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How Some Parents Changed Their Politics in the Pandemic
New York Times ^ | Aug. 1, 2022, 3:00 a.m. ET | Sheera Frenkel

Posted on 08/01/2022 11:02:01 AM PDT by Zhang Fei

ORINDA, Calif. — They waved signs that read “Defeat the mandates” and “No vaccines.” They chanted “Protect our kids” and “Our kids, our choice.”

Almost everyone in the crowd of more than three dozen was a parent. And as they protested on a recent Friday in the Bay Area suburb of Orinda, Calif., they had the same refrain: They were there for their children.

Most had never been to a political rally before. But after seeing their children isolated and despondent early in the coronavirus pandemic, they despaired, they said. On Facebook, they found other worried parents who sympathized with them. They shared notes and online articles — many of them misleading — about the reopening of schools and the efficacy of vaccines and masks. Soon, those issues crowded out other concerns.

“I wish I’d woken up to this cause sooner,” said one protester, Lisa Longnecker, 54, who has a 17-year-old son. “But I can’t think of a single more important issue. It’s going to decide how I vote.”

Ms. Longnecker and her fellow objectors are part of a potentially destabilizing new movement: parents who joined the anti-vaccine and anti-mask cause during the pandemic, narrowing their political beliefs to a single-minded obsession over those issues. Their thinking hardened even as Covid-19 restrictions and mandates were eased and lifted, cementing in some cases into a skepticism of all vaccines.

Nearly half of Americans oppose masking and a similar share is against vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, polls show. But what is obscured in those numbers is the intensity with which some parents have embraced these views. While they once described themselves as Republicans or Democrats, they now identify as independents who plan to vote based solely on vaccine policies.

Their transformation injects an unpredictable element into November’s midterm elections.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: New York
KEYWORDS: anthonyfauci; biden; california; chat; childabuse; children; covid; covid1984; covidstooges; education; gavinnewsom; kungflu; lockdown; lockdowns; masks; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; obamacare; parents; sheerafrenkel; tds; trump; vaccinemandates
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To: Zhang Fei

In many elections, the margin is very small. Even in the “overwhelmingly blue” states, many elections are 54-46. If even a small percentage of voters switches allegiance, you might see some upsets.


21 posted on 08/01/2022 12:13:14 PM PDT by proxy_user
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To: rbg81
Just for the record, I am not for vaccine or mask mandates

That was a general comment aimed at the Vacci-Nazis. The shoe don't fit.

22 posted on 08/01/2022 12:13:20 PM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Militia to the border! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: Zhang Fei
The week in whoppers: NY Times’ Master of Misinformation

Lies of the NY Times

Behind The Curtain: How The New York Times Manufactures Lies For Democrats To Attack Their Opponents

23 posted on 08/01/2022 1:06:44 PM PDT by T Ruth (Mohammedanism shall be destroyed.)
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To: Zhang Fei

I’m keeping a finger on the pulse of The Unity Project to see how this goes. LOTS of leftist parents chiming in; I have grave doubts that their momentary upset in this narrow vein will shift their politics notably.

Only time will tell, but — for now — “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

https://theunityproject.org/

https://theunityproject.substack.com/

A sample of their video fare:
https://rumble.com/v1cxeal-webinar-series-bad-bill-update-and-take-action-canvassing-campaign.html


24 posted on 08/01/2022 1:17:09 PM PDT by HKMk23 (https://youtu.be/LTseTg48568)
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To: Zhang Fei

Orinda is where Owsley made the acid.

http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/02/december-21-1967-owsley-bust.html

December 21, 1967: Owsley Bust
‘ACID KING,’ 4 HELPERS IN CUSTODY

ORINDA, Calif. (UPI) - Five persons, including a college dropout known as “king of acid” who allegedly earned a million dollars manufacturing and selling LSD, faced federal arraignment today on conspiracy charges.
Augustus Owsley Stanley III, 32, whose grandfather was a Kentucky governor, congressman and U.S. senator, was arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Drug Abuse Thursday in a raid on a fashionable two-story home in this residential community 40 miles east of San Francisco. Stanley is known throughout the west as “king of acid.”
Pat Fuller, western director of the bureau, said the home contained “a very sophisticated chemical laboratory” and large quantities of chemicals.


25 posted on 08/01/2022 2:22:59 PM PDT by Flash Bazbeaux
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To: Zhang Fei

Throw them a few pennies and they will toe the democrat line. And no doubt in my mind each of these parental units demand the government do something about the government cause problems and lock downs.


26 posted on 08/01/2022 4:32:42 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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