Tag: mark mccloskey
Mark McCloskey

Crazed GOP Candidates Compare Vaccine Mandates To Nazi Genocide

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Prominent Republicans in multiple states have compared President Joe Biden's recent announcement of vaccine mandates and increased testing to the actions of the Nazi regime in Europe during World War II.

Biden on September 9 announced a plan to be enforced by the Department of Labor requiring, among other efforts, that employers with 100 employees or more to ensure workers are either vaccinated against the coronavirus or tested weekly for it. The new initiative came in response to increased numbers of coronavirus infections, particularly due to the highly contagious delta variant infecting people who have not been vaccinated against the virus.

Mark McCloskey, who is running for the Republican nomination for the Missouri Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Roy Blunt, took offense at the executive order.

"Actually accusing us of being the enemy. That this is 'a pandemic of the unvaccinated.' I mean, if we had Stars of David on our chests 70 years ago, it would be absolutely no different," McCloskey told the audience at a candidate forum on Wednesday. "They're singling us out for persecution, prosecution, and eventually forced inoculation."

Vernon Jones, a Republican candidate for governor in Georgia, sounded a similar note in an interview broadcast Sunday on former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's radio show.

"We look at what Joe Biden is doing, he wants to mandate the COVID vaccination, and not even for Congress, they're exempt, his staff is exempt. He's acting like Hitler. This is not a police state," said Jones.

The comments echo other recent claims from Republican candidates like Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel, who tweeted, "Do NOT comply with the tyranny. When the gestapo show up at your front door, you know what to do," and Pennsylvania Senate candidate Kathy Barnette, who posted a photo of a couple with stars sewn to their clothing, a quote from the 1998 Holocaust documentary The Last Days, and the phrase "Americans are like the frog in boiling water." In May, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said rules requiring vaccinations or the use of masks were "just like" the Holocaust.

The Holocaust refers to the period before and during the Second World War during which the Nazi regime and its supporters murdered six million Jewish people and millions of others considered inferior or undesirable.

Although Republicans continue to compare vaccine safety measures to Nazi persecution, the Biden administration's efforts are based on constitutional authority of the federal government that has been reaffirmed under judicial scrutiny. Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who served as solicitor general under President Barack Obama, told the New York Times, "The constitutionality of this regulatory effort is completely clear."

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Missouri GOP Senate hopeful Mark McCloskey

Republicans Encouraged Racist Assault On St. Louis Health Official

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

St. Louis County Health Director Faisal Khan wrote an op-ed Wednesday laying out the physical threats and racist slurs he was subjected to by a crowd of Donald Trump supporters enraged over new mask guidance in the county amid a surging outbreak of COVID-19.

Khan wrote for the Riverfront Times, in which he said Trump supporters at a Tuesday night meeting on the new mask rules mocked his accent, physically assaulted him, and hurled racist and vulgar insults such as "fat brown cunt" and "brown bastard."

And Khan accused Missouri GOP Senate hopeful Mark McCloskey — infamous for waving a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters in the summer of 2020 — of encouraging that behavior from the crowd.

Khan said he had never in his life "been subjected to the racist, xenophobic, and threatening behavior that greeted me in the County Council meeting," adding that McCloskey and GOP St. Louis City Councilman Tim Fitch encouraged the behavior.

"My time before the Council began with a dog-whistle question from Councilman Tim Fitch, who said he wanted to emphasize for the assembled crowd that I was not from this country," Khan wrote.

He later added, "I later saw that around the time that Mr. Fitch asked his question, his friend Mark McCloskey — who was seated right behind me and situated near Mr. Fitch's position on the dais — posted on social media that mask mandates are 'un-American.'"

"One cannot help but see the connection between the efforts of Mr. McCloskey and Mr. Fitch to stoke xenophobia against me," Khan wrote.

McCloskey is one of a number of GOP candidates running for Senate in Missouri to replace retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.

Along with his wife, he shot to the public's attention after a photo was circulated in 2020 that showed him and his wife waving guns at BLM demonstrators in his upscale St. Louis gated community. McCloskey has since pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault for his actions.

As Republicans like McCloskey rage against new public health guidelines, Missouri is currently having one of the worst COVID outbreaks in the country.

Hospitalizations and deaths are surging in the state thanks to poor vaccination rates. Just 41% of the state is fully vaccinated, one of the worst vaccination rates in the country.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

St. Louis Couple Who Threatened Protesters Must Surrender Guns

St. Louis Couple Who Threatened Protesters Must Surrender Guns

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

The infamous St. Louis couple that made headlines last summer after brandishing guns at Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters must now surrender their guns. Needless to say, they are not pleased with the order.

According to KMOV, Mark and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to a number of charges in connection with their altercation with protesters. Patricia McCloskey entered a guilty plea for misdemeanor harassment and was fined a total of $2,000. Mark McCloskey entered a guilty plea for a misdemeanor fourth-degree assault charge. The two also had to agree to surrender the weapons used during their exchange with protesters.

But despite the guilty pleas and their agreement to turn over their weapons, Mark McCloskey has made it clear that he does not regret his actions. From the steps of the courthouse in St. Louis, Mo., he said, "I'd do it again," later adding, "Any time the mob approaches me, I'll do what I can to put them in imminent threat of physical injury because that's what kept them from destroying my house and my family."

As reports began circulating about their case again, McCloskey also took to Twitter with his reaction. "A year ago, the mob came to my door to attack my family— I backed them down," he tweeted. "The mob came for me, the media attacked me & prosecutors tried to punish me for defending my family They dropped all charges, except for a claim I instilled 'imminent fear' in the mob I'd do it again."

Special prosecutor Richard Callahan also weighed in and admitted that he believes the couple's consequences are reasonable.

"But I think that their conduct was a little unreasonable in the end," Callahan said. "I don't think people should view this case as some type of betrayal or assault on the Second Amendment. We still have the Second Amendment rights. It's just that the Second Amendment does not permit unreasonable conduct."

Missouri Republican Senate hopeful Mark McCloskey, right, and his wife Patricia McCloskey.

GOP Senate Hopeful And Wife Plead Guilty After Waving Guns At Protestors

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

A Republican Senate hopeful in Missouri and his wife pleaded guilty on Thursday to misdemeanor charges. The pair became conservative movement heroes last June after they brandished guns at nonviolent protestors marching against systemic racism.

Mark McCloskey admitted to fourth-degree assault and to pay a $750 fine. His wife, Patricia, will pay $2,000 for second-degree harassment. Both will forfeit the firearms used.

"The prosecutor dropped every charge except for alleging that I purposely placed other people in imminent risk of physical injury, right, and I sure as heck did," Mark McCloskey told reporters. The two had originally been indicted in October on felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering.

"That's what the guns were there for and I'd do it again any time the mob approaches me, I'll do what I can to place them in imminent threat of physical injury because that's what kept them from destroying my house and my family," he added.

The McCloskeys made national news for their response to Black Lives Matter protestors from the lawn of their St. Louis home. The couple resides in the same gated community as then-St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, whose home protestors were marching on to protest her actions in the wake of the George Floyd murder. As the activists marched, Patricia pointed a handgun at them and Mark held an AR-15 rifle.

After this incident, the Republican National Committee invited the pair to speak at the August 2020 national convention. "What you saw happen to us could just as easily happen to any of you who are watching from quiet neighborhoods around our country," they warned voters in a fearmongering speech.

Last month, Mark McCloskey — an attorney — announced that he would seek the GOP nomination for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.

"An angry mob marched to destroy my home and kill my family, I took a stand to defend them," he tweeted. "I am a proven fighter against the mob When the mob comes to destroy our home, our state, our nation— I'll defend it I will NEVER BACK DOWN."

He brags on his campaign website that he and his wife "held off a violent mob through the exercise of their 2nd Amendment rights." And he promises to "continue fighting for President Trump's agenda" if elected and to defend "law and order."

Other candidates running for the nomination include Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who opposed charging the McCloskeys and claimed they were just "defending their property and safety"; Rep. Vicky Hartzler, one of Congress' most extreme opponents of LGBTQ rights; and ex-Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned from office in the face of an alleged revenge porn scandal in 2018.

Published with permission of Thee American Independent Foundation.