Update January 7: I recommend Jennifer Brook's fine and sassy column at the Star Tribune about the rally, Brooks: Antivaxxers try out some new losing election slogans at State Capitol. [end update]
On the day after Christmas, Bluestem posted Not all Action 4 Liberty candidates failed at the ballot box: the case of Nathan Wesenberg, noting:
Action 4 Liberty's Jake Duesenberg posted on the group's website in Conservative Nathan Wesenberg Wins Senate Seat by Over 45 Points:
Nathan Wesenberg is going to fight the socialist Democrats tooth and nail to get our freedom back. Wesenberg is committed to protecting the 2nd Amendment, returning our surplus money, fighting vax mandates, cutting taxes and spending, and protecting human life from death by abortion. ... [emphasis in original]
Duesenberg ain't fibbing. But there' more to Thursday's anti-vaccine-mandate rally at the Minnesota state capitol.
Friday at the Minnesota Reformer, Max Nesterak reported in New Minnesota senator calls COVID-19 vaccines a ‘death shot’ at Capitol rally:
Newly elected Minnesota state Sen. Nathan Wesenberg, R-Little Falls, suggested Gov. Tim Walz should be jailed and called COVID-19 vaccines a “death shot” during a rally at the state Capitol on Thursday.
“I’m not anti-vaccine but I’m anti-COVID-vaccine. It’s not a vaccine, it’s a death shot,” Wesenberg said during the demonstration, which was filmed by Alpha News.
The demonstration was organized by local anti-vaccine groups and featured Dr. Scott Jensen, the 2022 Republican candidate for Minnesota governor and a family doctor who rose to prominence by spreading misinformation about COVID-19 on Fox News.
The speakers also included Republican state Sens. Eric Lucero, Jim Abeler, Steve Drazkowski, Andrew Mathews and Glenn Gruenhagen as well as Reps. Pam Altendorf and Walter Hudson.
Anti-vaccine activists have decried vaccine “mandates” as an infringement on their civil liberties despite the fact that vaccine requirements for students and government workers include exemptions for religious and health reasons.
Wesenberg, who defeated two longtime state legislators in the Republican primary, said his wife recently left a job as a doctor because her employer didn’t like that she was writing exemptions for masks and COVID-19 vaccines. A LinkedIn profile for Jennifer Wesenberg says she left a job at CentraCare in February 2022.
Wesenberg said he and his wife are working on opening their own clinic in Little Falls.
During the event, former Republican candidate for state House Mark Bishofsky referred to the “scamdemic” and claimed that miscarriages, athlete deaths and disability claims have increased because of vaccine mandates.
“The lying and corruption that is going on during this ‘scamdemic’ is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Bishofsky, who said he was fired from his job as a respiratory therapist after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. “I predict, that sooner or later, hopefully soon, that people are going to go to jail.”
Wesenberg echoed Bishofsky’s sentiments when he took the podium.
“Mark said maybe we should start sending people to jail because of these mandates. Maybe we should start with Tim Walz,” Wesenberg said.
They are wrong about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, according to scientists.
Between December 2020 and June 2021, nearly 300 million doses of mRNA were administered.
In the medical journal The Lancet, Drs. Elizabeth J. Phillips and Matthew Krantz of Vanderbilt University wrote last year: “Although approximately one in 1,000 individuals vaccinated may have an adverse effect, most of these are non-serious. No unusual patterns emerged in the cause of death or serious adverse effects among VAERS reports.”
Moreover, they write, “The safety monitoring of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines stands out as the most comprehensive of any vaccine in U.S. history.”
Bluestem would like to reiterate that while Jensen rose "by spreading misinformation about COVID-19," as Nesterak reports, he's long been broadly sympathetic to general anti-vaxxer arguments.
On August 20, Bluestem reported Scott Jensen to speak--again--at "vaccine awareness" Global Health Freedom Summit, along with the "The Usual Gang of Idiots," anti-vaxx world division. On September 3, Bluestem noted, following Bring Me The News' lead that MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen bails on 3rd annual Alex anti-vaxx event
And this isn't failed Republican candidate for state House Mark Bishofsky's first rodeo at a Minnesota state capitol rally. On September 7, 2021, Bluestem reported in Minnesota anti-mandate effort promotes national anti-vaxxer at September 26 state capitol rally:
On September 26, national anti-vaccine crusader Del BigTree will speak at "The Big One" rally at Minnesota State Capitol to stop vaccine mandate and passports
The rally is being promoted on the Stop the Mandate MN calendar; the image is branded with the group's URL StoptheMandateMN.org. Stop The Mandate MN describes itself as a grassroots organization. It appears to be affiliated with an effort to fund a lawsuit that would be filed in Minnesota's federal court by Gregory Erickson of Minneapolis law firm Mohrman, Kaardal and Erickson. A FAQ document about the lawsuit is viewable here.
Mark Bishofsky, a respiratory therapist at Stillwater's Lakeview Memorial Hospital who blogs at the Stop The Mandate MN website, appeared on the Stew Peters show with Erickson in August to talk about the efforts to ban vaccine mandates.
BigTree will be in the Loon State that weekend for the Saturday, September 25 Global Health Freedom Summit in Alexandria, Minnesota, where he'll share the stage with other leading figures in the anti-vax movement, as well as Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen. Jensen began establishing his anti-vaxx ties while serving in the state senate. though Salon reported in July that he denies he's an anti-vaxxer — he's just anti-vax-curious.
Bluestem does wish that media would report that these folks aren't simply against mandates for COVID vaccines. They're against all vaccine mandates--despite the exemptions in those mandates and the life-saving value of vaccines for measles, TB, polio and the like.
Here's the poster for Thursday's event: note the sponsoring organizations.
While "Mask Off MN" is a sponsor, Bishofsky's own Stop the Mandate MN is a host, along with the Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota. The latter is a pre-COVID organization. It's not about COVID, but vaccines in general.
As for Abeler, he makes an appearance in Briana Bierschbach's August 2021 report, 2,000 rally at State Capitol against mandates for masks, vaccinations, along with Lucero and Jensen.
Our parting thought upon reflecting that these folks have been showing up for years, though they might be getting more shrill? If first you don't succeed, fail, fail again.
The Minnesota Reformer article is republished here under under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Related posts
- Crockett and crew share curious definition of "common sense" at Pine Island rally (Altendorf)
- Election deniers appointed to Minnesota House Elections Finance & Policy committee (Altendorf)
- Not all Action 4 Liberty candidates failed at the ballot box: the case of Nathan Wesenberg
- Scott Jensen: Where did those people come from who toppled Christopher Columbus statue?
- MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen repeats Draz & Tim Miller's school furry logic
- Though Scott Jensen bailed on anti-vaxxfest, cospeaker Bob Zajac hosted Sept. 22 fundraiser
- Was the family wedding cancelled? After bailing on Alexandria anti-vaxxfest, Jensen attended Gophers' homecoming
- MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen bails on 3rd annual Alex anti-vaxx event
- Scott Jensen to speak--again--at "vaccine awareness" Global Health Freedom Summit
- Minnesota anti-mandate effort promotes national anti-vaxxer at September 26 state capitol rally
- The headlines keep coming for MN vaccine skeptic gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen
- Small town MN freedom fighting restaurateur's anti-vaxx pals make us pause about her savvy
- MNHouse Eric Lucero & Jeremy Munson stand shoulder-to-shoulder with anti-vax leaders
- Minnesota, kiss your herd immunity good-bye: Senator Scott Jensen cuddles up to anti-vaxxers
Photo: Sen. Nathan Wesenberg, R-Little Falls, speaks at a rally against vaccine mandates at the Minnesota Capitol on Jan. 5, 2023. Screenshot from Alpha News.
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