellow citizens have refused to take it.

Propagandized by opportunists and madmen, and at war with everything known about communicable diseases since the life of Louis Pasteur (1822-95), many have taken refuge in humanity's most basic pre-rational instinct: tribalism.

And the tribe most Covid Fraidy Cats have chosen is Trumpist Republicanism.

Not all Republicans, of course. But far too many.

"No vaccine for us, we're Republicans." Anything to "own the Libs." Propagandized by the (fully-vaccinated) gang at Fox News—Tucker, Laura, Sean and the rest are all immunized as a condition of employment—millions of self-declared "conservatives" appear determined to defy reason, science and basic common sense to the end.

Even Trump himself took the shot, although when he mentioned it to an Alabama crowd, they booed, and he's since shut up about it.

As a direct consequence, the United States leads the developed world in Covid-19 deaths by astonishing amounts. America's daily Covid mortality rate is three times greater than the United Kingdom's, and four times that of France. As for the rest of the NATO countries, Canada, Germany and Italy currently have Covid death rates a bit lower than one per million of total population. The United States rate is fully SIX TIMES higher, and rising sharply.

In short, it's a self-inflicted wound.

Remember when we Americans prided ourselves upon our common sense practicality, our can-do ability to solve problems together?

That was then. As for now, well…

CNN's Jake Tapper gave Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves a hard time recently about the fact that his state not only leads the nation in Covid mortality, but damn near leads the world. Only Peru among the world's nations has a higher per capita death rate than Mississippi.

Needless to say, the state also has among the lowest vaccination rates. Not for nothing have Arkansans long said "Thank God for Mississippi," on the grounds that whatever embarrasses us here is worse over there.

Tapper asked Reeves what he planned to do about it.

"Deaths unfortunately are a lagging indicator," Reeves said, an unresponsive non-sequitur. He appeared no more capable of being embarrassed than a cow. He recently boasted that Mississippians don't fear death because they believe in the afterlife.

The Mississippi governor was stung because of something President Biden said recently about his fierce opposition to his mandating OSHA to require that workers in large companies get vaccinated as a matter of public safety.

"In Mississippi, children are required to be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis B, polio, tetanus, and more," the president pointed out. "These are state requirements. But in the midst of a pandemic that has already taken over 660,000 lives, I propose a requirement for COVID vaccines and the governor of that state calls it 'a tyrannical-type move'?"

He repeated himself for emphasis: "A tyrannical-type move?!"

Partly, vaccine resistance stems from sheer ignorance. On Fox News and elsewhere, people have been duped by opportunists to think vaccines can kill you, make you sterile, implant microchips in your blood, alter your DNA, or even turn your body into a large magnet. It appears that when people are frightened, no lie is too crazy to find believers.

This stuff isn't just irrational; it's anti-rational.

Of course, few actually believe that stuff. It's more a matter of who's making the argument. If Joe Biden, a known Democrat, is behind it, then the Red Tribe's against it. Even if it means risking death.

Yours, and of more interest to an "elitist" like me, mine.

Republicans invoke "state's rights," which is what they always say when their position is indefensible.

Sometimes, an element of force is required.

Howard Stern

Fuming Howard Stern Calls Out Joe Rogan And Anti-Vax ‘Idiots’

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Right-wing libertarian comedian/podcast host Joe Rogan recently became infected with COVID-19 after refusing to take a vaccine, and he is now crediting the drug Ivermectin with his recovery. But veteran shock jock Howard Stern is saying that Rogan should have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the first place.

Although Ivermectin is primarily used as an anti-parasitic drug for animals, conspiracy theorists have been claiming that animal-grade Ivermectin should be used to prevent or treat COVID-19. But medical experts, including immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, have been warning that taking animal-grade Ivermectin could be dangerous; in fact, Fauci strongly advises against it. But the 54-year-old Rogan is claiming that Ivermectin was beneficial for him after he was infected with COVID-19.

Mediaite's Ken Meyer explains, "Upon his recovery, Rogan lashed out at CNN and other critics who called out his promotions of an unproven COVID remedy. This was noticed by Stern, who remarked that Rogan could have also gotten a vaccine — which Stern heralded as a 'cure' — and skipped the whole ordeal."

On his show, Stern — whose program airs on SiriusXM — told long-time co-host Robin Quivers, "I heard Joe Rogan was saying, 'What are you busting my balls (for)? I took horse dewormer, and a doctor gave it to me.' Well, a doctor would also give you a vaccine; so, why take horse-dewormer?"

Stern was vehemently critical of anti-vaxxers during the broadcast, slamming them as "idiots" who are "anti-science."

The 67-year-old shock jock told Quivers, "There's never been one that said, 'I'm so glad I refused. I'm so happy that I can't breathe. This is a wonderful way to die. It was worth it because I didn't take the vaccine.'"

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75 percent of U.S.-based adults have been at least partially vaccinated for the COVID-19 coronavirus. Nonetheless, many U.S. hospitals are being overwhelmed by unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, and Stern obviously no patience with anti-vaxxers at this point.

"We have no time for idiots in this country anymore," Stern angrily told Quivers. "We don't want you. We want you to all, either go to the hospital, and stay home, die there with your COVID. Don't take the cure, but don't clog up our hospitals with your COVID when you finally get it. Stay home, don't bother with science, it's too late. Go fuck yourself — we just don't have time for you."

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