Tag Archives: vaccine mandates

Reversing A Bad Decision

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There are still a lot of questions about the Covid-19 vaccine. There are questions about its effectiveness and its risks. It was rushed through as an emergency measure with the claim that we had no effective cure for Covid. It seems that there may have been a cure that was squelched. I am not a doctor, so I can’t say for sure, but many reputable doctors have claimed that ivermectin cures Covid. The restrictions that were put on the unvaccinated were unfair. The masks were ineffective, and according to one pulmonary specialist I have talked to, interfered with basic immune function and led to a spike in pneumonia cases. So the bottom line is that we have more questions than answers. That is what makes President Trump’s Executive Order on funding schools with vaccine mandates a reasonable action.

On Friday, The Daily Signal reported:

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday cutting off federal funding to schools that mandate the COVID-19 vaccine, fulfilling a promise he made repeatedly on the campaign trail.

“OK, that solves that problem,” said Trump after he signed the order in the Oval Office.

The order prohibits “federal funds from being used to support” any educational institution “that requires students to have received a COVID-19 vaccination to attend in-person education programs.”

In many places, the vaccine was reserved for the elderly and those who had some sort of medical condition. School-age students generally were able to survive Covid, develop natural immunity, and go on with their lives.

The article concludes:

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who has emerged as one of the Senate’s most passionate supporters of Trump’s and Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, told The Daily Signal that he wholeheartedly supported the move to grant parents more control over their children’s health care.

“Mandating the COVID injections for anyone, much less children, was an outrage and violated the principle of informed consent,” said Johnson. “Ending what never should have happened is obviously welcome.”

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., who in 2021 voted to block then-President Joe Biden’s attempts to mandate vaccines for millions of workers, likewise praised the move.

“I fully agree with President Trump’s decision to stop federal funds from going to schools that mandate the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Lummis in a statement given to The Daily Signal. 

“This type of unscientific overreach is a blatant violation of Americans’ personal freedoms and has no place in schools supported by the American taxpayer,” she said.

Because the government was able to send the American people into a panic, many of our Constitutional freedoms were ignored. We cannot let that happen again.

President Biden Has Announced He Is Running For Re-election

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Why would an 80-year-old man run for President? He has obviously lost some of his mental abilities, and he is not likely to regain them. On Tuesday, Townhall posted a fact check of President Biden’s announcement that he was running for President in 2024. The announcement was in video form–it was not live, which in itself is curious.

In the video, the President noted:

“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer,” the 80-year-old stated. “I know what I want the answer to be. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection.”

The article notes:

As Katie pointed out, vaccine-obsessed Biden, the so-called leader of the free world, issued a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers, ordering that all employees were required to get vaxxed against the coronavirus or be subject to disciplinary action, which included termination. Likewise, in an affront to individual autonomy and those bravely fighting for America’s freedom, Biden imposed a military-wide vaccine mandate, causing thousands of U.S. military personnel to have been discharged or sidelined for refusing the jab. Biden’s administration also sought to enforce a draconian vaccine-or-test mandate on private businesses through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), but the move was deemed illegal.

The article also notes:

Attacking GOP leadership, Biden claimed, “But you know, around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms away,” which the octogenarian alleged included “cutting Social Security that you’ve paid for your entire life.”

Townhall previously debunked this oft-repeated claim that Biden regurgitates in office and on the 2024 campaign trail. The majority of conservative lawmakers aren’t on board with sunsetting Social Security and Medicare as Republican top brass has repeatedly declared that mainstream GOP members have no intention of ending these generations-old federal entitlements.

…Moments after the false Social Security claim, Biden alleged that “MAGA extremists” across America are “banning books.”

Please follow the link to the article for further details. I really can’t believe that anyone believes President Biden is capable of being President until 2028. I do wonder exactly what the Democrats are setting up.

Setting Up Two Classes Of Citizens

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On Sunday, Hot Air posted an article about Canada’s plan to tax those citizens who were not vaccinated against Covid-19. Public outcry caused the plan to be scrapped, but it is entirely possible that the plan will show up again, despite growing evidence of the ineffectiveness and dangers of the vaccine.

The article quotes the Canadian Medical Association Journal:

Quebec’s recent move to tax people who refuse COVID-19 vaccinations reopened debate about the merits of such penalties.

Premier François Legault said that choosing to remain unvaccinated has consequences for the health care system and not all Quebecers should foot the bill.

Roughly one in 10 adults in Quebec remain unvaccinated, yet they account for an outsized share of COVID-19 hospitalizations and about half of all intensive care patients.

With hospitals postponing surgeries and some 20 000 health workers sick with COVID-19, fining those who refuse vaccinations becomes “a question of fairness,” Legault said.

The article at Hot Air concludes:

But if Canada is really crazy enough to take a fresh look at this policy, what will they say to all of the people who resisted but were eventually forced to take the vaccines in light of more recent news? Keep in mind that many European nations have now stopped offering the vaccines to all but the oldest and the most at-risk. These nations include Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Norway, Italy, Spain and Sweden. Others are considering similar policies as the dangerous side effects of the vaccines for some groups become more apparent. (And that news is finally being allowed to reach the public without immediately being censored.)

If you are fired from your job, you might find a new avenue of employment later. If the government takes some of your money, you may be able to make up for the loss in the future. But once you’ve been injected with these experimental vaccines, you can never be “unvaccinated.” And if you or one of your children suddenly develop a potentially fatal case of Myocarditis, your lives aren’t going to simply “go back to normal.” And it’s worth noting that even the American government is now finally admitting that the new mRNA vaccines will not prevent you from being infected or spreading the virus to others. They just reduce the worst effects of the disease for most people. (I finally caught it in September and managed to make it through to the other side, though I still don’t fully have my senses of taste and smell back.)

The virus is here to stay and it will likely keep morphing into new variants as the seasons go by. In that regard, it’s pretty much the same as the flu at this point. Let’s not return to the craziness of 2020 and 2021, shall we? Making mistakes when we are ignorant of all of the facts about something new is excusable. Continuing to do so after more facts are known is not.

I had the virus before it was fashionable (and before the vaccine). When I had my antibodies tested more than a year later, I still had them. I realize that the virus is dangerous for some people, but I still think the best defense is your own antibodies.

 

Losing Our Freedom

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On Thursday, The Daily Caller reported that on Wednesday President Biden signed a joint communique with Group of 20 leaders in Bali. The President signed the communique in order to “build on the success” of global vaccine passports.

Recently (at hearings at the European Parliament) Pfizer’s president of international developed markets, Janine Small, testified that Pfizer never tested whether their jab would prevent transmission because they had to “move at the speed of science to understand what is happening in the market … and we had to do everything at risk.” In early November I posted an article that included some of the testimony at those hearings. (article here) There is no justification for either a vaccine mandate or a vaccine passport. Actually, the only thing the manufacturers of the vaccines are currently claiming is that if you have been vaccinated and catch Covid, you will have a milder case. However, there is no scientific way to prove that.

The article at The Daily Caller notes:

The Biden administration shot down rumors the White House would order federal vaccine passports in May 2021.

“The government is not now nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential,” former Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. “There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential.”

While private and nonprofit organizations could consider requiring patrons to present proof of vaccination to receive services, the federal government should steer away from requiring vaccination for airline travel and other cross-border activities, Psaki said.

However, the G20’s recent declaration, which summit host Indonesian President Joko Widodo insisted be unanimous, appeared to support international vaccination mandates.

The European Union introduced vaccination passport, or EU Digital COVID Certificate, for intra-EU travel in 2021, and some countries still mandate full vaccination prior to entry.

Promises made, promises broken.

 

Does This Make Sense?

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On Tuesday, The Washington Times posted an article about vaccine mandates.

The article notes:

The Biden administration allowed hundreds of Afghans from last year’s airlift to disappear into American communities without getting COVID-19 or other vaccinations, an inspector general has revealed.

The information was released as the Biden administration was starting the process to fire government workers who didn’t get the coronavirus shots — including some employees at Homeland Security, the department that allowed the Afghans to go free.

Investigators couldn’t say exactly how many Afghans avoided vaccination. They said the Homeland Security Department reported that fewer than 600 walked away without the shots in the early weeks of the evacuation, but dodgy records made it impossible for the inspector general to evaluate that claim.

Others walked out of military base camps before final clearance — a process that was supposed to ensure they were vaccinated, as well as acclimated to their new homes.

“Some Afghan evacuees independently departed safe havens without completing medical requirements,” the inspector general concluded — though again, because of poor records, it was impossible to say how many evaded the vaccines.

Actually, I am not as concerned about the evacuees that departed safe havens early without completing medical requirements as I am concerned with how many evacuees left before they could be accurately screened for ties to terrorism.

The article notes:

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas used his parole powers to clear 77,000 Afghans into the U.S. during the airlift.

The inspector general said 8,600 evacuees never made it to the camps set up to process them at eight military bases in the U.S. Another 11,700 went to the camps but walked off without full processing.

Homeland Security created a task force to try to track down the evacuees who never made it through processing, but even there, the government bungled, the inspector general said. The task force tracked down only Afghans who walked away from Washington Dulles International Airport. It didn’t track down the thousands who went to the military base camps but departed without completing their processing.

Homeland Security insisted the task force was fulfilling the exact mission it was given, but the inspector general said the administration’s documents showed that the task force was supposed to be tracking down everyone.

At the time of the evacuees’ arrival, the U.S. had a near-blanket policy at international airports requiring visitors — those arriving without immigrant visas in hand — to prove they had been vaccinated.

Those who came in on parole, as well as asylum-seekers and refugees, were exempted.

It is an unsettling thought that this many Afghans are roaming around America without having been vetted.

A Step In The Right Direction

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On Saturday, The Gateway Pundit reported that the South Carolina Senate has passed a bill prohibiting businesses from refusing to serve unvaccinated people. The should prevent vaccine mandates from being instituted in the State.

The article reports:

The Senate approved the bill 29-12 on Wednesday. Senators made changes to a House bill which that chamber passed in December, meaning the proposal returns to the House to see if it accepts those changes.

Senators initially put in a large unemployment tax penalty for private businesses that fired unvaccinated workers. But instead they compromised to allow fired workers to collect unemployment benefits, retroactive to the last nine months.

Opponents of the Republican-backed bill questioned why a group that typically says government shouldn’t tell businesses what to do is taking up this fight.

Supporters of the bill said they were trying to protect the choice of people who don’t want to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

The proposal bans state and local governments and public schools from requiring vaccines for their employers, contractors or students and also says first responders can’t be fired for refusing a COVID-19 shot.

The House can either agree to the Senate’s changes, sending the bill to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk, or insist on its version of the bill, meaning a small group of House members and senators will have to work on a compromise between the two versions.

I agree that the area of government telling businesses what they can and cannot do is difficult. However, the civil rights laws passed in the 1960’s told businesses that they had to serve people regardless of race. I believe that principle applies in the area of vaccine status also. It is, however, a very tricky area–the amount of power that the government has over private businesses needs to be kept as small as possible.

Now They Tell Us

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On Monday, Townhall posted an article with the following headline:

CDC Makes Major Admission About Rushed Vaccine Timeline and Heart Inflammation

The article explains:

The Centers for Disease Control is considering changing the timeline for the administration of a second Moderna and Pfizer Wuhan coronavirus vaccine dose. The consideration comes after a rushed timeline caused heart inflammation in a number of patients. 

“Dr. Sara Oliver, an official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the agency was considering making the recommendation for Moderna (MRNA.O) and Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech shots during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of outside advisers to the CDC,” Reuters reports.

Currently, the CDC recommends individuals receive their second dose of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines three and four weeks after an initial dose. The government agency may now recommend a second dose eight weeks after the first. 

In October a number of European countries limited Moderna’s use due to an alarming number of myocarditis cases. 

The article concludes:

Meanwhile an Oxford University study show the risk of myocarditis for young people is higher from the vaccine than it is from natural infection.

…”In under 40-year-old people…dose two of Moderna has exceeded the risk of myocarditis after infection with a second dose,” Dr. Vinay Prasad said about the study. “There have been many people who have been reluctant to take serious the risks of myocarditis after the Moderna product.”

“If you’re under 40 and if you pool men and women together, there is more myocarditis associated with dose two of Moderna than there is with an infection. That is a bombshell finding,” he continued.

This is information that anyone who has not yet taken the shot needs to know. This is also information that should end the vaccine mandates if indeed we are going to ‘follow the science.’

An Interesting Perspective

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On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal posted an op-ed piece about vaccine mandates. The editorial pointed out some very obvious questions.

The article notes:

Federal courts considering the Biden administration’s vaccination mandates—including the Supreme Court at Friday’s oral argument—have focused on administrative-law issues. The decrees raise constitutional issues as well. But there’s a simpler reason the justices should stay these mandates: the rise of the Omicron variant.

It would be irrational, legally indefensible and contrary to the public interest for government to mandate vaccines absent any evidence that the vaccines are effective in stopping the spread of the pathogen they target. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening here.

Both mandates—from the Health and Human Services Department for healthcare workers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for large employers in many other industries—were issued Nov. 5. At that time, the Delta variant represented almost all U.S. Covid-19 cases, and both agencies appropriately considered Delta at length and in detail, finding that the vaccines remained effective against it.

Those findings are now obsolete. As of Jan. 1, Omicron represented more than 95% of U.S. Covid cases, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because some of Omicron’s 50 mutations are known to evade antibody protection, because more than 30 of those mutations are to the spike protein used as an immunogen by the existing vaccines, and because there have been mass Omicron outbreaks in heavily vaccinated populations, scientists are highly uncertain the existing vaccines can stop it from spreading. As the CDC put it on Dec. 20, “we don’t yet know . . . how well available vaccines and medications work against it.”

The article notes that mandating a vaccine to stop the spread of a disease requires evidence that the vaccines will prevent infection or transmission.

The article also notes:

As the World Health Organization puts it, “if mandatory vaccination is considered necessary to interrupt transmission chains and prevent harm to others, there should be sufficient evidence that the vaccine is efficacious in preventing serious infection and/or transmission.” For Omicron, there is as yet no such evidence.

The article concludes:

It is axiomatic in U.S. law that courts don’t uphold agency directives when the agency has entirely failed to consider facts crucial to the problem. In many contexts courts send regulations back to the agency for reconsideration in light of dramatically changed circumstances. If the agency’s action “is not sustainable on the record itself, the proper judicial approach has been to vacate the action and to remand the matter back to the agency for further consideration,” as the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia put it.

Neither HHS nor OSHA ever considered Omicron or said a word about vaccine efficacy against it, for the simple reason that it hadn’t yet been discovered. In these circumstances, longstanding legal principles require the justices to stay the mandates and send them back to the agencies for a fresh look.

It is becoming very obvious that there is a severe lack of common sense among those who are currently supporting vaccine mandates.

More Politics Inside The Department Of Justice

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On Sunday, Zero Hedge reported that the Department of Justice has stated that it will not withdraw a controversial memo used to activate the FBI Counterterrorism Division to investigate parents voicing their opposition to a variety of topics – primarily mask and vaccine mandates, and teaching critical race theory. Very questionable people are streaming across our southern border, and the Department of Justice is worried about parents who oppose mask and vaccine mandates and critical race theory. That is not only unbelievable–it’s dangerous to the security of our nation.

The article reports:

This week, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) revealed the pre-Christmas response – stating:

“[I]n December we asked why the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division was getting involved in parents expressing their concerns at school board meetings. Now, just to be crystal clear, there’s no excuse for real threats or acts of violence at school board meetings, but if there are such threats, these should be handled at the local level and the Attorney General should withdraw his memo that started this whole thing.

“Well, a couple days before Christmas, the Justice Department responded to us with just a one-page letter.

“In that letter, DOJ had nothing to say about why the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division was involved in local school-board matters. DOJ just said, ‘We’re not going to withdraw the memo.’ So, the Feds may be keeping track of school board meetings—even if it creates a horrible chilling effect. And, of course the FBI looking over your shoulder would have a chilling effect. Next week the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on domestic terrorism. I hope we’re going to be focusing on the serious threats facing our country—and I hope no one thinks the focus is on our nation’s parents.”

The article also notes:

According to a public statement by Grassley regarding the one-page letter:

“The Department of Justice owes the American people a better answer than just a one-page letter that says nothing about why the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division is involved in local school-board matters. Now more than ever, parents should be their kids’ strongest and best advocates. They have the God-given right to do so. And the Justice Department ought to be doing everything it can to protect that right, not scare them out of exercising that right. Attorney General Garland should withdraw his memo. And he should take Congress’s oversight, and concern for the rights of parents, more seriously.”

Saturday night I watched the movie “The Lives of Others.” It is a foreign film with subtitles about life in East Germany under the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police. The movie was made in 2006. It is on Amazon Prime. If you haven’t yet seen it, I strongly recommend it–it gives a glance into what life is like when justice is political.

A Judge Doing His Job

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NewsMax posted an article today about a decision by a Louisiana federal judge.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden cannot require teachers in the Head Start early education program to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Saturday, handing a victory to 24 states that had sued the federal government.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty wrote that the Biden administration unlawfully bypassed Congress when ordering that workers in Head Start programs be vaccinated by Jan. 31 and that students 2 years or older be masked when indoors or when in close contact outdoors.

The article concludes:

It was not immediately clear whether the federal government would appeal the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Doughty’s ruling is similar to a Friday ruling in which a federal judge also blocked the Head Start mandate in Texas.

Saturday’s ruling affects Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming and West Virginia.

None of the vaccine mandates or mask mandates have passed through the normal legislative process. Until they do, and our congressmen go on record as to whether or not they support them, these mandates should not become law. We have reached the point in our representative republic where our normal legislative process is being ignored and laws are being made by un-elected bureaucrats in federal agencies. That is not the way our Constitution states that laws should be made.

For those of us who need a refresher course, here is a Schoolhouse Rock video to explain the process:

Bowing To Public Pressure

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On Friday, The Epoch Times reported that even as an appeals court upheld vaccine mandates, private companies are dropping employee vaccine mandates.

The article reports:

More and more businesses in recent days have walked back previous rules mandating COVID-19 vaccine sas a condition for employment in a bid to keep workers.

Earlier this week, Amtrak—a quasi-public corporation—became the latest to rescind its vaccine requirement amid concerns about staff shortages and cut service in January. In a memo sent to staff that was obtained by The Epoch Times, Amtrak CEO William Flynn said the company would do away with the mandate that would have given employees until Jan. 4 to get fully vaccinated or go on unpaid leave.

About 500 out of more than 17,000 Amtrak workers remain unvaccinated, according to the memo. Still, the sudden loss of that many workers would have caused service disruptions, Flynn suggested, while noting that Amtrak was acting in accordance with recent court orders handed down against President Joe Biden’s sweeping vaccine mandates.

Several hospitals and healthcare systems have similarly rescinded vaccine mandates for employees and cited labor issues that were triggered by the new requirements. In early December, Florida’s AdventHealth announced the end of its vaccine requirement for some 83,000 workers, also citing the several recent court injunctions against federal mandates.

“Due to recent decisions by the federal courts to block the [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] vaccine mandate, we are suspending all vaccination requirements of our COVID-19 vaccination policy,” AdventHealth Chief Clinical Officer Neil Finkler said in a letter to staff. The move came after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirmed to The Epoch Times that the agency suspended enforcement following two court orders several weeks ago.

Public pressure works. Any medical procedure has risks. It is up to individuals to weigh risk and benefit. Somehow those in our government seem to have overlooked the risk part. They have also chosen to overlook natural immunity. It’s time Americans began retaking control of their lives.

Common Sense Arrives In New York

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On Monday, The New York Post reported that Nassau County (NY) Executive-elect Bruce Blakeman will not be enforcing Governor Kathy Hochul’s new statewide mask-or-vaccine mandate when he takes office on January 1.

The article reports:

“Come January 1st, my administration will move Nassau forward with a common sense approach that acknowledges the facts, science and progress made by our residents while also protecting businesses and jobs from any further damage created by government mandates,” Blakeman, a Republican, said in a statement on Monday.

“Nassau County is not in crisis, and should not be painted with the same broad brush as the rest of the state. Ninety-seven percent of adults in Nassau County have received at least their first dose of the vaccine and Nassau hospitals have adequate capacity to handle existing demand.”

A spokesperson for outgoing Democratic County Executive Laura Curran said the county will “continue responding to complaints” until she’s out of office on Dec. 31.

On Monday, WND posted an article about the effectiveness of the measures that countries and states have taken against the Covid virus.

The article at WND states:

A former adviser to the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has compiled a list of more than 400 studies showing that COVID-19 lockdowns, shelter-in-place policies, school closures, masks and mask mandates have failed to curb virus transmission or reduce deaths.

“These restrictive policies were ineffective and devastating failures, causing immense harm especially to the poorer and vulnerable within societies,” wrote Dr. Paul Alexander for the Brownstone Institute in an article in which he lists the studies.

Alexander said that while nearly all governments have attempted compulsory measures to control the virus, the research shows that no government can claim they have had a “discernible impact” on “virus trajectories.”

A study published in January 2021, for example, reported “in the framework of this analysis, there is no evidence that more restrictive nonpharmaceutical interventions (‘lockdowns’) contributed substantially to bending the curve of new cases in England, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, or the United States in early 2020.”

“We’ve known this for a very long time now,” Alexander said, “but governments continue to double down, causing misery upon people with ramifications that will likely take decades or more to repair.”

Obviously, the measures being pushed in New York, California, and some other states are not based on the current information. It is good to see some of our elected officials reacting to the science rather than using the virus as an opportunity to grab more governmental power.

Vaccine Mandates In America

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On Wednesday One America News reported that Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) has stated that a number of Democrats will be joining the efforts to strike down the vaccine mandates planned by the Biden administration. The Senator stated, “It gets every senator, every House member on record, so I think it’s going to make it tough for Biden to keep pushing forward when it was a bad idea to begin with.” We need to get every senator and every House member on the record for every vote. Transparency is part of the solution to our currently run-amok government.

The Senator also stated, “Any swing state senator, anybody that is listening to their people back home…this doesn’t poll when its vaccine or job and even when you say vaccine or get tested for a job, most of the people who are digging in, regardless of their reasons, aren’t viewing it as an option.”

The article concludes:

Braun cited a poll by Axios that found only 14 percent of Americans support vaccine mandates. He also highlighted the ongoing litigation to outlaw Biden’s mandates.

Opposing the mandates does not mean that you oppose the vaccine. It simply means that you oppose the concept of forcing people to take a shot they do not want. Also, the mandates make no allowance for natural immunity. If you are ‘following the science,’ that allowance needs to be made.

 

Controlling The Vocabulary To Control The Narrative

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Yesterday The Daily Wire posted an article that illustrates how words can be misused to create a false narrative.

The article reports:

NBC’s Chuck Todd pressed Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) to accept vaccine mandates as “pro-life” actions, while simultaneously suggesting that access to abortion should be protected as an individual liberty.

Reeves made an appearance Sunday on “Meet the Press,” joining Todd for a discussion on the emergence of a new coronavirus variant and Mississippi’s vaccination rate as well as the 15-week abortion ban that will face the scrutiny of the Supreme Court in the coming weeks.

Governor Reeves pointed out that there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that prevents states from limited abortion.

The article also includes some of the Governor’s comments on vaccine mandates:

Todd then attempted to use Reeves’ own comments about his opposition to vaccine mandates to argue that a vaccine mandate was actually a “pro-life” position.

“This is a power grab by the federal government. We’ve seen this time and time again by the Biden administration, and now we’re seeing their strong desire to trying to make decisions on behalf of individual Americans. We believe in freedom and individual liberty,” Reeves said of the vaccine mandates.

“‘Freedom and individual liberty,’” Todd repeated. “Why should the state of Mississippi tell a woman what they should do with their body? Why shouldn’t they have that individual freedom on their body, particularly in the first 20 weeks?”

“Well, this is a prime example, and the far left loves to scream, ‘My body, my choice.’ What I would submit to you, choice, is they absolutely ignore the fact that in getting an abortion there is an actual killing of an innocent unborn child that is in that womb,” Reeves replied. “Here is what we know about babies that are 15 weeks. We know that they have a heartbeat. We know that those babies at 15 weeks actually can open and close their hands. We know that they have developing lungs, and we know that those babies at 15 weeks can feel pain, and so when you talk – the difference between vaccine mandates and abortions is vaccines allow you to protect yourself. Abortions actually go in and kill other American babies. Let’s just put this in perspective –”

‘My body, my choice’ totally falls apart when you realize that an abortion involves another body with an entirely different DNA. We can expect more of this sort of twisting words in the near future when the Mississippi case comes before the Supreme Court.

What Happens When You Stand Up To Tyranny

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On Wednesday, The Conservative Treehouse reported that OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has announced that they will not attempt to enforce their vaccine mandate. Oddly enough, this happened right after the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans, LA) order a stay on the vaccine requirement.

The article reports:

The Biden Department of Labor cannot win in court over their use of OSHA to force mandated vaccines.  The effort to use an OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) did not and will not survive judicial scrutiny.

The exemptions alone nullify the claims the ETS is built upon, and the courts are recognizing the brutally obvious political nature of the vaccine mandate effort.

As a result of the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans, LA) order to stay the vaccine requirement {See Here}, OSHA has now announced {SEE HERE} they will not attempt to enforce the rule:

…While the 5th circuit case from Louisiana was the first, there are 11 total circuit court cases holding the same challenges. As a result, the cases were consolidated and assigned to one circuit court chosen randomly via lottery.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, won the lottery to hear the legal challenges. “The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, is known to lean conservative, with most of its judges appointed by Republican presidents.” The 6th Circuit will have to decide whether or not to lift or maintain the stay instituted by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans.

However, don’t get too comfortable thinking this will be the end of the vaccine mandates. It is already being reported that the Biden administration is encouraging companies to enforce the vaccine mandate even if the government does not. Hopefully the courts will stand firm on this and Americans will continue to enjoy all of the freedoms protected by our Constitution.

Florida Gets It Right

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A friend of mine posted the following chart on Facebook:

So let’s look at some of the policies of Governor DeSantis and the Florida legislature that resulted in this success:

Florida has outlawed vaccine mandates

Allowing parents to make decisions about masking their children

Florida was also one of the first states to open after the ‘two-week’ shutdown

Florida prioritized vaccinating the vulnerable

Florida set up mobile locations to treat people in the early stages of the coronavirus

Florida made an effort to balance public health and economic needs. Obviously, they did a good job.

When Is A Law Not A Law?

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The Epoch Times posted an article today about the federal vaccine mandates.

The article reports:

Several Republican attorneys general have said that President Joe Biden’s federal mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations hasn’t yet come into effect for private businesses, adding that if it is ordered, they will file lawsuits against it.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, noted that the White House only last week submitted the text of its emergency rule regarding vaccinations to the Office of Management and Budget, meaning it hasn’t gone into effect.

But, Knudsen noted that “no such rule or regulation is currently in effect,” adding (pdf) that there has been a “great deal of confusion” over Biden’s announcement last month.

“Further, my office is preparing to immediately challenge and enjoin this federal overreach on a variety of grounds when the Biden administration issues its announced rule,” he said.

On Sept. 9, Biden announced that he would direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to mandate that all private businesses with 100 or more employees force their workers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. Details about the rule, including fines, have not been released, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki couldn’t answer questions earlier this month about a timeframe on when it would be unveiled.

There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that gives the federal government the power to order people to take medicine they do not want to take. It may be possible for some states or local entities to find that power under public health laws, but there is no federal precedent for such a requirement.

The article concludes with an interesting statement about the double standard being applied to Americans and those crossing the border illegally:

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, already filed a lawsuit against Biden’s vaccine requirement, arguing that it would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The mandate would treat American workers differently than illegal immigrants who are crossing into the United States from Mexico, arguing that illegal aliens are able to decline the vaccine.

But last week, Biden said that his private-sector mandate will take effect “soon” and will address the “unacceptably high number” of people who have not taken the vaccine.

“The Labor Department is going to soon be issuing an emergency rule for companies with 100 or more employees to implement vaccination requirements,” Biden said on Oct. 14, referring to the mandate.

Earlier this month, a Department of Labor spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that OSHA has been working “expeditiously” to develop the rule, which it described as an “emergency temporary standard.”

The Epoch Times contacted the Department of Labor on Sunday for additional comment.

If the government moves at its typical speed, the word “expeditiously” may mean it will be done by 2024. Meanwhile, we need Attorneys General who will protect our rights. It has never been more obvious that your vote for local and state officials is as important as your vote for President.

Keeping Your Word

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has done an amazing job of handling the Covid-19 pandemic in Florida. Despite having a large percentage of elderly in his state, he has managed to balance freedom and safety. He has kept the death rate down without some of the government overreach that is obvious in the federal government and some other states. Gregg Jarrett posted an article today that illustrates Governor DeSantis’ commitment to protecting the freedom of Florida residents.

The article reports:

The Florida Department of Health fined Leon County over $3.5 million last week after it fired 14 workers for refusing to show proof of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Florida notified the county in a letter sent to Leon County administrator Vincent Long saying that the county had violated state law.

“By way of media reports, Leon County was made aware of a notice from the Florida Department of Health regarding the County’s vaccination requirement,” Long told Fox 4 in response. “There is a genuine disagreement about the applicability of the statute and rule, and the County will enforce its rights using any remedies available at law, if necessary.”

“It is unacceptable that Leon County violated Florida law, infringed on current and former employees’ medical privacy, and fired loyal public servants because of their personal health decisions,” a spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a statement Tuesday. “Governor DeSantis will continue fighting for Floridians’ rights and the Florida Department of Health will continue to enforce the law.”

In September, DeSantis announced that Florida would protect its citizens after reports that Leon County fired employees for not being vaccinated.

Stay tuned. I am sure this is headed for the courts.

When The Courts Defend Religious Rights

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Yesterday The Post Millennial posted an article about the Covid vaccine mandates in New York State.

The article reports:

A federal judge’s ruling on Tuesday says employers in New York’s healthcare sector must allow religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Presiding Judge Hurd said the state government of New York doesn’t have the authority to ban religious exemptions.

He issued an injunction that bars the Department of Health from reprimanding employers for granting religious exemptions to staff.

In addition: “The Department of Health is barred from taking any action, disciplinary or otherwise, against the licensure, certification, residency, admitting privileges or other professional status or qualification of any of the plaintiffs on account of their seeking or having obtained a religious exemption from mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.”

The New York Times describes a contrast between former Governor Andrew Cuomo and the current governor; Cuomo allowed religious exemptions but Kathy Hochul took them away, which in itself triggered the lawsuit.

In light of today’s decision, Hochul said the state would be appealing the ruling:

“My responsibility as governor is to protect the people of this state, and requiring health care workers to get vaccinated accomplishes that. I stand behind this mandate, and I will fight this decision in court to keep New Yorkers safe.”

For whatever reason we seem to have a lot of elected leaders who have forgotten the God-given rights the U.S. Constitution was written to protect. There is evidence that some of the Covid vaccines or the research to develop the vaccines involved embryonic stem cells. For some religious people, that is a problem. The Constitution protects the rights of those people. The Governor of New York needs to respect religious freedom. It will be a sad day for Americans if the State of New York wins this case.

Understanding Why These Lies Are Being Told

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Yesterday The Epoch Times reported the following:

Southwest Airlines has canceled at least 1,000 Sunday flights as of 12 p.m. ET, according to flight tracker FlightAware, coming after numerous cancelations were reported Saturday.

“We experienced significant impact in the Florida airports [Friday] evening after an FAA-imposed air traffic management program was implemented due to weather and resulted in a large number of cancellations,” said Alan Kasher, who oversees Southwest’s flight operations, in a statement obtained by several news outlets on Saturday.

Notice that they are blaming the weather for the cancellations. Because they are blaming the weather for the cancellations, the airline does not have to give refunds or pay for layover expenses for the people who are stranded by the flight cancellations.

The article continues:

Southwest declined to comment on whether cancelations were due to staffing shortages related to the firm’s recently announced COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees air traffic in the United States, also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Axios reported the following:

“Dallas-based Southwest Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights over the weekend, leaving passengers stranded across the country. The company denied the cancellations were caused by a staff ‘sick out’ in response to a new vaccine mandate.”

Red State reported:

“Further, while the details here are still murky about who is specifically to blame (aside from vaccine mandates in general), what is clear is that people are furious with Southwest Airlines. By blaming non-existent weather problems, they were able to avoid giving refunds or paying for layover expenses for those left stranded, many sitting on planes for hours.”

Red State also noted:

“That decision to not just be honest with its customers about the cause of the cancellations has hampered the reputation of what was once seen as the ‘different’ airline. Yet, they aren’t operating any differently than their typically more loathed counterparts in the industry. This was all completely avoidable by using some common sense.”

The article at The Epoch Times reports:

“Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination directive,” Southwest CEO Gary Kelly announced on Oct. 4, explaining that the company works as a federal contractor and needs to comply with President Joe Biden’s September vaccine mandate for federal employees and contractors. That prompted a lawsuit from Southwest’s pilot union, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, which is seeking a court injunction against the mandate.

On its website Saturday, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association blamed the cancelations on “a number of issues, but we can say with confidence that our Pilots are not participating in any official or unofficial job actions,” in an apparent reference to speculations about employees calling in sick.

“Our Pilots will continue to overcome [Southwest Airlines] management’s poor planning, as well as any external operational challenges, and remain the most productive Pilots in the world,” the statement continued. “They will continue to be focused on their highest priority—safety.”

We need some of our major corporations to tell the federal government to go pound sand. We need corporations and individuals to begin to stand up for our freedom. We lost a lot of freedom during the coronavirus. It is time to reclaim that freedom.

Expect To See More Of This

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Whether or not you choose to get the Covid vaccine should not be anyone else’s business. If the vaccine protects you, why do you care if I am vaccinated? Does any natural immunity I have because I recovered from Covid count? If we are going to require people to get a vaccine to keep them healthy, when are we going to require people to lose weight, stop smoking, exercise, eat healthy food, etc? The government shouldn’t have the power to require you to do those things. They are good things, but even your mother doesn’t have the power to require you to do those things once you move out of her house! As various industries and groups mandate the vaccine, some people are wondering why there is so much pressure. That alone creates a reluctance to get the vaccine.

Just the News reported  yesterday that according to a union official, dozens of Massachusetts state troopers have submitted their resignation papers as a result of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The article reports:

The state is requiring all executive department employees to show proof of vaccination by Oct. 17 or risk losing their jobs, according to a CBS-TV affiliate in Boston.

Roughly 20% of state police employees are not vaccinated, said an attorney for the union, the State Police Association of Massachusetts.

Last week, a judge denied a request from the union to put a hold on Democratic Gov. Charlie Baker’s vaccine mandate for troopers.

The union said following the judge’s decision that troopers are asking that a COVID-related illness be treated as a “line of duty injury,” as other state agencies have done for their workers and suggested alternatives to the vaccine including mask wearing and mandatory testing.

“To date, dozens of troopers have already submitted their resignation paperwork, some of whom plan to return to other departments offering reasonable alternatives such as mask wearing and regular testing.

New York is experiencing the same thing with healthcare workers. The vaccine mandates will eventually cost people their lives because of the resignations that will follow. The government should not have the power to force people to submit to medical treatment they do not want.

 

Lying With A Straight Face

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Yesterday Hot Air posted an article with the following headline, “Psaki: Migrants at the border don’t need to show proof of vaccination because they don’t intend to stay for long.” Wow. I guess that’s why the Democrats are fighting so hard to pass amnesty for illegal aliens. Wait, what?

The article reports:

What Psaki means is that migrants who surrender to the Border Patrol and apply for asylum can, in some circumstances, be summarily expelled under the CDC’s Title 42 pandemic authority. You file your asylum application and then you’re either repatriated or told to get comfortable in Mexico while you await a ruling. Ideally.

But there are two wrinkles. First, not everyone is turned away.

Maybe those families released into the U.S. will show up for their asylum hearing or maybe they’ll disappear and become illegal immigrants. In which case, for all intents and purposes, they are here forever.

Second, whether the Biden administration will be able to summarily expel families for much longer is in doubt thanks to a federal judge.

The article notes:

In a 58-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan found that the Title 42 policy does not authorize the expulsion of migrants — and, in turn, does not allow for those removed to be denied the opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S. The judge’s order will go into effect in 14 days…

Sullivan’s order applies only to families, meaning the Biden administration can continue to expel single adults arriving at the U.S. southern border. Unaccompanied children have been exempt from being expelled using Title 42…

In recent months, Mexico has been increasingly resistant to accepting families expelled from the U.S. under Title 42, resulting in a majority of families entering the U.S. to be permitted to remain in the country.

This is somewhat illogical:

Families are coming across the border without proof of vaccination and being released into the United States to remain for months and potentially years. Meanwhile, until literally this morning, fully vaccinated tourists with proof of immunity were barred from entering the U.S. even just to enjoy a vacation of a few days.

The people who really do intend to stay only briefly are asked to prove they’re no threat to the population while the people who hope to stay permanently aren’t. Go figure.

The article concludes with the following statement and a video of a comment by Jen Psaki:

There’s another class angle. Tourists who fly in from abroad for vacation to spread their money around are apt to patronize middle- or upper-class establishments, where they’ll mix with professionals. Dirt-poor migrants, on the other hand, are likely to spend most of their time in downscale American communities. The governing class doesn’t care much if the poors are exposed to COVID but they don’t want it in their own spaces. Which probably also explains why most major businesses are okay with not requiring customers to prove they’re vaccinated but are more eager to have their own staffers get their shots. The low-paid cashier or sales assistant can take their chances with infected shoppers out front, but executives don’t want any ‘rona around them back in the office.

I’ll leave you with another soundbite from Psaki at today’s briefing, in which she deflects Biden’s role in the horrendous drone strike that killed seven Afghan children in part by noting that he knows how painful personal loss can be. Is there no uncomfortable moment politically that the White House won’t try to use Beau Biden’s tragic death to extricate themselves from?

I am beginning to wonder if America will survive the Biden administration.

There Are Probably A Number Of Reasons For This

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Just the News reported yesterday that a federal judge has blocked the state of New York from enforcing a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for its healthcare workers.

The article reports:

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the healthcare worker vaccine mandate on August 16 prompting more than a dozen healthcare professionals to request a court enjoinder. The mandate requires hospitals staff and employees of long-term care facilities to be vaccinated in order to remain employed.

The suit argues that medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and medical technicians face losing their careers and livelihoods if they refuse to receive a vaccine that contradicts their religious beliefs. According to the suit, the religious beliefs of the 17 medical professionals compel them to “refuse vaccination with the available Covid-19 vaccines, all of which employ aborted fetus cell lines in their testing, development, or production.”

The legal argument takes its shape under the umbrella of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Christopher Ferrara, an attorney with the Thomas More Society said that New York is attempting to “slam shut an escape hatch from an unconstitutional vaccine mandate … They are doing this while knowing that many people have sincere religious objections to vaccines that were tested, developed, or produced with cell lines derived from aborted children.”

As of now the vaccine mandate is temporarily suspended in New York State.

It should be noted the because of the vaccine mandates, many healthcare workers are walking off their jobs. Because of that, many states are having difficulty staffing their hospitals.

People have different reasons for refusing the vaccine–some have religious reasons, some have health concerns, and some feel that because they have recovered from Covid, they don’t need the vaccine. At any rate, we used to be a free county where a person was entitled to make their own healthcare decisions. If this vaccine is as wonderful as we are being told, people will get it voluntarily. Vaccine mandates are not the way to go. All of us need to fight them.

Legal Or Ethical?

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President Biden has now instituted the vaccine mandates he said he would not put in place. Are vaccine mandates legal or ethical? One Canadian professor of ethics has gone public with her opinion on vaccine mandates after she was fired for not getting the vaccine.

Yesterday The Blaze reported:

An ethics professor in Canada gave what could be her final lesson at the university she has been employed at for the past 20 years. The lesson was regarding vaccine mandates. The professor’s employer has implemented mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, which she believes is unethical.

Dr. Julie Ponesse is an ethics professor at Ontario’s Huron University College, which is affiliated with Western University. Ponesse, who holds a Ph.D. in ethics, delivered an emotional message about vaccine mandates in a video that has since gone viral.

“Today, I’m going to teach you a short lesson on a universally accepted ethics of coercing people into medical procedures,” Ponesse said into the camera. “I’ll be the example.”

“My employer has just mandated that I must get a vaccine for COVID-19,” the professor said. “If I want to keep working at my job as a professor, I have to take this vaccine.”

“Here’s my conundrum. My school employs me to be an authority on the subject of ethics. I hold a Ph.D. in ethics and ancient philosophy and I’m here to tell you, it’s ethically wrong to coerce someone to take a vaccine,” she said. “If it happens to you, you don’t have to do it. If you don’t want a COVID vaccine, don’t take one. End of discussion. It’s your own business.”

“But that’s not the approach of the University of Western Ontario, which has suddenly required that I be vaccinated immediately, or not report for work,” she continued.

“I am facing imminent dismissal after 20 years on the job,” Ponesse said for not wanting to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The professor explained that she is not an anti-vaxxer, and that she has had “plenty of vaccines in my life.”

Ponesse noted she doesn’t work in a “high-risk environment.”

“I’m a teacher. I’m a university professor. My job is to teach how to think critically; to ask questions that might expose a false argument,” she stated.

Ponesse questioned the effectiveness of the vaccines, “Nobody is promising that I won’t get COVID, or transmit COVID if I get the vaccine.”

“I’m entitled to make choices about what does and what does not enter my body regardless of my reasons,” she said.

“This is my first and potentially my last lesson of the year,” Ponesse said as her voice cracked after getting emotional. “In the spirit of Socrates, who was executed for asking questions, this lesson will consist of only one question.”

The professor asked her students, “When a person has done the same job to the satisfaction of her employer for 20 years, is it right, or is it wrong to suddenly demand that they submit to an unnecessary medical procedure in order to keep their job?”

Please follow the link to read the rest of the article. The real danger in the vaccine mandate is that government power always increases and never increases. Are we going to be like China where couples were forced to abort their second child? Are we going to demand that anyone who does not follow the government mandate du jour be somehow excluded from society? This is a dangerous path.