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United States Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) suggested to Info Wars' chief conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Sunday that attendees trapped in mud at the annual Burning Man electronic music festival are being punished by "God" and "brainwashed" to blame climate change for the freak flooding that struck the event over the weekend.

"But I really believe that the next thing is going to be this climate change crisis. They're going to create it into an emergency and Alex I wanna talk about Burning Man for a minute. We are watching, you know, from a distance, there are approximately like 73 or 75,000 people in Nevada..." Greene began, though Jones quickly interrupted.

"And they're locked in there from the floods, and I'm glad, I look, I, I, just was gonna raise that," Jones said. "They literally did a mock sacrifice and all this and then it flooded with these tornadoes. And it was — sorry. Go ahead."

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Greene proceeded, "Well, you know, God has a way of making sure everyone knows who God is. I'll say that about that. But let's talk about what is happening with these people. So, there's 73-75,000 in the Nevada desert right now at this Burning Man. They're locked in. They're not allowed to leave and they're basically probably being brainwashed that climate change is the cause of it, it's the root of all evil, and it's going to destroy the Earth. And they're, they're feeling the panic."

Jones claimed in response, "The media is saying that. 'Oh, this is because you didn't know about climate change.'"

Greene continued, "Yes. So, what's going to happen, Alex? It's the same thing, the same way they launch any kind of movement. After this is over at Burning Man, and these 75,000 people disperse and they go back home, they're gonna have these stories to tell about how terrible it is and how we have to do everything possible to stop climate change, it's caused by humans, and it's carbon. And it's the amount of carbon we put out. It's manufacturing. It's our, it's our gas and diesel engines. It's, it's, you know, agriculture. I mean, you know, AOC wants to get rid of cattle. Even population. 'We have too many humans putting out too much carbon.' You're going to start hearing all this stuff and this is going to build. And I believe this is the left's new lie they're going to put on the American people and try to get everyone behind and create it to where, 'Remember AOC and the left and many others saying that the Earth is going to literally explode in a ball of fire. We're gonna all die. It's gonna be the end of the world?' This is what they're brainwashing people to believe."

Jones added, "2030. I totally agree, and now Biden says he's set to announce a new climate emergency that Klaus Schwab said three years ago they'd do after COVID. So they literally cut our resources off and make it fancy."

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene sums up the GOP's cognitive dissonance on climate change in a single tweet

Greene and Jones then exchanged debunked ideas about what is destabilizing planetary climate systems.

"Well, let's be realistic though. The climate changes. It's been changing since the beginning of time," Greene asserted. "Since God created the Earth, the climate has changed. And that is the reality because we live on — our planet is, is, is moving. It's rotating through our galaxy."

Jones interjected, "The only constant is change."

Greene pressed on, "It always changes. It rotates around the Sun. It moves through the galaxy. Our galaxy rotates through the universe. Of course, our climate is going to change! But does that mean people are causing it? No. Does that mean we have to raise taxes to stop it? No, absolutely not. Does that mean we have to bow down to a globalist government? Absolutely not."

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Muslims 'snakes' in misleading tweet about protests in France

Jones joked, "As if they can stop it anyways."

Greene concurred, "They can't stop it."

Jones concluded, "It's all the Sun, as you said, so."

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration:

The Sun can influence Earth's climate, but it isn't responsible for the warming trend we’ve seen over recent decades. The Sun is a giver of life; it helps keep the planet warm enough for us to survive. We know subtle changes in Earth's orbit around the Sun are responsible for the comings and goings of the ice ages. But the warming we've seen in recent decades is too rapid to be linked to changes in Earth's orbit and too large to be caused by solar activity.

One of the 'smoking guns' that tells us the Sun is not causing global warming comes from looking at the amount of solar energy that hits the top of the atmosphere. Since 1978, scientists have been tracking this using sensors on satellites, which tell us that there has been no upward trend in the amount of solar energy reaching our planet.

A second smoking gun is that if the Sun were responsible for global warming, we would expect to see warming throughout all layers of the atmosphere, from the surface to the upper atmosphere (stratosphere). But what we actually see is warming at the surface and cooling in the stratosphere. This is consistent with the warming being caused by a buildup of heat-trapping gases near Earth's surface, and not by the Sun getting 'hotter.'

Watch the clip below or at this link.

READ MORE: MTG’s boyfriend slams opponents as 'classless trash' after Iowa and Georgia voters give her the finger

Former President Donald Trump reminisced about his White House tenure on Sunday, gloating in a post to his Truth Social microblogging platform that his single term was a "fantastic time" when "everything worked" for the American people.

Trump wrote at 9:14 a.m.:

Great poll numbers because people want a return to the Trump years when everything worked, the Border was the strongest ever, no Inflation, jobs, jobs, jobs, Energy Independent and soon Dominant, low taxes and regulations, strong military, no Russia and Ukraine, no China and their threats. We defeated 100% of the ISIS Kalifat. Greatest economy EVER. What a fantastic time for America. BRING BACK THE REAL USA. Bring back strength, bring back TRUMP!

On October 8th, 2021, FactCheck.org published its final report card on Trump's presidency, and his claims today do not align with the data:

• The economy lost 2.9 million jobs. The unemployment rate increased by 1.6 percentage points to 6.3%.
• Paychecks grew faster than inflation. Average weekly earnings for all workers were up 8.7% after inflation.
• After-tax corporate profits went up, and the stock market set new records. The S&P 500 index rose 67.8%.
• The international trade deficit Trump promised to reduce went up. The US trade deficit in goods and services in 2020 was the highest since 2008 and increased 40.5% from 2016.
• The number of people lacking health insurance rose by 3 million.
• The federal debt held by the public went up, from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion.
• Home prices rose 27.5%, and the homeownership rate increased 2.1 percentage points to 65.8%.
• Illegal immigration increased. Apprehensions at the Southwest border rose 14.7% last year compared with 2016.
• Coal production declined 26.5%, and coal-mining jobs dropped by 16.7%. Carbon emissions from energy consumption dropped 11.5%.
• Handgun production rose 12.5% last year compared with 2016, setting a new record.
• The murder rate last year rose to the highest level since 1997.
• Trump filled one-third of the Supreme Court, nearly 30% of the appellate court seats and a quarter of District Court seats.

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Trump's assertion that "we defeated 100% of the ISIS Kalifat" (which he misspelled) is questionable, based upon conflicting remarks from Trump. Roll Call noted in 2019 that after Trump twice tweeted that the ISIS caliphate had been annihilated, he privately acknowledged that the real figure was "70 percent."

Meanwhile, FactCheck stressed in its review that "even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the US economy began slowing down. The real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product went up in Trump's first two years, peaking at an estimated 2.9% in 2018 — the highest since 2005. But the economy grew only 2.3% in 2019 and the bottom fell out in 2020. The real GDP declined 3.4% in 2020 from the previous year. It was the largest drop since 1947, when the nation's economy declined 11.6% after years of economic expansion fueled by World War II. As a candidate and president, Trump promised the nation's economy would grow on an annual basis by 4% to 6%. But it never topped 3%."

FactCheck pointed out that "murders and aggravated assaults shot up dramatically under Trump, while most other types of crime declined. In his inaugural address, Trump darkly portrayed America as a country mired in poverty, drugs and crime. 'This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,' he promised. But quite the contrary, the FBI's annual Crime in the United States report, released Sept. 27, shows 4,157 more homicides were committed in 2020 than in 2016, when Trump was elected. That translates to a murder rate per 100,000 people of 6.5 in 2020, an increase of 1.1 points since 2016. The 2020 rate was the highest since 1997, though still well below the peak 10.2 rate recorded in 1980."

READ MORE: Bob Woodward: Trump’s 'failure to protect the people' showed he views 'democracy as enemy territory'

Moreover, the national debt ballooned by nearly $8 trillion under Trump, despite his campaign pledge to eliminate it.

"Trump made no progress in erasing the debt, which the then-presidential candidate once said he could probably do in eight years," per FactCheck. "Rather, the amount the federal government has borrowed from the public went up by 50% during Trump's time in office — from $14.4 trillion on the day he was inaugurated to $21.6 trillion the day his successor was sworn in. Likewise, the debt as a percentage of the economy also grew under Trump, rising from 76.2% of GDP in fiscal year 2016 to 100.1% of GDP in fiscal year 2020, according to figures from the Office of Management and Budget."

Trump was also impeached. Twice.

The first time was for his 2019 attempt to coax Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into providing damaging information on then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The second occurred following Trump's incitement of the deadly January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol after he lost the 2020 election. For that, in 2023, Trump would become the first commander-in-chief to be indicted for allegedly running a criminal conspiracy to topple the federal government and remain in power.

READ MORE: Trump’s Truth Social merger facing 'catastrophic threat' as deadline looms: report

View FactCheck's assessment at this link. Roll Call's is here.

The way that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis portrayed himself managing the response to Hurricane Idalia's impact on the Sunshine State could provide his distressed 2024 White House bid its "best opportunity for a reset," according to a Saturday analysis by Emily Mahony of The Tampa Bay Times

Through "a photo of him sitting in a Florida-style Situation Room," an appearance on Fox News, and an "on-camera interview with Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore," DeSantis crafted "a snapshot of an executive hard at work during a crisis," Mahoney writes, noting, "They are also a departure from the churn of news about his struggling presidential campaign. Hurricane Idalia may provide DeSantis with the best opportunity for a reset yet, after weeks of more artificial ones attempted by his campaign, including staff shakeups and messaging pivots."

Mahoney explains that "all the free media coverage of DeSantis during the storm added up to the equivalent of $17 million worth of paid ad time, according to The Messenger, which cited a media tracking service. That TV time is even more crucial after DeSantis' campaign burned through much of its cash in the second quarter of this year, prompting his operation to rely heavily on a super PAC with the ability to raise unlimited funds."

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As pro-DeSantis political action committees were "quietly at work" finalizing plans for an "ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire between Labor Day and Halloween," Mahoney continues, "Idalia provided a respite from negative coverage" of DeSantis' attempt to secure the Republican Party's nomination.

And while "how much it gives him a positive boost remains to be seen," Mahoney says, "it wouldn't be the first time" that a natural disaster has benefited DeSantis.

"Last year during his reelection bid, the catastrophic Hurricane Ian was largely viewed as the knockout hit to the campaign of his longshot Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist. After that storm, DeSantis held a news conference with President Joe Biden, during which the Democratic president praised DeSantis’ response, leaving Crist with little room to criticize the governor," Mahoney recalls.

"Of course, the dynamics of 2024 are far from comparable to DeSantis' 2022 reelection, when he was the heavy favorite and at one point had more than 80 times more campaign money than his opponent," Mahoney adds, stressing, "This time, DeSantis is running from far behind, with former President Donald Trump dominating the Republican primary field.

READ MORE: DeSantis’ school voucher program gives parents taxpayer dollars for PlayStations and paddleboards

View Mahoney's full report at this link.

Thousands of pilots are being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration for "falsifying their medical records to conceal that they were receiving benefits for mental health disorders and other serious conditions that could make them unfit to fly," The Washington Post's Lisa Rein and Craig Whitlock exclusively report.

The FAA suspects that the individuals, many of whom are retired military veterans, "failed to report — as required by law — that they were also collecting veterans benefits for disabilities that could bar them from the cockpit. Veterans Affairs investigators discovered the inconsistencies more than two years ago by cross-checking federal databases, but the FAA has kept many details of the case a secret from the public," the Post explains.

"FAA spokesman Matthew Lehner acknowledged in a statement that the agency has been investigating approximately 4,800 pilots 'who might have submitted incorrect or false information as part of their medical applications,'" the correspondents say. "The FAA has now closed about half of those cases, he said, and has ordered about 60 pilots — who Lehner said 'posed a clear danger to aviation safety' — to cease flying on an emergency basis while their records are reviewed.'"

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Rein and Whitlock continue, "About 600 of the pilots under investigation are licensed to fly for passenger airlines, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing case. Most of the rest hold commercial licenses that allow them to fly for hire, including with cargo firms, corporate clients or tour companies."

They add that the FAA has a "cursory" system that allows pilots to "self-report conditions that can otherwise be difficult to detect, such as depression or post-traumatic stress, according to physicians who conduct the exams." The Post finds that "many veterans minimize their ailments to the FAA so they can keep flying but exaggerate them to VA to maximize their disability payments, physicians and former officials at the aviation agency say."

Colorado Springs aviation medical examiner Jerome Limoge told the Post that "there are people out there who I think are trying to play both sides of the game," and that "they're being encouraged by VA to claim everything. Some of it is almost stolen valor."

The Post notes, "Federal contracting records obtained by The Washington Post show the FAA's Office of Aerospace Medicine allotted $3.6 million starting last year to hire medical experts and other staff to reexamine certification records for 5,000 pilots who pose 'potential risks to the flying public.'"

READ MORE: Mental health expert lays out 10 thought patterns that trip up former Christians

View Rein's and Whitlock's full report at this link (subscription required).

Although President Barack Obama carried Ohio in both 2008 and 2012, the Buckeye State has since been a frequent source of frustration for Democrats. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was reelected in 2018, yet Ohio has been trending Republican in recent years.

One of the ways Ohio Democrats have been fighting back is via ballot measure proposals. But according to Talking Points Memo's Kate Riga, Republicans have been looking for ways to "rig" November's ballot measures on everything from recreational marijuana use to abortion to redistricting.

Route Fifty's Daniel C. Vock notes that Republicans in the Ohio State Legislature were hoping to change the state's constitution so that it would be harder to get ballot measures passed. That effort failed, however, and according to Riga, Ohio Republicans have a Plan B: distorting measures that make it to the ballot.

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Democratic Ohio State Rep. Elliot Forhan told Talking Points Memo (TPM) that Republicans "know that they have to put their thumb — and all their fingers, and their elbows and knees — on their side of the scale to make it as biased as possible in order to have any chance at winning."

Forhan added, "It goes to the bigger picture of why are we here at all — because we have a democracy in the state of Ohio that is not reflective of the will of the voters."

In Ohio, Democrats are proposing, via ballot initiatives, legalizing recreational marijuana use and enshrining abortion rights in the state's constitution. And Republicans are trying to undermining the abortion measure by altering the language in it — for example, "unborn child" instead of "fetus."

Vock notes that the marijuana proposal "before voters" in Ohio "is on whether to create a state law, not an amendment to the state's constitution."

READ MORE: Republicans facing 'a no-win conundrum' after Ohio ballot measure fails: report

Forhan said that although most Ohio voters have made up their minds about these proposals, he worries about those who haven't.

The Democrat told Talking Points Memo, "Look, most voters will already know what they're gonna do. But not all of them."

READ MORE: Ohio's GOP secretary of state brutally mocked after his amendment goes down in flames

Find Talking Points Memo's full report at this link and Route Fifty's complete article here.

Kentucky's Lee County school district has "canceled in-person classes" through the end of this week due to concurrent outbreaks of COVID-19, influenza, and strep throat, NBC News' Maia Pandey reports.

Lee's "under 900 students began classes on August 9th but noticed attendance drop to about 82% on Friday, according to Superintendent Earl Ray Schuler. By Monday, that rate dipped to 81% and 14 staff members called in sick," Pandey writes.

"The district canceled classes Tuesday and Wednesday and will shift to remote learning on Thursday and Friday. Extracurricular activities, including sports practices and games, have been canceled through the week to allow for a deep clean of the school," Pandey notes, adding that Schuler told her that "we're sanitizing our buses and our buildings and giving our staff and our students time to heal."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

Kentucky is not the only region amending their schedules because of a resurgence of the coronavirus.

"The number of COVID-19 cases has climbed for several weeks, with health authorities saying they're tracking the spread of three new variants. As a result, some businesses and other institutions are again requiring people to wear masks, which have proved an effective tool for slowing the spread of the virus," CBS News' Megan Cerullo explains.

"Like vaccine requirements, cities and states have widely dropped mask mandates as COVID rates have dropped since peaking in 2022. In February, for example, New York state dropped a requirement that face coverings be worn even in health care settings, in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after most other local businesses had already nixed mandates voluntarily," Cerullo says. "Morris Brown College in Atlanta this week announced that the small liberal arts school is reinstating its mask mandate for two weeks, citing COVID cases among students. As of Tuesday, the school required that all students and staff members wear masks, according to a statement from college president Dr. Kevin James. The college is also imposing restrictions on event sizes, including parties, and resuming efforts to trace infections."

Cerullo points out that "the latest CDC data shows that COVID-19 hospitalizations are up 30% across Georgia, driven by the spread of new variants."

READ MORE: 'Clearly defined body count': Florida and Ohio Republicans experienced 43 percent more COVID deaths than Dems

Cerullo continues, "In California, with cases of the virus rising in Los Angeles, movie studio Lionsgate is reinstating an in-office mask mandate at its Santa Monica headquarters, Deadline first reported. Lionsgate said a number of employees had recently tested positive for COVID-19, according to the report."

Cerullo adds, "Lionsgate is also reviving other safety measures. All employees are required to perform a self-screening for COVID symptoms daily before reporting to the office, according to Deadline. Employees with symptoms, or those who have recently returned from international travel, are asked to stay home and notify the company's response manager, the publication reported, citing an internal company email."

READ MORE: Why Republicans are 'disproportionately credulous about health-related misinformation': analysis

View Pandey's article at this link. Cerullo's analysis is here.

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), the far-right hard-core conservative who since February has been single-handedly holding up the promotions of over 300 U.S. Military officers, has now expanded his fight from a battle against the Pentagon’s policy supporting service members needing to travel out-of-state to obtain abortion services into a war whose targets are individuals: career U.S. Military officers awaiting promotions.

Among the reasons for the attacks: one officer allegedly “joined a ‘Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion panel,'” and one “celebrated Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

“There is nobody more military than me,” “Coach” Tuberville infamously said last month, when his hit list holding up promotions requiring Senate confirmation had just reached 265 U.S. Military officers. Senator Tuberville’s remarks were not well-received, especially since, as multiple news outlets reported, he had never served in America’s Armed Forces, and had been caught misrepresenting his father’s World War II military record.

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“I don’t care if they promote anybody,” Tuberville admitted last week. “To be honest, we got 44 four-star generals right now. We only had seven in World War II. So I think we’re a little overloaded to begin with.” In a wild rant the Alabama GOP Senator also suggested another reason he is blocking the promotions is because – he alleges – the Senate hasn’t followed the U.S. Constitution since Trump left office.

Since he began his lone-wolf attack on the Pentagon’s policy – instituted in response to GOP state legislatures around the country imposing bans on abortion – Tuberville has insisted his only goal was to get the U.S. Military to rescind its policy of reimbursing service members for travel expenses if they have to go out-of-state to get the health care they need.

Up until now.

READ MORE: Tommy Tuberville Pledged to ‘Donate Every Dime I Make When I’m in Washington’ to Vets – He Hasn’t

“The Biden Administration’s liberal and woke policies are the real threat to military readiness. I’m trying to keep politics out of the military,” Senator Tuberville claimed on social media Tuesday evening – as he reposted a thread of tweets from a far-right dark money group created to derail President Joe Biden’s nominees across many parts of the federal government, from the executive branch to the judicial branch, and now, to the Armed Forces.

Sen. Tuberville, who has a history of defending white nationalism, also reportedly emailed out those posts, which attack career military officers’ comments supporting LGBTQ equality, embracing diversity, pledging to address systemic racism, and more.

In May, Tuberville declared white nationalists are simply “Americans.” He also said, “I look at a white nationalist as a, as a Trump Republican. That’s what we’re called all the time.”

The first attack promoted by Tuberville cites a 2017 article at MilitaryTimes.com that reads: “USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Commanding Officer Capt. Craig Clapperton speaks about the importance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender celebration.”

These officers are not political appointees. As some of the attacks reveal, these officers have been serving in America’s Armed Forces for years, well before Joe Biden won the presidency.

“Sen. Tuberville takes a new approach to defending his hold on military nominations by emailing out this thread personally attacking individual military officers up for promotion,” wrote Politico’s national security and military reporter Paul McLeary.

“If you thought Sen. Tuberville might back off his military promotions blockade any time soon…,” added Punchbowl News’ senior congressional reporter Andrew Desiderio. “His office just blasted out this thread highlighting criticisms of the nominees themselves. Remember — these nominations are typically approved by unanimous consent.”

The attacks on America’s military officers come from The American Accountability Foundation, a conservative dark money opposition research operation co-founded by “a longtime Beltway operative specializing in opposition research.”

READ MORE: South Carolina’s All Male Conservative Supreme Court Rules Abortion Ban Is Constitutional

Last year The New Yorker’s award-winning investigative reporter Jane Mayer called the American Accountability Foundation, “The Slime Machine Targeting Dozens of Biden Nominees.”

So what attacks on U.S. Military officers is Tuberville promoting?

The American Accountability Foundation calls the hundreds of officers awaiting promotions, “one of the WOKEST slates of military nominees ever assembled.”

“Biden’s agenda is clear,” they add.

Of course, any president, although being Commander-in-Chief, rarely would get directly involved in the promotion of a flag officer, certainly not hundreds of them. But as Mayer pointed out, “the A.A.F.’s approach represents a new escalation in partisan warfare, and underscores the growing role that secret spending has played in deepening the polarization in Washington.”

“The A.A.F., which is run by conservative white men, has particularly focussed on blocking women and people of color,” Mayer added. She notes, “Evan Hollander, then the spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, told The Hill that, ‘for a group that purports to concern itself with ethics, using fake identities, misrepresenting themselves as Congressional staff and surreptitiously recording meetings is hypocritical in the extreme.'”

The American Accountability Foundation in a series of 21 posts (so far) attacked U.S. Military officers (some examples below) for reasons including a promise to “promptly address the full spectrum of systemic racism.”

The AAF attacked a Brigadier General for saying, “we’re gonna continue to strive to make sure that we’re the most diverse force in the Army,” “Our army is built on the foundation of diversity,” and, “we’re the most powerful army in the world, and we get that power from having a force that looks like different people.”

The AAF also attacked a Colonel for promoting “an article on how the military was ‘preparing’ for Trump.”

See more of AAF’s posts that Sen. Tuberville promoted below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Unsafe’: Defense Secretary Warns on US Military Readiness as Tuberville’s Armed Forces Block Hits ‘Painful Milestone’

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, conservative politicians like United States Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R-Georgia), Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), and former President Donald Trump established themselves as faucets of "wildly conspiratorial" "health-related misinformation," according to The Washington Post's Philip Bump, who examines why those tactics have been successful amongst Republican voters in a Tuesday analysis of KFF surveys.

"Greene, of course, has a well-earned reputation as a purveyor of conspiracy theories and misinformation," Bump notes. "But this particular bit of performed skepticism was not an area in which she was freelancing. In recent days there has been a resurgence in the idea that the government is attempting to manipulate the citizenry through COVID-19, with 'I WILL NOT COMPLY' trending — yes, in all caps — on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday morning. That refusal to comply centers on nonexistent or theoretical mandates, which doesn't seem to have dissipated the energy."

Bump adds that "new research shows the extent to which Republicans are disproportionately credulous about health-related misinformation. It's not just that there is an uprising against an imaginary imposition, it's also that Republicans are consistently more likely to express belief in false claims related to COVID-19 and other things. Greene is by no means alone."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

The data, Bump explains, shows that "Republicans were on average 20 percent more likely to state that they believed the false claims were accurate. Foremost among them: the regularly debunked idea that the coronavirus vaccine has caused thousands of deaths in otherwise healthy people. Nearly half of Republicans think that's true."

Moreover, nearly fifty percent "also think that ivermectin is an effective treatment for the COVID-19 virus, which it is not. This has long been a leading example of how partisanship infiltrated the discussion about COVID-19 treatments, with other research showing that in places that voted for Donald Trump, people were more likely to seek information about the drug, and more prescriptions for it were written."

Bump points out that there is a correlation between belief in fake facts about SARS-COV-2 and deaths from the disease, mainly due to doubts about the efficacy of vaccinations, stating that "research made public last year found that after vaccines became widely available, Republicans made up more of the COVID-19-related deaths in Ohio and Florida."

Bump continues, "KFF found that about two-thirds of Democrats didn’t believe any of the false claims about COVID-19 or vaccines. Only about a quarter of Republicans — and not many more independents — fell into the same category."

READ MORE: 'Clearly defined body count': Florida and Ohio Republicans experienced 43 percent more COVID deaths than Dems

Respondents were questioned about "other health-related subjects, including gun violence," Bump adds. "Again, Republicans were more likely than Democrats to believe false claims about gun violence. In this case, independents landed closer to the middle."

Bump contends that partisan bias lies at the heart of the disparity, writing, "The claims centered on COVID-19 and vaccines are largely ones that have been debunked by health professionals or government actors, groups that are viewed more skeptically by independents. KFF's research shows that while most Americans trust their personal doctors' health recommendations, that trust drops off when respondents were asked about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or state and local health officials. Independents were less trusting of state and local health officials' recommendation than were Republicans."

Bump stresses that "Democrats are far more trusting of recommendations from the Biden administration than Trump; for Republicans, it's the opposite," which based on KFF's figures is attributable to the absorption of alternative media narratives

"That Republicans often cite Fox News as a source for information — and are about as likely to say they consume Newsmax as they are to view CNN — comports with the higher acceptance of false claims about guns," says Bump. "These are not generally questions adjudicated in the context of public health (despite the obvious overlap with health concerns). Things like Fox News' frequent presentations about gun crime or school shootings, generally framed through a right-wing lens, likely contribute to the imbalance."

Bump observes that "it's probably less that the respondents believe the false claims than they are willing to express some acceptance of them, given how their politics establishes that as a standard response."

Bump concludes, "In Ohio and Florida, at least, this seems to have been proved — at times — deadly."

View Bump's report at this link (subscription required).

United States Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) wants President Joe Biden and Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) to negotiate a "middle ground" to settle ex-college football "Coach" Tuberville's one-man blockade on military appointments stemming from his personal opposition to the Pentagon's healthcare policies on abortion, NBC News correspondents Allan Smith and Sahil Kapur exclusively report.

NBC obtained a recording of Sinema telling the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce last week that "she has 'offered' to help both sides come to a consensus," Smith and Kapur explain.

"I know that Coach does not want to undermine the readiness of our United States military. And I know that the United States military and the administration does not want to undermine the authority and the right of any United States senator. What we need are for folks to step off a little bit from their positions and find that middle ground to solve the challenge that we're facing," Sinema reportedly said, adding that "I've volunteered to help do that" and that "we'll see if they take me up on the offer."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

Smith and Kapur recall that "Tuberville has blocked promotions for more than 250 high-ranking military officers" and that despite Sinema's "long record of voting in favor of reproductive rights as a senator," she "didn't specifically discuss abortion or detail what shifts she wants to see from the Pentagon or Tuberville," with whom she "disagrees" while nonetheless maintains "respect" for Tuberville's flex.

"What we're in is a position of pain — we're in a pinch point right now," Sinema said, per NBC. "Coach wants something the military and the administration is not willing to give him. But it would be a mistake to take away that tool from a United States senator because it is an important tool to address unmet needs."

Sinema added that "what I'm encouraging both Coach and the administration to do is to be flexible in finding a solution," insisting that "there is always a solution to be had. It may not be everything the Coach wants. And it may not be everything that the United States military or the administration wants. But there is a solution to be found. And so what I have offered to both Coach and to the administration is to help in any way that I can to help find that solution, because it does exist. It always exists."

Meanwhile, Department of Defense spokesperson Sabrina Singh declared that the Pentagon is not going to acquiesce to Tuberville's demands.

READ MORE: Tuberville targeted by retired colonel for 'kneecapping America’s military' over Pentagon abortion policy

"No, we're not going to change our policy on ensuring that every single service member has equitable access to reproductive healthcare," Singh told reporters on Tuesday. "If you are a service member stationed in a state that has rolled back or restricted healthcare access, you are often stationed there because you were assigned there. It is not that you chose to go there. And so a service member in Alabama deserves to have the same access to healthcare as a service member in California, as a service member stationed in Korea."

Singh continued, "And so that's what that policy does. It's not an abortion policy. We have a travel policy that allows for our service members to take advantage of healthcare that should be accessible to them."

Sahil and Smith further note that "a person close to the Alabama senator said he 'has not spoken to Sinema' about the matter."

READ MORE: Alabama’s Tuberville may be a Florida resident: columnist

View Smith's and Sahil's complete article at this link.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency released new data on Thursday indicating that "as many as twenty-six milllion" Americans are exposed to "forever chemicals" in their drinking water "according to an analysis of the new EPA data performed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington DC-based nonprofit," The Guardian's Kyle Bagentose reports.

"Drinking water systems serving small towns to large cities — from tiny Collegeville, Pennsylvania, to Fresno, California — contain measurable levels of so-called 'forever chemicals,' a family of durable compounds long used in a variety of commercial products but that are now known to be harmful," Bagentose writes. "Studies have linked the chemicals to cancers, immunodeficiencies, reproductive harms and developmental effects in children."

Despite decades of warning from scientists about the dangers of polymers such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), "studies show nearly all Americans have some level of PFOA, PFOS, and similar chemicals" in their bodies, Bagentose notes. "Additional analyses calculate that hundreds of millions of Americans are likely exposed through drinking water contamination."

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Experts who assessed the EPA's findings expressed concern over what was discovered. Bagentose explains that "170 water systems found some level of PFOS in their drinking water, while 156 found PFOA. That means about one-in-10 drinking water systems contain the two most notoriously dangerous forever chemicals. When including all 29 forever chemicals, the data confirm that the drinking water of approximately 26 million Americans is contaminated, according to the EWG nonprofit. The data is also 'consistent' with a 2020 study from the group that calculated more than 200 million Americans could have some form of PFAS in their drinking water."

EWG Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Scott Faber said that "for decades, millions of Americans have unknowingly consumed water tainted with PFAS" and cautioned that "the new testing data shows that escaping PFAS is nearly impossible."

EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox offered a concurring opinion.

"PFAS are an urgent public health issue facing people and communities across the nation. The latest science is clear: exposure to certain PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, over long periods of time is linked to significant health risks," Radhika said. "EPA is conducting the most comprehensive monitoring effort for PFAS ever, at every large and midsize public water system in America, and at hundreds small water systems."

READ MORE: Top chemical companies to pay $1 billion settlement over water contamination claims: report

Meanwhile, Delaware Riverkeeper Network Deputy Director Tracy Carluccio stressed to Bagentose that people who do not reside in close proximity to facilities that are typically associated with pollution are not necessarily in safer situations than those who do.

"This is explosive and is going to be a shocker for a lot of people who thought, 'Well I don't live near a military base, I don't live near a factory,'" Carluccio said. "In fact, PFAS are being found in really weird places because of how thoroughly they've been transported into the environment."

Moreover, Bagentose continues, "A report by Eurofins Eaton Analytical laboratories, a California-based lab that performed some of the earlier testing for the EPA, found that by using more accurate technology available at the time, the chemicals were actually present in an estimated 28% of systems."

Consequently, its author, Andrew Eaton, believes that "we're potentially missing early warnings of (contamination) plumes."

READ MORE: WHO’s proposed limits on 'forever chemicals' far too weak: experts

View Bagentose's article at this link.

The United States Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear the United States Department of Justice's legal challenge to OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy settlement for the extensive harm that its pain-relieving drug caused, Reuters correspondents John Kruzel and Andrew Chung report. The case is scheduled for December.

"Purdue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 to address its debts, nearly all of which stemmed from thousands of lawsuits alleging that OxyContin helped kickstart an opioid epidemic that has caused more than 500,000 U.S. overdose deaths over two decades," Kruzel and Chung recall.

"Purdue's owners under the settlement," Kruzel and Chung write, "would receive immunity in exchange for paying up to $6 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits filed by states, hospitals, people who had become addicted and others who have sued the Stamford, Connecticut-based company over its misleading marketing of the powerful pain medication OxyContin."

READ MORE: 'Cynical political ploy': Experts slam GOP’s 'unequivocally false' claim that Biden is behind opioid crisis

But President Joe Biden's administration is now questioning "whether US bankruptcy law allows Purdue's restructuring to include legal protections for the members of the Sackler family, who have not filed for personal bankruptcy," Kruzel and Chung explain.

The reporters note that "in a court filing, the administration told the Supreme Court that Purdue's settlement is an abuse of bankruptcy protections meant for debtors in 'financial distress,' not people like the Sacklers. According to the administration, Sackler family members withdrew $11 billion from Purdue before agreeing to contribute $6 billion to its opioid settlement."

Purdue, however, maintains that the new suit will "single-handedly delay billions of dollars in value that should be put to use for victim compensation, opioid crisis abatement for communities across the country and overdose rescue medicines."

Kruzel and Chang add that a group "comprising more than 60,000 people who have filed personal injury claims stemming from their exposure to Purdue opioid products" told the Supreme Court that "Regardless of how one feels about the role of the Sackler family in the creation and escalation of the opioid crisis, the fact remains that the billions of dollars in abatement and victim compensation funds hinge on confirmation and consummation of the existing plan."

READ MORE: Impeached Texas attorney general partnered with troubled businessman to push opioid program

Kruzel's and Chung's analysis is available at this link.

A solid majority of voters in Ohio rejected a ballot measure on Tuesday night that would have raised the threshold to amend the state constitution to sixty percent. In Clark County, Issue 1's failure was decided by one ballot, Cincinnati's WCPO notes. But what Republicans had hoped would be the means to an end of outlawing abortion in the Buckeye State turned into a referendum on conservative politics, NBC News correspondent Sahil Kapur explains.

"Republican strategists face a no-win conundrum. Retreating on abortion would infuriate the majority of their base that wants to ban the procedure, while their current strategy is alienating a formidable slice of swing voters who favor some GOP positions but oppose the party's stance on reproductive rights," Kapur writes. "The end of Roe v. Wade drove voters toward Democrats in the 2022 elections and since then, abortion opponents have lost a series of state elections: a ballot measure in Kansas, this year's Wisconsin Supreme Court race and now Ohio's Issue 1 ballot measure."

Kapur notes that heading into 2024, "the Republican Party remains divided. Anti-abortion activists want to lean into the issue and fight harder, while some GOP leaders prefer to downplay it and pivot to other topics friendlier to their party. Others say the Ohio defeat was about a spending advantage by pro-abortion rights groups that opposed Issue 1."

READ MORE: Ohio voters reject GOP 'power grab' aimed at thwarting abortion rights amendment

Across the aisle, Kapur continues, Democrats view Issue 1's defeat as a harbinger of public sentiment toward abortion in next year's presidential election, likely to be a second showdown between incumbent President Joe Biden and thrice-indicted former President Donald Trump.

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told Kapur that "as long as sex is salient, as long as people can get pregnant, this issue is remaining very salient" and "very motivating." Lake also said that "this is going to be the roadmap for 2024. Because issues matter," adding that "Democrats should just not underestimate this issue and should continue to utilize it."

Lake also believes that "our voters are more mobilized than theirs" and that "the Dobbs ruling gives Democrats an opening against Trump that they lacked in 2016. She lamented that voters didn't believe Trump would actually fight to restrict abortion. But over his four years as president, Trump put three justices on the Supreme Court — all provided decisive votes to end the right to legal abortion."

Trump's legacy and his "linkage to the Court," Lake stressed, are "very, very clear to voters."

READ MORE: Ohio’s GOP secretary of state brutally mocked after his amendment goes down in flames

Kapur's complete analysis is available at this link.

Dozens of wildfires triggered by Category 4 Hurricane Dora, drought conditions, and scorching temperatures have engulfed the Hawaiian island of Maui, with its largest city Lāhainā bearing much of the devastation. At least six people are confirmed dead and thousands more have been forced to evacuate, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said.

Dora "contributed to heavy wind gusts above 60 miles per hour that tore through Maui overnight, knocking out power lines and damaging homes. National Guard helicopters activated as part of the state's emergency response to the wildfires were grounded as the wind gusts picked up on Tuesday evening," CBS News correspondent Amy Mae Czachor reported on Wednesday. "The National Weather Service forecast that dangerous wildfire conditions would persist through Wednesday afternoon due to a combination of strong winds and low humidity. As the agency's Honolulu branch noted in tweet Sunday, significant differences in atmospheric pressure between the hurricane and the air north of Hawaii, formed a pressure gradient over the islands which, when combined with dry conditions, posed a serious threat of fires as well as damaging winds."

Czachor noted that Acting Governor Sylvia Luke (D) issued an emergency declaration on Tuesday, which activated the National Guard and included a warning from Luke to avoid "non-essential air travel to Maui."

READ MORE: 'Polluters must pay': Senators urge Biden DOJ to sue Big Oil over decades of climate lies

Meanwhile, Governor Josh Green (D) said in a statement on Wednesday that "We have suffered a terrible disaster" and that "much of Lāhainā on Maui has been destroyed and hundreds of local families have been displaced."

In addition to extreme heat that has been attributed to anthropromorphic climate change, Benji Jones of Vox News explained, "humans introduced a variety of nonnative grasses to the state, such as guinea grass, which is often used as feed for livestock. These plants are known to outcompete native grasses, and they grow incredibly quickly after rainfall, which can produce an enormous amount of fuel for wildfires."

The immense scale of the disaster was captured by helicopter pilot Richard Olsten, the director of operations at Air Maui Helicopter Tours, who was flying over burning Maui Harbor. Olsten posted a video to Facebook, remarking, "Oh my gosh, look at the harbor. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Unbelievable. Just looks like Baghdad or something."

Watch the clip below via Richard Olsten or at this link.

READ MORE: 'Nothing more important': Advocates say Biden 'practically' declaring climate emergency 'not enough'

Czachor's complete analysis continues here. Jones' is here.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Tuesday introduced legislation that would prohibit the inclusion of medical debt—which impacts more than 100 million people across the U.S.—on credit or consumer reports.

"The use of credit reports—which frequently contain errors—is now more than ever a huge barrier to a thriving life for many of our residents," Tlaib (D-Mich.), who has argued that medical debt "should not exist," said in a statement Tuesday. "Americans should not be denied access to basic needs that improve their quality of life, like employment, housing, or transportation because of medical debt."

In addition to preventing companies from including medical debt on credit reports, Tlaib's Restoring Unfairly Impaired Credit and Protecting Consumers Act would reduce the amount of time that adverse information remains on a credit report from seven years to four and require reporting agencies to wipe out negative information stemming from "predatory loans and fraudulent activity."

The bill also states that agencies "may not furnish a consumer report containing any adverse item of information about a consumer that resulted from financial abuse if the consumer has provided documentation of financial abuse to the consumer reporting agency."

"Our neighbors should not have to go without necessities because they fell victim to fraudulent activity or predatory lenders," said Tlaib, who has long pushed for the credit reporting changes. "Survivors of domestic and financial abuse do not deserve to have debt resulting from that abuse on their credit report. This bill is about fairness, opportunity, and justice, and I urge my colleagues in Congress to finally get this bill signed into law."

A 2019 study estimated that a staggering 66.5% of all personal bankruptcies in the U.S. between 2013 and 2016 were primarily caused by the costs associated with medical issues.

According to a joint investigation published last year by KFF Health News and NPR, 41% of U.S. adults are saddled with medical debt—a product of the nation's high-cost, for-profit healthcare system. The growing prevalence of medical credit cards with sky-high interest rates is contributing to the debt crisis, a group of progressive senators warned in January.

In recent months, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and credit reporting agencies have taken steps to lessen the impact of medical debt on Americans' credit scores.

The CFPB, which estimates that $88 billion in medical debt in the U.S. is currently in collections, has instructed credit reporting agencies not to include any invalid medical debts or other inaccurate information on credit reports.

"Many debt collectors furnish information about unpaid medical debts to credit bureaus," the consumer agency said last year. "Furnishers must have reasonable written policies and procedures regarding the accuracy and integrity of consumer information provided to credit bureaus."

Tlaib's office pointed out Tuesday that around 20% of people in the U.S. have an error on one of their credit reports.

The new legislation notes that "credit scores may underestimate a person's creditworthiness by up to 10 points for those who owe medical debt, and may underestimate a person's creditworthiness by up to 22 points after the medical debt has been paid."

Tlaib's bill specifically bars from credit reports "any information related to a debt arising from a medical procedure."

Starting earlier this year, the three major U.S. credit reporting giants—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion— began removing all medical collections under $500 from credit reports. The CFPB observed in a report last year that two-thirds of medical debts in the U.S. "are the result of a one-time or short-term medical expense arising from an acute medical need."

Candace Milner, racial equity policy associate with Public Citizen's Congress Watch division, applauded Tlaib's bill, saying in a statement that it would "help improve the credit ratings of those abused by financial scammers or beset with crushing medical debt and ideally restore their ability to access services impacted by credit and obtain affordable personal loans."

"The current credit reporting system creates unnecessary economic barriers that hinder millions of Americans from accessing basic needs," said Milner. "Rep. Tlaib's bill addresses the failure of credit agencies to ensure accuracy in their credit reporting while also providing tools for victims of predatory lending and financial abuse to repair their credit."

"If passed," Milner added, "this bill will prevent millions of Americans from experiencing economic ruin because of destructive credit reporting."