TN governor's religious views became "barrier" to J&J vax rollout

[Tanuki]

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/tennessee-governors-religious-views-became-barrier-in-j-j-vaccine-rollout-former-insider-claims

"Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's personal religious views became an obstacle in Tennessee's rollout of one of the COVID-19 vaccines, a former state health department insider claims.

The governor's office denies there was any delay in the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but Fiscus and other insiders tell a different story. They say Lee was motivated by the misconception that the J&J vaccine contained fetal tissue.

"It was a barrier to getting people vaccinated," Dr. Michelle Fiscus told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
.....
"The governor forbade us from using it in health departments," Fiscus insisted.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "So the governor put out a flat prohibition: J&J cannot be distributed through the state health departments?"

"That's right," she said."....(more)

[spanone]

1. Bill lee has been a disaster for Tennessee....and the beat goes on.

[Xoan]

14. +1

[Lars39]

2. Back assward fuckwits abound here, but governors

should have a little more sense.

[SoCalDavidS]

5. The Governors Voted In By Those Back Assward Fuckwits?

They're going to do exactly what their Back Assward Fuckwit voters encourage them to do.

[Lars39]

7. Yep, they always play to the religious right wing base.

But there are those of us here who are sane…just not enough.

[gratuitous]

3. And this is peddled as "pro life"

Yes, many of you will get this virus. Some of you will get very sick. Even die. Others will deal with the lingering effects of the virus for months with no end in sight. Because the governor, operating on false information, deemed you and your lives expendable in order to make a political point. How does that work out to "pro life," Tennessee?

[Lars39]

6. Only "the least of these", ie., the fetus, counts.

Everyone else should be glad to be going to heaven.

[dalton99a]

4. He wants to be more Catholic than the pope

[Tanuki]

9. He actually belongs to a grotesque rightwing "evangelical" congregation.

https://www.memphisflyer.com/a-look-at-bill-lees-uber-conservative-home-church

..."Some of this came to light Tuesday, after The Tennessean revealed a state trooper had been canned from Democrat Karl Dean’s security detail after leaking info to Lee’s campaign about a “Muslim event.” Said event was actually a meet and greet at Yassin’s Falafel House in Knoxville, a restaurant operated by a Syrian refugee with a truly inspiring story, but Lee apparently thought it was in a mosque, and that a picture of Dean in a mosque would be damning.

But to attendees of Grace Chapel, the Williamson County evangelical church of which Lee is a longtime member, association with Islam is quite literally damning. One guest pastor, Michael Brown, gave a sermon on March 1, 2015, on “Understanding Radical Islam,” which he says he was specifically asked to give by Grace Chapel’s pastor Steve Berger. Brown started his sermon admitting that maybe not all Muslims support violence or are trying to take over the country with Shariah law, but as he went on, the implications are clear: Christians in government are only trying to do “what’s right,” whereas in Islam, “there’s no separation of church and state,” and if Muslims take over we could all be beheaded.

Islamophobia isn’t new to Tennessee politics, and it’s especially not new to evangelicals in Tennessee politics, but when one is running for governor of a state that has the largest population of Kurdish immigrants in the country, it’s worth wondering why no one is asking Lee about this. It’s also worth asking about Lee’s views on women and the LGBT community, above and beyond gay marriage.

During the primary, there were rumors that Lee had told supporters at a small fund-raiser that U.S. Representative Diane Black “didn’t look like governor material” and that he didn’t understand why she didn’t just want to stay home with her grandchildren. Lee and his campaign denied it, just like they denied asking the trooper to get a picture of Dean in a mosque. But it’s clear Lee isn’t a proponent of women in leadership, given the makeup of his own company. Out of 13 people in leadership roles, including Lee himself, only one is a woman, and all are white. At Grace Chapel there are no female pastors, and no woman serves on the board.

Given Pastor Steve Berger’s views, however, it’s unclear why any woman would want to serve in church leadership. On September 30th, Berger gave a sermon on Brett Kavanaugh, entitled “Biblical Qualifications for Bringing an Accusation Against Someone.” In it he cites verses from Deuteronomy, Matthew, and 1 Timothy that say not one but two or three witnesses (at least) are needed to bring an accusation of sin against someone. “This is a moral law here,” Berger says.

“I’m telling you, I’ve been victimized. I’ve been abused by false accusations,” Berger says, later in his sermon. What accusations those might have been, Berger does not detail. But he states that since his accusers did not provide multiple “witnesses” (which can, he says, include fingerprints or DNA evidence), then it was the accusers themselves acting unbiblically. “For this reason alone, and listen to me, for this reason of two or three witnesses alone, Dr. Ford’s testimony, as it relates to this Judge Kavanaugh issue, doesn’t meet the biblical requirements to bring forth a valid accusation.”...(more)

[70sEraVet]

8. So, nobody knows how many deaths he caused,

but at least his conscience is clean!

[Lars39]

10. Almost missed this...COVID testing contract ...

I wonder how much the kickback was? How much $ did Lee make off this scam?
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/former-health-department-insider-says-she-almost-quit-over-lee-administrations-controversial-covid-testing-contract

[Blues Heron]

11. lock him up

that's depraved indifference to human life. So tired of these demented American fools.

[SheltieLover]

12. Criminal!!!

How many people has he killed with this bassackward religious bullshit?

[kairos12]

13. Why worry about the Taliban in Afghanistan when we have them here?