{"id":70928,"date":"2021-08-16T16:50:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T21:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=70928"},"modified":"2021-08-16T18:14:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T23:14:08","slug":"70928","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=70928","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Stupid is as Stupid does&#8217;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/tennesee-covid-vaccine-fired-dog-muzzle-michelle-fiscus-b2419534-7e4a-4048-89b5-35300e8da333.html\">Scoop: Investigation finds fired Tennessee vaccine official mailed dog muzzle to self.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A Tennessee investigation found evidence that\u00a0<a class=\"gtm-content-click\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/tennessee-covid-vaccine-fired-minors-e2d1c68a-56a4-43b2-b2c4-3e0613e8fa83.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-link-text=\"the state's fired vaccine chief\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/tennessee-covid-vaccine-fired-minors-e2d1c68a-56a4-43b2-b2c4-3e0613e8fa83.html\" data-vars-event-category=\"story\" data-vars-sub-category=\"story\" data-vars-item=\"in_content_link\">the state&#8217;s fired vaccine chief<\/a>, Michelle Fiscus, purchased a dog muzzle that she previously claimed someone had mailed in an attempt to intimidate her.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters<\/strong>: Fiscus, who denied sending herself the muzzle\u00a0<a class=\"gtm-content-click\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/drfixus\/status\/1427362868773728261\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-link-text=\"in a Monday tweet\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/drfixus\/status\/1427362868773728261\" data-vars-event-category=\"story\" data-vars-sub-category=\"story\" data-vars-item=\"in_content_link\">in a Monday tweet<\/a>, has characterized her firing as a political move driven by Republican state officials after she shared a memo citing state law about whether adolescents can seek medical care, including a COVID vaccine, without their parents&#8217; permission.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fiscus and her husband, Brad, had said in multiple interviews, including with\u00a0<a class=\"gtm-content-click\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/07\/15\/us\/tennessee-vaccine-manager-dog-muzzle\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-link-text=\"CNN's Anderson Cooper\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/07\/15\/us\/tennessee-vaccine-manager-dog-muzzle\/index.html\" data-vars-event-category=\"story\" data-vars-sub-category=\"story\" data-vars-item=\"in_content_link\">CNN&#8217;s Anderson Cooper<\/a>, that the muzzle was sent anonymously to her state office through Amazon shortly before her firing.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Someone wanted to send a message to tell her to stop talking, they thought it would be a threat to her,&#8221; Brad Fiscus\u00a0<a class=\"gtm-content-click\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tennessean.com\/story\/news\/health\/2021\/07\/14\/fired-tennessee-vaccine-official-michelle-fiscus-mailed-muzzle\/7971748002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-link-text=\"told the Tennessean\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.tennessean.com\/story\/news\/health\/2021\/07\/14\/fired-tennessee-vaccine-official-michelle-fiscus-mailed-muzzle\/7971748002\/\" data-vars-event-category=\"story\" data-vars-sub-category=\"story\" data-vars-item=\"in_content_link\">told the Tennessean<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Details:\u00a0The Tennessee Department of Safety &amp; Homeland Security found through a subpoena that the Amazon package containing the muzzle <em>traced back to a credit card in Fiscus&#8217; name, according to an investigation report obtained by Axios.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When asked by investigators, Fiscus provided information for an Amazon account in her name. It was a different account than the one used to purchase the muzzle.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The investigation concluded that &#8220;the results of this investigation that purchases from both Amazon accounts were charged to the same American Express credit card in the name of Dr. Michelle D. Fiscus.&#8221;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Fiscus told investigators she felt the muzzle was a threat and she should &#8220;stop talking about vaccinating people.&#8221; The investigation was launched after health department official Paul Peterson alerted the Department of Safety about the apparent threat to Fiscus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The backdrop:<\/strong>\u00a0Fiscus was fired amid criticism from Republican lawmakers who were upset about the health department\u2019s efforts to convince teenagers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Republican lawmakers criticized Fiscus on multiple fronts, highlighting a memo she sent explaining how providers in Tennessee could vaccinate some teenage patients without a parent&#8217;s approval.<\/li>\n<li>The health department\u00a0<a class=\"gtm-content-click\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillepost.com\/business\/health_care\/records-cite-multiple-conduct-issues-leading-up-to-fiscus-firing\/article_21cc6c84-e58f-11eb-b9d2-a3becbfe4eac.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-link-text=\"released a memo\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillepost.com\/business\/health_care\/records-cite-multiple-conduct-issues-leading-up-to-fiscus-firing\/article_21cc6c84-e58f-11eb-b9d2-a3becbfe4eac.html\" data-vars-event-category=\"story\" data-vars-sub-category=\"story\" data-vars-item=\"in_content_link\">released a memo<\/a>\u00a0last month stating Fiscus was fired for poor interpersonal communication skills, ineffective management and attempting to steer state money to a nonprofit she founded.<\/li>\n<li>Fiscus denied the allegations in the memo and shared years of sterling performance evaluations. She claims she was fired for attempting to do her job well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying:<\/strong>\u00a0In a statement distributed by her husband, Fiscus said she was not aware of the report until Axios shared it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;We have now learned that a second Amazon account had been established under my name using what appears to be a temporary phone, possibly in Washington state,&#8221; Fiscus said.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;I have asked Homeland Security for the unredacted report so that I can investigate further and am awaiting their response,&#8221; she added.<\/li>\n<li>Fiscus did not discuss the use of the American Express card in her name.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Stupid is as Stupid does&#8217; Scoop: Investigation finds fired Tennessee vaccine official mailed dog muzzle to self. A Tennessee investigation found evidence that\u00a0the state&#8217;s fired vaccine chief, Michelle Fiscus, purchased a dog muzzle that she previously claimed someone had mailed in an attempt to intimidate her. Why it matters: Fiscus, who denied sending herself the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=70928\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deceit","category-hypocrisy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70928"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70930,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70928\/revisions\/70930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}