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The Biden Administration Goes To War With The “Non-Vacs”: Is Coercion the Answer?

Below is my column in the Hill on the shift from reasoned consent to coerced consent in the campaign for vaccinations. The push by the Biden Administration for private companies to enforce mandates and restrictions has increased in the last week. There is a high likelihood of a new round of litigation as pressure builds for new mandates and even lockdowns.

Just before this column ran, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky was asked by Fox host Bret Baier “Are you for mandating a vaccine on a federal level?” She responded “That’s something that I think the administration is looking into.” Later she reversed herself by saying “I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.” It was a telling response because she was asked about a federal mandate directly. She now says she meant to say a privately enforced mandates is what they are thinking about. The reversal may be a problematic as the original. It would confirm that the Biden Administration is using private companies as a type of direct surrogate for a public mandate.

Here is the column:

“They didn’t get vaccinated.” Those words from President Biden summed up why his administration made a critical shift in its COVID policies, from mask recommendations to mandatory shots for federal workers. And that represents a third stage of government policy, toward a more confrontational approach to “them” — the increasingly demonized unvaccinated class that is roughly half of America.

But this stage could face legal challenges in coming weeks, as citizens and some states push back on mandates.

This month was a clear break from persuasion and a step toward coercion in dealing with those who refuse to be vaccinated. Even the normally staid Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is ramping up its rhetoric, declaring that the “war has changed” due to the Delta variant. For some, however, there is concern that Biden’s “they” is a declaration of war on them.

Clearly, there is a rapidly diminishing level of communication between the “vacs” and “non-vacs.”

Stage One: Reasoned consent

Until recently, the Biden administration relied largely on what could be called the “reasoned consent” model. Not unreasonably, it assumed that Americans would want the vaccine, given the dire consequences of being unvaccinated. For many of us, it took little persuasion. My family and I took the earliest possible date for vaccinations. But this first stage was in some regards a failure: While more than 85 percent of the high-risk population of older Americans have been vaccinated, roughly half of the wider population has not been fully vaccinated.

A myriad of reasons exist: distrust of government programs among some minorities and conservatives; people who previously had COVID-19 considering themselves immune; those concerned with religious or medical issues. Billions spent on state and federal outreach programs failed to penetrate that wall of resistance.

Stage Two: Induced consent

As long lines disappeared at vaccine centers, it became clear that many citizens have come to distrust the media and the government on this, as on so many issues. Anyone raising questions about the virus — even its origins — was censored by Big Tech, and politicians weaponized the wedge issue for their own purposes. Such censorship continued this week even for those merely suggesting a “pause” to examine the data. For people already distrustful of the government, the censorship and overheated rhetoric only confirm their suspicions.

Government officials then shifted from reasoned to induced or compensated consent. In Ohio, $1 million lottery prizes were offered to those willing to take the shots; other states offered free metro or free museum passes. It didn’t work — but that didn’t stop President Biden this week from telling states to use federal funds to offer $100 for every person who consents to take a shot. It is the monetization of vaccination under the logic that those not motivated by self-preservation will be persuaded by a C-note.

The government and the media, however, remain unwilling to engage vaccine resisters beyond stereotyping them as “Trumpers” or pandemic-spreading morons. That includes censoring questions and opposing discussion of whether the level of statistical risk should leave this to be a matter of individual choice, as with other viruses and illnesses.

Stage Three: Coerced consent

We are now entering the “coerced consent” stage. Unable to persuade or purchase consent, many are arguing to make it difficult to be gainfully employed or functionally active without proof of vaccination. It is a type of de facto pandemic passport. After indicating the administration was considering a federal vaccine mandate, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this week, “I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.”

Unwilling to face the legal or political challenges of mandating a vaccination program, the Biden administration has actively encouraged companies to bar unvaccinated people from planes, restaurants and other venues. The danger is that using companies to censor opposing views and restrict people can amount to a type of government-by-surrogate, a shadow state.

There clearly are good reasons why many companies and schools demand vaccinations to rejoin workplaces or classrooms. As expected, those rules have been upheld, including a recent favorable ruling for Indiana University.

More concerning are those calls to use mandates to make life miserable for anyone who still has doubts. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told her citizens that they will have fewer “freedoms” until they consent. Some in the media have echoed these calls, and some private organizations are following the same strategy. The NFL, for example, has been openly making life “a living hell” for NFL players who prefer to be tested but not vaccinated.

For the most part, the motivation behind government and private mandates are hard to litigate. Courts tend to defer to measures ostensibly protecting others from risk of illness; even in criminal cases, the government has been allowed to conduct “pretextual traffic stops” if it can cite an objective basis.

There may be new legal challenges ahead, however. First, those with religious or medical concerns can challenge mandated vaccination programs. CNN’s Don Lemon this week called for barring unvaccinated people from offices and businesses, insisting “It has nothing to do with liberty. You don’t have the freedom and the liberty to put other people in jeopardy.” In truth, there are constitutional questions when you force people to take medications or vaccinations that violate their religious beliefs or that fail to satisfy a rational basis.

States also are moving to counter private mandates or to bar mandatory masking rules; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) just signed an executive order allowing parents to ignore masking orders for their children in the state’s public schools. That could force the hand of the Biden administration on implementing federal mandates or executive orders — a conflict that would raise core federalism issues.

The federal government is on shaky ground in mandating hood behavior or inactivity. In 2012 in NFIB v. Sebelius, Chief Justice John Roberts declared that “Construing the Commerce Clause to permit Congress to regulate individuals precisely because they are doing nothing would open a new and potentially vast domain to congressional authority.”

The greatest danger with the coercion model is that it will further deepen our divisions and turn vaccine resistance into a type of patriotic resistance for some people. Recently, a shocking poll found that almost 50 percent of Republicans believe “patriotic Americans [might] have to take the law into their own hands.” The poll shows how many Americans are increasingly alienated from the government, the media and the established order. Conversely, some commentators on the left have declared that the unvaccinated are terrorists using “biological warfare” against the nation.

Threatening to make the lives of the unvaccinated a “living hell,” or isolating them from society, likely will do little to increase the level of vaccination — but it will do much to increase the level of alienation in our society.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can find his updates on Twitter @JonathanTurley.

309 thoughts on “The Biden Administration Goes To War With The “Non-Vacs”: Is Coercion the Answer?”

  1. As for Angela Merkel informing German citizens that they will have fewer freedoms unless they consent, her father moved the family from West to East Germany after the partition. Merkel herself joined the Free German Youth, the communist youth group sponsored by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, not to be confused with the National Socialist German Workers Party, AKA the Nazis. She got her degree from Karl Marx University. Literally. That was its name.

    Is it any wonder that this woman has no true concept of individual rights and liberty?

    1. Karen: you are a perfect example of a no brainer Trumpster: someone who has no college education but considers herself qualified to criticize a highly-praised and universally-respected female world leader with a doctorate degree in physics who has worked as a nuclear physicist. Mostly, criticism of Merkel is because she treated Trump like the frivolous, attention-seeking dope that he is, plus she turned her back on Ivanka and walked away from her while she was talking. This is just one reason why I cannot bring myself to muster any respect whatsoever for you. This is what Trump has done: caused his disciples to think they have an equal ability as physicians with decades of experience to make health decisions, all because Dr. Fauci made him look like the moron he is. So Trump attacks him, the CDC and medical experts generally, all of whom are better educated and certainly more qualified to set health policies for the overall good of everyone. So, people like you think you know as much or more than medical experts, and have no respect whatsoever for educated people. A perfect example of the refusal to defer to experts is Ron DeSantis, who said said yesterday that he would stand up for the “right” of parents, not health officials, to decide whether school children should wear masks. Leadership is supposed to be about making decisions for the good of everyone. Parents don’t have the medical knowledge or overall picture of the risk, and have been lied to about the efficacy of masks and the danger of children contracting COVID. Plus, their un-masked children pose a risk to adults and other children. All of this is just pandering to the Trumpster mentality that “no one can tell me what to do, what to put in my body, and I’ll believe whatever I want to, because I know what’s best for me.” Karen is an excellent example of this mentality.

      1. Natacha,

        Damn, you are on a roll! You are so right that Trumpists like Karen think they know better than their betters. They get this arrogant inclination from Trump who thinks he is smarter than everyone else including his generals! The problem with Trumpists is the problem with Trump, they adopt his megalomania, narcissism and dishonesty. If Trump is prosecuted for any crime, maybe then they will become disillusioned with him and realize that they had been misled by a consummate conman. It appears that some of the 1/6 rioters are now blaming Trump for their predicament.

        Trumpism will go down in political history like McCarthyism. It’s only a matter of time. Fear not.

        1. Karen has long demonstrated that she know Better than the idiots who think of themselves as “her betters”.

          Look arround ?

          Afghanistan is a bloody mess – Those people you think are our “betters” – inarguably lied to us.
          Please look into decades of reporting by Glenn Greenwald on this.

          Our “betters” told us that rusia colluded with Trump to win election in 2016 – a ludicrously stupid claim from the start.

          Our betters told us that it would take 14 days to stop the spread – 18 months ago.

          Our Betters told us that vaccines would take years, and that we could not trust a vaccine developed by Trump.
          Now they tell us that We MUST trust an experimental vaccine and subject our children who are more likely to die from the flu or Pneumonia.

          Our betters told us Masks work – knowing that 14 of 14 RCT studies of masks in the 21st century found little or no benefit.

          Our Betters told us that Hunter Biden’s laptop was russian disinformation.

          They told us that violating election laws and even state constitutions was necescary and would not result in fraud, error or chaos.

          And who are these betters ?

          Hunter Biden ? He was paid more per month – while spending his days in alcoholic and drug induced stupor, and perving teens on a daily basis, than I make in a year – is Karen’s better ?

          Dr. Faucci ? He has lied to us about pretty much everything to cover his own ass from the start – is he Karen’s better ?

          Joe Biden ? He can barely remember who he is – is he Karen’s better ?

          What about Gen. Miley – who promised us the Afghans would have no trouble handling the taliban – is he Karen’s better ?

          Who are these better’s that we should all defer to ? And what have they gotten right that we should trust them ?

        2. So how smart were those “generals” ?

          The actual evidence is that from the moment we chased the Taliban out of Afghanistan, that they were coming back ultimately.
          For the past 2 decades “the generals” as well as the dept state, CIA, intelligence community, …. have all lied to us.

          And they lied to Trump.

          If Trump remained president – this still would have been bad – but not likely as bad.

          No matter what the very people you think Trump or the rest of us should defer to as “betters” have been WRONG about most everything.

          The problem with YOU is that you keep beleiving them.

          I do not know what a Trumpist is, but you seem to define them as people who do not trust authority.

          That seems to be the defintion of WISE people.

          What is going down is NOT Trump – it is YOU.

          Cuomo – for so long your hero resigned over actual improprieties. Not Trump.

          We have all heard this stupid Trump will go down nonsense from you for almost 5 years.

          It STILL has not happened. You have promised a wide assortment of proof of crimes and criminal convictions for years – and failed to deliver. SC Mueller investigated Trump well beyond anything the constitution actually allows – and found NOTHING.

          Do you need hit on the head with a baseball bat before you grasp that it is Not Trump who has been lying all along – but YOU and those you fawn over – your purported “betters”.

          I honestly could care less about Trump except for the contrast he provides to YOU and yours.

          Trump actually accomplished numerous things that made the country better than before.

          We had 16 years of stagnation under Bush/Obama. The Trump economy was poor – but STELLAR compared to his immediate predecessors. Regardless he proved possible what your “betters” told us was not – more lies.

          We had 4 years of dergulation – and the sky did not fall. The earth is not a burning ember.
          Since 1979 the temperature deviation from the average in July 2021 is 0.21C – that is less than 1/2 the trend for the prior 250 years.

          For the past 40 years we have had rising standard of living – particularly for the poor and minorities and particularly under Trump.
          Today we are seeing inflation at 5% and rising, our Betters OWN THAT. Biden inherited an economy waiting to explode.
          In 7 months economic indicators grow increasingly ominious. Real wages are declining for the first time in decades.
          Consumer confidence has dropped dramatically. there are plenty of jobs and plenty of unemployed – yet they are not going back to work. With each month more darkening economic news appears.

          Who are these betters you refer to and what have They accomplished ?

          1. Don’t try to reason with liberals. They are incapable of thinking for themselves. Being told how and what to think by their “betters” is all they know.

        3. Your historical ignorance is beyond beleif.

          McCarthy sought to leverage the power of govenrment to coerce both public and private censorship.

          Just as YOU are trying now – YOU are the modern McCarthy’s not Trump.

          Though you actually make McCarthy look good.

          Joe warned us of the dangers of communist propoganda in education.
          We failed to take heed and now we are suffering.

          How does it make you feel to prove Joe McCarthy right ?

          “At long last, have you no shame ?”

      2. Natacha:

        I only got as far as your claim I have no college education. This is a lie you have often repeated. I have a degree, as I have consistently stated.

        Since you can’t debate my facts, you’ve resorted to lying about me personally. How pathetic. You can’t possibly be taken seriously. Your antisemitic screed from an earlier post really did you no favors.

        You are a perfect stranger. For you to set yourself up as some kind of authority about my education is irrational, a behavior you often exhibit here. Get help. This fixation you have on me personally is frankly not normal. You should talk to someone about this.

        1. ” This fixation you have on me personally is frankly not normal.”

          The reasons behind Natacha’s fixation is that you are a woman, independent and intelligent. Natacha is a woman with none of the other characteristics attached.

      5. By college education , do you mean a degree like yours that’s probably in gender studies or some other worthless degree based on identity politics? A college degree is worthless nowadays
        … The kids can’t find any jobs because they don’t have any marketable skills because nobody is hiring somebody with a degree in gay studies.
        It’s true that liberals have more degrees but most of those degrees are worthless trash. You don’t make America go, you’re not part of the cog that makes America great.

        1. You’re very wrong. Local, State and Federal governments, big tech and big business are all hiring those with Identity-Politics driven degrees. Of course, they are doing so to pander and/or for preemptive insurance against “triggering” the left, lest they be publicly shamed and boycotted, not because any of these degrees are worth the paper they are printed on.

      6. The “do what’s best for me “philosophy that you’re accusing Karen of is prevalent in the immoral lives of all sodomite, baby killing, racist, 79 gendered liberal who is all about taking everybody’s rights away by legislating immoral laws that destroy our country.

      7. I voted for trump and I’m a virologist. I actually have many degrees. You sound like a moron.

        The PCR test looks for a genetic makeup of any time you have ever had a cold specifically in the corona family which is just a cold*, it will come up positive for most people and sometimes can damage you’re nasal passage which causes you to have loss of smell and taste .
        When you’re body gets filled with a certain amount of toxins (food/iron supplements) it can than spill into the blood stream, this causes you’re body to react. You get symptoms like fever,sweating, coughing, diarrhea ect all to expel whatever toxins you have. It starts to create bacteria as well to consume the toxins the process of phagocytosis. You’re body creates a virus which is cells coming together to restore cellular tissue and it will find the viral protein already** existing in the cell the genome and cell will call upon the blueprint and whatever is needed to cleanse the cell and it’s surroundings. The whole virus is basiclly assembled in the nucleus, the virus will obtain the dna and rna from the cell. This will help dissolve specific toxic tissues with the help of white blood cells. When the cell gets filled with the new virus it expels it into the body which doesn’t harm the cell. It repeats til cleansed.

        A n example of a “virus” is acne, white heads means their white blood cells expelling toxins and black heads are red blood cells trying to expel toxins.

        A direct misconception of virology itself is that ppl with the same virus have different symptoms, that actually can’t happen. If it was the same virus it would be the same symptoms, but their not apparently in the corona cases. Everyone is different because everyone creates their own viruses to fight off toxins and the level of toxins are different for everyone. If the virus was coming from Outside*** of the body the virus would NOT care what level of health or immunity a person had.
        The origin of viruses is unclear because they do not form fossils. Their not living, They require a host. Viruses are all* man made.
        Here are the reasons given:
        -Co-evolution hypothesis
        -Cellular origin hypothesis
        -Regressive hypothesis
        However….there were problems with all of these hypotheses: the regressive hypothesis did not explain why even the smallest of cellular parasites do not resemble viruses in any way. The escape hypothesis did not explain the complex capsids and other structures on virus particles. The virus-first hypothesis contravened the definition of viruses in that they require host cells.

        So looking into the Coronavirus-
        Multiple A nuclei tag on genome
        Blast search on NIH data base reveals-
        S protein is what attaches to lungs/Spiked corona (crown) virus. Here’s how it works:

        3 new strands of virus with a nucleotide in the genomes at the end there are all A’s, you have d,c ect so they added a sequence of A’s at the very end. If you have strains of a virus in a natural environment, you would not** have that at the end of a genome, they would be scattered maybe* 1 or 2 in a 30,000 base sequence. What are the chances of a 5-8 at the very end?!? The virus is circular, inside is an RNA stand which is the code for it to replicate, the coding has a protein and of course spikes (attaches to you’re cells) that’s what you call the S protein next to that is an M protein (membrane protein) and couple other proteins involved. When the virus gets into the cell it is using the ribosomes from the affected cell to covert the positive RNA strand to a negative RNA strand, So the opposite codes, it takes its replicase and reverses it and than starts creating protein, once that happens it starts to package itself by an endoplasmic reticulum (organelle in the cell) which is than transported too an engulfy apparatus shuttles it right to the membrane of the cell and spits it out, so exocytosis. 80% of that code is in the genome for replicase. Other viruses have that code but around the 20,000 base code

        1. Can you expand on PCR testing and how CT plays into determining how much viral load is present and whether or not that load means the patient is contagious to others, please?

      8. Fouci has repeatedly lied, including before Congress. He’s not a standard to defend one’s cause. …And the usual invoking of blaming Trump, where there had been no mention of him in the previous writers reasoning, reveals the potential of Trump Derangement Syndrome dominating thought patterns.

      9. Karen’s comment had nothing to do with Trump! It was about kuru-infested Nazi Angela Merkel.No one should be telling anyone else what to put in thier body! Masks are useless. One need not be a medical expert to know this. Just read the studies done by medical experts! Dr. Fraudci is the moron. He is clearly no medical expert! He has never even treated a patient, he committed perjury before Congress & even funded the research that created the plandemic & its quaccine! He spews out junk “science” & fake facts without showing any evidence. You seem to be mixed up in the head & are therefore not in a position to insult another person’s education level

  2. Arron Nonymous warns:

    “We intend to destroy you, root and branch. Reap the whirlwind, stupid. REAP IT”

    Eliminating the opposition- once and for all- is the ONLY way you American Nazis can be certain that you have taken back the country forever. I absolutely understand that you do intend to round up the Anti-Trumpists and “destroy” us, for history proves that if there is no limit to what you can say, it is easy to believe that there is no limit to what you can do….

  3. Here’s the claim: “Covid is hitting younger people and sending more to ICU’s.”

    *With* Covid or *from* Covid?

    Why do I ask? Because, once again, the panic-mongers are playing fast and loose with the numbers:

    “It’s really important that we distinguish between children who are hospitalized with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections and those hospitalized for COVID-19 disease,” said Alan Schroeder, MD, a co-author of the paper and clinical professor of pediatric critical care and of pediatric hospital medicine. “Our goal is to make sure we have accurate data on how sick children are getting. If we rely on hospitals’ positive SARS-CoV-2 test results, we are inflating by about two-fold the actual risk of hospitalization from the disease in kids.”

    Note the Stanford Study’s conclusion: A bit over *50%* of the children “were admitted for reasons unrelated to the virus.”

    https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/05/covid-19-hospitalizations-among-kids-likely-overcounted.html

    When public health “authorities” constantly exaggerate and lie, they have nobody but themselves to blame for the public’s mistrust.

  4. ‘One side is burning books, imprisoning political dissidents, and now demanding you show them your papers. They call themselves the good guys.’ @cernovich

  5. “patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands.”

    From your lips to the Creators ears.

  6. Source NIH:

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33113270/

    “The specific and significant COVID-19 risk of ADE should have been and should be prominently and independently disclosed to research subjects currently in vaccine trials, as well as those being recruited for the trials and future patients after vaccine approval, in order to meet the medical ethics standard of patient comprehension for informed consent.”

    ADE is “antibody dependent enhancement.” The risk was not disclosed to the covid vaccine test subjects, nor was it disclosed to the billions who took the vaccine.

    This is one of many reasons why I haven’t taken the vaccine.

    2. I Personally know 4 DEAD people all within hours of 2nd Jab! Ages 44, 62, 63, 80 years! I personally know 3 young men who have heart attacks/heart surgeries within hours of Poison jab! Ages 19, 22, 23!!! I personally know one 19 year old young man who is BLIND in one eye due to blood clot after poison jab ! Did I mention the four DEAD babies via miscarriage within hours of injection ? I know these heartbroken young women…Dead babies are Ages 4 months, 6 months, 7 months and 7 months
      Safe my ass!!! Experimental bio chemical injection!!!!

  7. “As long lines disappeared at vaccine centers, it became clear that many citizens have come to distrust the media and the government on this, as on so many issues.”

    Depends how you define “media”. If by “media” you mean Fox News, Infowars and various “alternative media” that rely on Facebook, many citizens put their trust in such media. Whether it’s wise to trust such people, is an entirely different question.

  8. It’s an experimental vaccine. Someone’s got to be in the control group. That’s just basic science.

    It’s not going to just be this one series of shots, if you go along. There are going to be more. You know that.

    People who went along with being masked and shutting their businesses are learning that there’s no end to this, and they are fed up.

  9. I don’t know how its possible for them to keep pushing this thing as safe. They told us Zantac was safe too. Right? Along with about 30 other commonly prescribed and over-prescribed medicines that ended up in class action law suits resulting in huge settlements and awards.

    Take this rushed to mass public trials (on the general population) or lose your ability to earn a living and thus die on the streets from poverty? Over a virus that by their own admission will not kill most of those who contract it? I just don’t know how this is even possible, how they’re getting people to buy into this thing, I guess its the intense peer pressure. But whatever it is, one things for sure.

    Most of the long term detrimental side effects from medical pharm mistakes usually begin being noticed and documented around 3 years in, give or take. I can only imagine the class action law suit on this one, is gonna be a doozy.

    1. Except that our dear government gave them TOTAL immunity to lawsuits. As if we needed another reason to avoid these vaccines more than “the plague” with the 0.01% death rate. And in many cases, this “more contagious” “delta strain” has death rates less than half of the original Chinavirus (variants are always more contagious yet less lethal. Always.)

      1. Conservative Tea – and cigarettes were good for you. The #1 doctor recommended brand was Camel, if I recall what I read correctly.

    3. There will be no class action lawsuits. I believe the vaccine makers have liability clauses in their purchase contracts expressly prohibiting future litigation for damages. And, since it’s only authorized, but not approved by the FDA, I’m not sure that anyone can be held liable for injury from covid vaccines… Just saying. It is very concerning considering they are selling all these doses for profit, and some people are being required to take it if they want to keep their job or seat in class.. If they are soooooo safe, why are all these special exceptions needed to shield the makers, authorities and companies imposing them on unwilling employees?
      Also, just remember, if unvaccinated people are ‘killing’ other unvaccinated people, who is actually the perpetrator, and who is the victim? If they both decided to jump off a bridge, and killed themselves in the process, would any onlooker claim one victimized the other? No, it would simply be said that THEY killed THEMSELVES. As in, there was no killer, or victim. Yet the president and mainstream media have all been repeating the oxymoron that the unvaxxed are killers/terrorist/extremist etc. I just want to hear ONE of them try to explain how its not an oxymoron.

  10. The CCP used used biological warfare on the nation. Why is it American citizens are being made the villains when the negligence (at best) led to the release of the virus that is now being covered-up?

    1. Suze, the largest American companies are after the Chinese market. They want things to run their way with cheap labor utilizing some dictatorial Chinese methods.The politicians, right and left, are funded by these companies and have been adopting many of their attitudes. The press and the rest of the elite like to be with the big guys unconcerned with hard-working Americans.

      Our country, today, is being turned into a fascist oligarchy where business and government work hand in hand, supported by the elites and the media.

      No migration control is cheap labor and lower pay for Americans.

      Covid has made fascism acceptable and granted more power to those that control our lives.

      We can go point by point and see how awful the decisions of this administration are, but we have a lot of citizens that have little awareness and like being given pennies while their freedom disappears.

      1. Alan, ‘cheap labor’..?? For years Republicans have been steadfast in their opposition to raising the national minimum wage. Consequently there are still areas of the country where the minimum wage is only $7.50 per hour. Try living on that!

        Republicans have also been pushing Right-To-Work laws wherever they can with organized labor their main target. So don’t go on with this self-righteous crap like you care about the little guy. You’re as phony as can be.

        1. “For years Republicans have been steadfast in their opposition to raising the national minimum wage. ”

          Millions of illegals will be crossing the border under present Biden policies. That will reduce the wages of Americans. It is stupid, whether it be Democrat or Republican policy.

          Minimum wage is an entirely different discussion, even though you don’t understand why.

          You call me a phony, but my opinions on major policy decisions have nothing to do with political parties. You can’t understand people that can think for themselves because you are not one of them.

          Now you can state your opinion:

          Are the Biden administration’s immigration policies good or bad for the American working person? That is a simple question.

          SM

          1. Alan, Climate Change is having a big effect on Central America (in addition to most of the world). Mass migrations are going to be the new normal as people abandon regions that are too hot or dry. Yet Republicans still deny Climate Change as a matter of party policy. How stupid!

            Most disturbingly, Siberia is thawing. This development threatens to release huge amounts of methane which could further unbalance the climate. And on just one day last week, a record area of ice melted in Greenland. Climate Change is here and now but Republicans are prohibited from acknowledging.

            1. That has to be the howler of the 21st century.

              Mass immigration of (unvaccinated) people at the southern border is caused by “climate change” (whatever the hell that means). Produce just one immigrant, out of the some 1 million, who says: “I’m coming to the U.S. [where, apparently, there is no “climate change”], because back home it’s just “too hot or dry.”

              1. LOL! And Cuba is not affected by climate change either, which is apparently the reason the Biden administration won’t allow any of them in.

                1. Olly, Cuba is currently experiencing civil strife that could possibly trigger an exodus. Though at the moment it’s not climate related.

                2. Olly, and to add insult to injury, Cuban refugees actually would meet the requirements to claim asylum. Persecution for political opinion.

              2. SAM, Climate Change has hit Guatemala so hard that many small farmers can no longer produce sufficient crop yields. And nowhere have I said mass migrations are desirable. We obviously don’t need a large influx of unvaccinated people

                1. ” We obviously don’t need a large influx of unvaccinated people”

                  The question that matters is: “Are the Biden administration’s immigration policies good or bad for the American working person? “

                  Climate change hit Egypt millennia ago. Do you believe that would never have happened if they stopped driving camels?

                2. Anonymous – are you talking about the drought in Guatemala? Archeologists believe it was drought that destroyed the Mayan civilization. According to the Mayans’ own records, they suffered 95 years of drought, beginning in the year 820. This coincided with the collapse of the entire Mayan civilization. (http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160222-severe-droughts-explain-the-mysterious-fall-of-the-maya)

                  It was drought that drove the Anasazi from their networks of pueblos, even though their culture was highly adapted to drought cycles.

                  If the US stopped producing all Carbon, which would involve killing every mammal, it would be estimated to change the climate by 0.2 degrees, which does not take into account the committed warming.

                  The greatest emitters include China which, inexplicably, managed to negotiate permission to keep increasing their emissions for years and years, at which point they made promises they probably won’t keep to then start decreasing from that future, higher number. They have incentives to increase their emissions as much as possible until that time, because it will be easier to reduce the higher number.

                  The Communist Party of China. They have so much control over Western nations.

                  If you would like to know the “root causes” of the exodus from Guatemala, ask Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei.

                  “Ahead of Harris’ arrival in Guatemala, Giammattei spoke with CBS News and criticized the administration’s “family reunification” policies, noting how the changes made by President Joe Biden since taking office – and effectively rolling back his predecessor’s immigration restrictions- have triggered a surge in human trafficking and smuggling. Meanwhile, Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders on Sunday claimed that the “main drivers” for the increasing surge of illegal immigrants over the southern border are actually climate change and the economy.

                  “Joe Biden is responsible for this border crisis,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted Monday, along with a video clip of Giammattei’s interview. “Even the President of Guatemala agrees.”

                  “The message changed to ‘we’re going to reunite families and we’re going to reunite children. The very next day the coyotes were here organizing groups of children to take them to the United States,” Giammattei told CBS News.”

                  But will Biden take responsibility for incentivizing parents to entrust their children to drug cartel human smugglers, in order to use them as a ticket to circumvent immigration laws, leading to the trauma, sexual assault, death, and murder of way too many of them?

                  No. Of course not. He will blame Climate Change for why there are dead kids in the desert.

            2. “Alan, Climate Change is having a big effect on Central America (in addition to most of the world).”

              Climate change has its effects everywhere. Yesterday it was sunny. Today it is supposed to rain. My local weather station has trouble predicting the weather for 24 hours, so I imagine it must be massively challenging to predict over the years.

              You apparently think the temperature is rising. From what? Can you explain the Medieval Warm Period? Are we warmer or colder today than the Medieval Warming Period?

              There are all sorts of beliefs regarding what is happening to the climate. It’s a hot topic, so hot that some on the left have resorted to lying. Why did Michael Mann lie?

              I’m agnostic on the topic though nothing we are doing today will alter our fate if the hysteria-induced crisis is what you live with.

              None of this has anything to do with the topic of millions of immigrants crossing our borders.

              You still haven’t answered the questions.

              Are the Biden administration’s immigration policies good or bad for the American working person?

              You can say yes or no and then add your comments for discussion.

              You changed the subject because you can’t answer simple questions. Now you have more questions you will leave unanswered.

              How can anyone ever consider you intelligent if all you can do is ask questions, frequently off-topic, but never answer any?

              1. Gray Anonymous, your stupid cynicism here is about 20 years out of date. Your like the isolationist questioning if war is necessary even ‘after’ Pear Harbor.

                1. What cynicism? Isn’t it true the weathermen have difficulty in predicting tomorrow’s weather?

                  I asked some interesting questions. Why don’t you answer them?

                  Can you explain the Medieval Warm Period? Are we warmer or colder today than the Medieval Warming Period? This is an important issue. Why do you run away from it if you are interested in the truth?

                  Why did Michael Mann lie?

                  Do you trust people that lie? Do you trust those who try to cover up such lies? We are all interested in your opinions on these things.

                  Are the Biden administration’s immigration policies good or bad for the American working person?

                  1. Gray Anonymous, as I said your talking points are 20 years out of date. You’re still in the late 90’s when Climate Change was generally thought of as hypothetical. The full effects are now upon us. But rightwing media refuses to report; leaving knuckleheads like ‘you’ literally in the dark.

                    1. “I said your talking points are 20 years out of date. ”

                      Right, I am out of date. Today, or so say the lefties, lying is acceptable, and research that doesn’t work needs to be altered to match the desired results.

                      I am glad I am out of date because my training didn’t permit lying or alteration of data.

                      You are right, and I am behind the times. People like you can make scientific decisions using their toes to count while knowing less than nothing.

                      You advocate a loss of individual freedom, but feel that loss will be a gain because we get a bunch of collectivist liars.

                2. Just for your information, Pearl Harbor was a blessing for FDR. It made entry into the war a certainty.

        2. You’re a big fan of coercion.

          Compel businesses to pay a particular wage. Compel employees to join a union.

          The Left is afflicted a compulsion to coerce people.

        3. Alan, ‘cheap labor’..?? For years Republicans have been steadfast in their opposition to raising the national minimum wage.

          You are ignorant of how incentives work. Minimum wage, is actual the ceiling allowed for anyone that is working for minimum wage for more than 6 months. This part of society does not produce. That’s the simple fact.
          25 years ago my 14 year old wanted to earn cash. He researched jobs available to him. On was a station that still pumped gas for you. Same price as the rest of the town. He got minum, but he could earn up to $2 an hour bonus. .25 to .75 an hour for things like showing up on time, not leaving early, not calling in, showing up for the whole week got you .25 for that week. He was doing the closing within 3 weeks, with a raise above minimum. Producers dont earn minimum.

        4. Minimum wage is not supposed to be a career living wage. In the 80’s I never thought of my first high school job as, “Well I guess I made it and can now live on my own”.

          1. Jim, I actually made a living on Minimum Wage in my early 20’s. But no one can today. Adjusted for inflation, the Minimum Wage hasn’t budged in 30 years.

            1. Anonymous, why do you keep confirming that you don’t understand what the minimum wage is?

              1. Gray Anonymous, perhaps in your little town only teenagers work for minimum wage. So you’re the one who’s confused.

                1. Anonymous, take note how you said nothing but tried to insult. If you wish to insult at least do so with knowledge, not stupidity. You have confirmed you know little about minimum wage.

                  It’s entry level
                  around half are below 25
                  a large group in the hospitality industry get tips
                  the loss of jobs can be very high dependent on how high the minimum wage is
                  the number of people on minimum wage has fallen dramatically

                  people that produce invariably are raised above minimum wage

                  These are just a few facts of many. You like to virtue signal. You don’t care about Americans. losing jobs due to Biden’s immigration policies. That is why you refuse to answer the question. Stop virtue signaling and start using facts and data while being consistent.

  12. While I am vaccinated myself, I have never thought vaccination should be forced on any competent person of any age.

    Vaccines protect the receiver from the contagion carried around them. That’s the point.

    It is unfortunate that Covid keeps mutating. The vaccine is only 39% effective against preventing Delta infection, although it does prevent serious disease. That, alone, would make it worth it in my opinion.

    Blacks and Latinos as a group are less likely to get vaccinated than whites. I wait with baited breath to see how Biden plans to physically force the black community to get vaccinated. Will he deploy the military like Australia? Drag people physically into clinics?

    People were really counting on the vaccine allowing them to forego masks and stay in business. To be told that the resistance of this new variant means they have to take the exact same precautions as the unvaccinated is incredibly disheartening and demotivating.

    Public health departments need to release accurate information in a timely manner. How much immunity to the Delta variant do those have who already recovered from Covid? If it’s the same as those who are vaccinated, then there is no need for those who have had the illness to get vaccinated. We should probably work on getting the message out to those who have not yet gotten Covid or the vaccine.

    We also need to stop politicizing and censoring discussions about treatment protocols or vaccinations. Let people talk. One of the greatest scandals of recent times is the political backlash against various treatment methods, based on whether Republicans advocated for it. Entire papers deeming these protocols ineffective have had to be retracted.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33042552/

    “Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has shown efficacy against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in some but not all studies. We hypothesized that a systematic review would show HCQ to be effective against COVID-19, more effective when provided earlier, not associated with worsening disease and safe. We searched PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Google Scholar and Google for all reports on HCQ as a treatment for COVID-19 patients. This included preprints and preliminary reports on larger COVID-19 studies. We examined the studies for efficacy, time of administration and safety. HCQ was found to be consistently effective against COVID-19 when provided early in the outpatient setting. It was also found to be overall effective in inpatient studies. No unbiased study found worse outcomes with HCQ use. No mortality or serious safety adverse events were found. HCQ is consistently effective against COVID-19 when provided early in the outpatient setting, it is overall effective against COVID-19, it has not produced worsening of disease and it is safe.”

    Then there is Regeneron antibody treatment:

    https://www.genengnews.com/news/fda-expands-regeneron-eua-for-covid-19-antibody-cocktail/

    1. Karen: please stop. The November, 2020 piece from the National Library of Medicine has been replaced by a February, 2021 study that looked at all of the data from all of the studies and concluded that Hydroxychloroquine is NOT effective against COVID, and causes unnecessary deaths due to side-effects. I have posted a link to this piece multiple times. Hydroxychloroquine is a dead horse. Quit beating it.

      Want to talk about public health departments disclosing data timely? Then start with Florida Governor and presidential candidate wannabe Ron DeSantis, who refuses to release data on new COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths any oftener than weekly. This is, of course, to help the cruise line and tourism industries, so people won’t be afraid to go to Florida, which has one of the highest rates of infections and hospitalizations. He also issued an executive order that schools may NOT require masks or vaccinations for teachers or pupils.

      You say “let people talk”- you mean opinionated know nothings like you who spread incorrect and inaccurate information based on things you heard on your alt-right media? People “talking” and spreading incorrect information is the main reason we are in the COVID crisis right now.

      1. Here is the February, 2021 piece:

        An Update: Is hydroxychloroquine effective for COVID-19?

        Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Feb 2, 2021.
        Official Answer
        by Drugs.com

        Multiple studies provide data that hydroxychloroquine (brand name: Plaquenil) does not provide a medical benefit for hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine, an FDA-approved prescription drug used for malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus, has been suggested as a possible treatment or preventive for COVID-19 based on demonstrated antiviral or immune system activity.

        In June 2020, the FDA revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) of oral hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine phosphate for the treatment of COVID-19. An EUA can allow quicker access to critical medical products when there are no approved alternative options.

        Based on an evaluation of the scientific data to date, the FDA concluded that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are not likely to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19 for the authorized uses in the EUA.
        In addition, the risk for serious side effects with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine phosphate are a concern. This includes the possibility of adverse cardiovascular (heart) events such as an abnormal heart rhythm which could be fatal.
        Additional worldwide studies are still ongoing to assess the use of these agents for the treatment or prevention or COVID-19, including early-stage outpatient and use with supplements such as zinc or vitamin D or with azithromycin. However, the FDA states hydroxychloroquine should not be used outside of clinical trials in the U.S.

        The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) have also stopped studies evaluating hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 due to a lack of benefit. Current NIH and US treatment guidelines do not recommend use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine phosphate for COVID-19 treatment outside of clinical studies.

        Although earlier studies suggested that hydroxychloroquine could inhibit the SARs-CoV-2 virus and was more potent than chloroquine, recent studies do not support the use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine phosphate. The FDA stated on June 15, 2020 that the suggested dosing regimens for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are unlikely to kill or inhibit the virus that causes COVID-19.
        Do studies show hydroxychloroquine is not effective for COVID-19?

        Yes, multiple studies provide data that hydroxychloroquine is ineffective in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.

        The RECOVERY Trial from the University of Oxford is a large, randomized, controlled, open-label study evaluating a number of potential treatments for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The study is being conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK (the hydroxychloroquine arm is now halted).

        In the RECOVERY Trial, investigators reported that there was no beneficial effect or reduction of death in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 receiving hydroxychloroquine.
        In this study, 1561 patients received hydroxychloroquine and were compared to 3155 patients receiving standard care only. No difference was found in the primary endpoint, which was the incidence of death at 28 days (26.8% hydroxychloroquine vs. 25% usual care, 95% CI 0.96-1.23; p=0.18).
        In addition, hydroxychloroquine treatment was associated with an increased length of stay in the hospital and increased need for invasive mechanical ventilation.
        Based on this data, investigators stopped enrollment in the RECOVERY hydroxychloroquine arm on June 5th, 2020.

        In a multicenter, randomized, open-label, controlled trial published in July 2020 by Cavalcanti and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), hydroxychloroquine use was studied in patients who were hospitalized with mild-to-moderate COVID-19.

        Patients received hydroxychloroquine (400 mg twice daily for 7 days), hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin (hydroxychloroquine 400 mg twice daily + azithromycin 500 mg once daily for 7 days), or standard care only.
        The clinical status of these patients at day 15 was not improved as compared with the patients receiving only standard care.
        In addition, researchers noted that prolonged QT intervals (which may lead to abnormal heart rates and death) and elevated liver enzymes were higher in patients receiving hydroxychloroquine, either with or without azithromycin.

        A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial from Skipper and colleagues was conducted in 423 outpatients (not in the hospital) with early COVID-19. It was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in July 2020.

        Patients received oral hydroxychloroquine (800 mg once, followed by 600 mg in 6 to 8 hours, then 600 mg daily for 4 more days) or a placebo (inactive treatment).
        Researchers found that over a 14 day period a change in symptom severity and the percent of patients with ongoing symptoms did not differ significantly between groups, signaling no effect from the hydroxychloroquine treatment.
        However, side effects were significantly greater in the group receiving hydroxychloroquine compared to placebo (43% hydroxychloroquine versus 22% placebo (P < 0.001). Rates of hospitalizations and deaths did not differ significantly.

        A retrospective, observational study conducted from March to early May of 2020 did report a positive effect with hydroxychloroquine on hospitalized patient mortality, used alone and with azithromycin when compared to no treatment. The study from Arshad and colleagues was published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases in August 2020. Authors note a limitation to their analysis was the retrospective, non-randomized, non-blinded study design.

        Researchers looked at 2,541 patients, with a median total hospitalization time of 6 days.
        Mortality, by treatment, was 20.1% for hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin, 13.5% for hydroxychloroquine alone, 22.4% for azithromycin alone, and 26.4% for neither drug (p < 0.001). The primary cause of death was respiratory failure in 88% of patients.
        Adjunct therapy with corticosteroids (methylprednisolone and/or prednisone) and anti-IL-6 tocilizumab was provided in 68% and 4.5% of patients, respectively.
        Factors such as greater glucocorticoid use in the hydroxychloroquine groups and the nonrandomized study design suggested this data may be flawed and that prospective, randomized controlled studies were needed to validate these results.

        Use of hydroxychloroquine is controversial, and has been politicized in the U.S. by various groups. Mixed studies have reported both a positive and negative effect, and data may not be robust or reliable: it can include data from study reviews, nonrandomized groups, retrospective research, observational data or from a statistically small sample size of patients.

        Research for COVID is often quick to be published in non-peer reviewed, preprint online services due to the urgency of the pandemic. However, in general, preprint data should not be used to guide clinical practice. In addition, some hydroxychloroquine studies have been retracted due to lack of confidence in the data, including a Lancet study and one from the NEJM.
        What is hydroxychloroquine used to treat?

        Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are FDA-approved drugs in the U.S. The EUA revocation for COVID-19 does not change their approved uses.

        Hydroxychloroquine sulfate is approved to treat and prevent malaria, as well as for treatment of lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Chloroquine phosphate is approved for the treatment and prevention of malaria only. The FDA has determined that these drugs are safe and effective when used as labeled for these conditions.
        Hydroxychloroquine study for prevention after exposure to COVID-19

        A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published online in the NEJM in June 2020 (Boulware, et al) looked at prevention of COVID-19 after exposure to the virus (post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP).

        Researchers evaluated over 800 people in the U.S. and Canada who had been exposed to COVID-19. The primary outcome was the incidence of either laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or illness compatible with the virus within 14 days.
        Hydroxychloroquine was given as 800 mg once, followed by 600 mg in 6 to 8 hours, then 600 mg daily for 4 additional days. Patients started treatment within 4 days after exposure, defined as being in close contact with a COVID-19 patient for more than 10 minutes without protection.
        Results showed that hydroxychloroquine did not prevent COVID-19 when compared to a placebo (used as post-exposure prophylaxis). The incidence of COVID-19 did not differ significantly between those who took hydroxychloroquine (11.8%) and those who took placebo (14.3%).
        Side effects were more common in the hydroxychloroquine group (40.1% compared to 16.8% with placebo), but were not reported as serious. Common adverse events included nausea, loose stools, and stomach pain.
        Limitations in this study were many, and included inability to confirm self-reported COVID-19 exposure, adherence to study drug, starting drug up to 4 days after reported exposure to the virus, lack of survey completion, and enrollment of a lower-risk population.

        I took hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. Is it dangerous?

        There are no known residual side effects for patients who received chloroquine phosphate or hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 treatment under the emergency use authorization, as stated by the FDA.

        However, you should never self-treat for COVID-19 disease with hydroxychloroquine or any other drug. Hydroxychloroquine has not been proven helpful for COVID-19 and may lead to stomach or heart side effects, as well as serious drug interactions.

        On June 15, 2020 the FDA warned health care providers that the combined use of remdesivir (Veklury) and chloroquine phosphate or hydroxychloroquine sulfate is not recommended as it may result in reduced antiviral activity of remdesivir.
        Veklury, an antiviral used to treat SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is now approved by the FDA. This drug interaction is outlined in product labeling for Veklury.

        If you have concerns about any side effect or drug interaction with your medications, always contact your doctor or other health care provider for advice.

        1. Doesn’t work for hospitalized patients. Correct. But when used at first signs of symptoms, BEFORE BEING SICK ENOUGH TO BE HOSPITALIZED, it works very well as reported by doctors and heath officials WORLDWIDE. Your link only talks about people who get sick enough to be admitted to the hospital for treatment. Most doctors already agree, being treated with hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin AFTER BEING ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL DOESN’T WORK. No one here has denied that. You may disagree with early, non-hospitalized, treatments that includes h+a or other FDA approved drugs to lessen the severity and duration of the infection, which is your right; but your link doesn’t include that information simply because the surveyors weren’t including people who were never admitted to the hospital. It makes a difference. It’s not known how many hundreds of thousands or more, perhaps millions, of people have recovered from Covid without being hospitalized because they were given early treatment for the symptoms (or the most fortunate, people who fended off the virus using their own immune systems). We may never know, if the only people who ‘count’ are first labeled ‘cases’ then ‘vaccinated’. For some odd reason fully recovered, without using experimental drugs, people suddenly ‘don’t count’, That goes against 150+ years of medical progress. What other contagion has never included the never-hospitalized yet fully recovered people toward the herd-immunity threshold?

          1. Did you read the following from the above piece:

            “Researchers evaluated over 800 people in the U.S. and Canada who had been exposed to COVID-19. The primary outcome was the incidence of either laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or illness compatible with the virus within 14 days.
            Hydroxychloroquine was given as 800 mg once, followed by 600 mg in 6 to 8 hours, then 600 mg daily for 4 additional days. Patients started treatment within 4 days after exposure, defined as being in close contact with a COVID-19 patient for more than 10 minutes without protection.
            Results showed that hydroxychloroquine did not prevent COVID-19 when compared to a placebo (used as post-exposure prophylaxis). The incidence of COVID-19 did not differ significantly between those who took hydroxychloroquine (11.8%) and those who took placebo (14.3%).
            Side effects were more common in the hydroxychloroquine group (40.1% compared to 16.8% with placebo), but were not reported as serious. Common adverse events included nausea, loose stools, and stomach pain.”

            “People started treatment within 4 days of EXPOSURE”. Hydroxychloroquine is worthless in preventing COVID and worthless in treating once you get hospitalized.

            This is what amazes me: you have someone like Trump who constantly lies, who brought this country to the brink of economic collapse and the end of democratic rule, but somehow obtains a following of people who will fight to create facts to support him, and not just about the Hydroxychloroquine hoax, but also the Big Lie.

            1. It’s your link. It heavily weighs data on those who were already hospitalized. There’s no way to know when exposure happened because every incidence is self-reported. That would include everyone who says “I might have been exposed up-to 4 days ago when I went to the hair salon, or it could have been when I went to the store a week ago because I was out of toilet paper, but I was wearing my mask!” People make mistakes. Sick people have unreliable time accountability. One weighted article does not confer absolute truth. And not that it’s any of your business, I didn’t vote for Trump. Quite frankly, just because this has been a political over reaction to an infection that’s more than 98+ percent recoverable, doesn’t mean cases, cases, cases(!) equates to more Karens being called up from the ranks.

              1. I am not qualified to comment on the use of Hydroxy, et al. as therapeutics. My go-to expert on all things Covid is Dr. Amesh Adalja — a Hopkins prof with a stellar history in infectious diseases and pandemics. He has studied the actual trials, and reports on them in an article written for the layman. Here’s his conclusion:

                “Today – even with some studies (including those with zinc) still ongoing – if a patient asked me to prescribe them hydroxychloroquine for any severity or stage of illness, with or without zinc, with or without azithromycin, I would refrain. I would explain that, based on the evidence from clinical trials that has been amassed, there is no reason to believe that it will alter the course of illness for the better.”

                https://leaps.org/the-only-hydroxychloroquine-story-you-need-to-read/

                His article also explains how to evaluate the legitimacy of a trial.

                1. Just so I understand, are you saying this doctor’s advice is the only advice you’ll believe, no matter how equally qualified another medical doctor with the same specialty might be with a different opinion? If that’s the case, one person knows best, ok then. We’re good.

                2. Please also consider the link Sam posted today regarding a pediatrician’s study of children visiting hospitals recently with Covid:

                  “It’s really important that we distinguish between children who are hospitalized with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections and those hospitalized for COVID-19 disease,” said Alan Schroeder, MD, a co-author of the paper and clinical professor of pediatric critical care and of pediatric hospital medicine. “Our goal is to make sure we have accurate data on how sick children are getting. If we rely on hospitals’ positive SARS-CoV-2 test results, we are inflating by about two-fold the actual risk of hospitalization from the disease in kids.”

                  Note the Stanford Study’s conclusion: A bit over *50%* of the children “were admitted for reasons unrelated to the virus.”

                  https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/05/covid-19-hospitalizations-among-kids-likely-overcounted.html

                  I’m in the same position as you, just a layman’s understanding of current medical press releases. I’m also a student of history with a specific interest in how differently the reaction to this outbreak is compared to outbreaks past. None of the practice of the past 150+ years of medical protocols are being considered by the chattering class. Specifically, the medical and governmental advocacy of using experimental drugs for everyone over the age of 12 to stave off an infection that’s more than 99+ percent recoverable in healthy people. That’s simply never been done before. With that in mind, I can’t afford to take one doctor’s or a group of doctor’s who nod along with him/her as the only worthy opinion on how to combat (forgive the repetitiveness) an infection that has such a low mortality rate compared to say polio or smallpox. It’s not a lie to compare Covid to any other seasonal outbreak – it’s going to be deadly to the population with the weakest immune systems – just like flu and colds. Collectively setting our hair on fire with breathless, “cases, cases, cases!” reporting doesn’t help anyone. If anything, it makes matters worse by keeping the easily manipulated among us (we both know who they are) agitated for the sake of division among the ranks.

                  2. From today’s news:

                    As the school year approaches in most of the country, there’s increasing evidence — both numerical and anecdotal — of children’s vulnerability to the coronavirus and its highly transmissible delta variant.

                    The American Academy of Pediatrics said that as of July 29, almost 4.2 million children had tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began, nearly 72,000 of them in the last week. That’s almost twice as many as the 39,000 infections from the previous week. For perspective, about 79,000 Americans of all ages tested positive in a week of late June.

                    Two children with COVID-19 died over the weekend at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

                    One of the children was a patient at the hospital, said Le Bonheur’s Dr. Nick Hysmith, a pediatric infectious disease specialist. Another child died during transit to the hospital, he said. The child was coming to the regional hospital from a neighboring hospital.

                    “It’s important for everyone to know that we’re seeing sicker kids, we’re seeing more kids be admitted that are sick with actual COVID illness, and that those kids, some of them are in our intensive care unit and some of them are intubated,” Hysmith said.

                    At a school district in Arkansas, more than 700 students and staff are quarantining because of possible exposure to the virus a mere two weeks after classes started.

                    And, it isn’t just children who are currently ineligible for the vaccine. Most new infections are people under the age of 55, because in deep-red states, the rate of vaccination for older people is much higher than for younger groups.

              2. Last night, I saw a video of a town hall involving the Governor of Arkansas discussing COVID. People started shouting, calling him a “liar”. One woman, so livid her face was red, screamed that they were hiding the fact that there’s an effective drug treatment (likely Hydroxychloroquine) that people are being denied. Another man, also livid, was screaming about vaccines being a hoax. This is way beyond vaccine resistance, and it’s comments like you see on this blog that are causing people to believe this garbage, aided and abetted by Trump, who pushed for Hydroxychloroquine without any evidence of effectiveness, and has never backed down despite ongoing proof that it is ineffective, so his disciples won’t back down either. People are dying because of this.

      2. Seriously every time someone from within the ranks of the easily cowed panic stricken masses now comprising the new health-care-home-guard, orders you to shut up and tries bullying you like I can see them doing right here in this blog thread, telling you that you’re stupid and anti science, blah blah blah ,….and that you should just go with the flow, get with the program, save lives blah blah blah, and to do so you have to “trust the doctors” and take these new vaccines, simply remind them who and what we’re actually talking about with just one word.

        ZANTAC.

        Maybe we should pool the recipients of the class action suit on that, or one of the more than 30 other drugs over the last few decades that were prescribed by these same doctors, same manufacturers, same hospitals and medical facilities, ..who now tell us “no no really this ones safe”., maybe we should pool some of those people,… the “survivors” as it were, … at least the ones still alive and who are able to communicate that is, …and ask them how that strategy worked out for them.

  13. Congratulations to the Canadian women’s soccer team on today’s historic victory over the American women’s team. With today’s victory, Canadian soccer star Quinn is the first openly transgender athlete to win a medal in women’s Olympic sports. An inspiring victory in the fight for change and truth, and hopefully the first of many, with the upcoming competitions by trans woman weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and non-binary skateboarder Alana Smith.

    Writing on Instagram after the 1-1 draw with hosts Japan in Canada’s first game, Quinn said: “First openly trans Olympian to compete. I don’t know how to feel.

    “I feel proud seeing ‘Quinn’ up on the lineup and on my accreditation. I feel sad knowing there were Olympians before me unable to live their truth because of the world.

    “I feel optimistic for change. Change in legislature. Changes in rules, structures, and mindsets. Mostly, I feel aware of the realities. Trans girls being banned from sports. Trans women facing discrimination and bias while trying to pursue their Olympic dreams. The fight isn’t close to over, and I’ll celebrate when we’re all here.”

    https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/quinn-canada-olympics-first-transgender-athlete/bs27d1p37q7f15036wzn9kbzv

    1. Since Quinn is a biological female, and played on the women’s team, there was no unfair advantage such as would occur if a biological male had played against biological females.

      It’s a bit surreal that I find myself cheering against my own country’s woke politicized teams who keep explaining to the world how racist and oppressive America is. China, in the midst of a genocide against the Uyghurs, must be gleeful.

  14. Epstein didn’t kill himself,

    My wet dream is that Trump be re-elected. Seriously. I want to see Trumpism go for broke. Are Trumpists truly prepared to do whatever is necessary to take their country back or have they been just talking tough? If Leftists really are their mortal enemies intent upon destroying this country, how will Trumpists finally deal with them if given majorities in both houses of Congress? Will the conservative Supreme Court stand in their way? How will Trump eliminate “Fake News”?

    This country is irreconcilably divided at present. Something has got to give. Another Trump presidency is the surest way to bring this conflict to a head. Why put it off any longer? We need to decide-once and for all- which way this country is headed.

    I dare say that I have said something with which ALL the Trumpists here would agree! FINALLY!

    1. Let me add that Trumpists don’t have the stomach to do what is necessary, some of you, but thankfully not enough of you.

      1. The most honest moment in a man’s life are the few minutes after he’s blown his load; now that is a medical fact.

        -Dom “Woogie” Woganowski, Something About Mary

    2. Jeff:

      Care to comment on how Democrat defund the police activism resulted in skyrocketing murder rates? Or how BLM riots have driven jobs and opportunities out of black communities, and destroyed black-owned and frequented small businesses, for decades?

      How about rising inflation?

      How about how Democrats are working to reestablish systemic racism, in which everyone is judged based on immutable characteristics like skin color?

      How about how Democrats have caused a rapid increase in gender dysphoria among children, a disorder that has a very high suicide rate and results in castration? This happens when transgender curriculum teaches very young children that gender is not based on genes, or genitalia, or how you speak, act or dress. It’s just je ne sais quoi. Such instruction leaves children more confused than ever.

      How about the million illegal immigrants that have stormed our borders, during a pandemic, when most other nations shut their borders? How about Democrats changing asylum requirements to deviate from international standards? This would effectively make 7 billion people eligible to claim asylum in the US. 7 billion people, most of whom do not have Western values about women’s rights, or gays, or free speech.

      When you have those dreams you spoke of, do you relish the dystopia that Democrats have created?

      1. Karen S,

        I’m going to vote for Trump. I want to see how you Trumpist/Q-Anon folks rectify the country. I agree that 4 years wasn’t enough time for Trump to take this country back. I’ll give you another 4 years to the take out the trash. To do whatever it takes to silence the “American Marxists.”

        What more do you want from me? If you Trumpist/Q-Anon types got all the answers, prove it!

        1. Not going to address the Democrat caused dystopia, then? All the murders? You just have to keep obsessing over Trump and Republicans.

          Fix your own party before they turn us into The Purge.

          1. Karen,

            You won’t take “yes” for an answer! I said that I intend to vote for Trump to give you Trumpists another “shot” to finish the job. Obviously, the Demoncrats don’t have any solutions. You tell me what you Trumpists/Q-Anon folks have in mind to salvage the wreckage wrought by us American Marxists. I’m listening….

            1. Jeff – so you won’t address that because of Democrat policies, more people have been murdered?

              Or any of the other catastrophic consequences of voting Democrat? Be glib all you want. People have died because of Democrat policies. Businesses have been destroyed and jobs vanished in black communities due to BLM in partnership with Democrats.

              The shame of it all. Yet you make your sarcastic remarks about “Trumpists.”

              Conservatives oppose the Fascist, deadly foolishness of the Left.

              1. And we on the Left will never yield to Trumpism. NEVER. We are inexorably opposed to American Nazis.

                1. Karen,

                  This is the thing- there is no point in our debating. We will NEVER see eye-to-eye because we cannot agree on the basic facts. If the facts were as you allege, I would agree with you, but I don’t agree with your factual assessments. Thus, we are pitted against each other in an eternal struggle. It’s tragic. Trump only hastened the inevitability of this divide which had been coming for a long time. We don’t even share a common enemy which would normally bring both sides together. Even in this we can’t find agreement! Republicans fear China, and Democrats worry about Putinism. A pandemic which claimed 600k lives further alienated us. Climate change? No unity. It seems nothing short on an extra-terrestrial invasion will make us bond together against a common foe.

                  I have no idea how we might bridge our differences since neither side is inclined to work with the other. I do know this- a lot of the blame for our predicament can be laid at the feet of demagogues on both sides who exaggerated the fear of “the other” in a bid for cable ratings, book sales, radio ads and votes. This cynical sensationalism and scapegoating destroyed the bona fides of both sides. There is no reservoir of trust remaining. None. And once evaporated, can it ever be replenished? I doubt it. It could be that our American experiment is failing.

                  1. When you refuse to state your facts or post proof of what you say that means you are an ideologue not interested in closing the divide.

              2. Karen, please stop. The Democratic Party is not in “partnership” with BLM. And, you Trumpsters are not “conservatives”, either. You don’t even know what a “conservative” is.

              3. Karen, you absolutely need to stop repeating the lie that the Democrats are behind the protests, some of which turned violent, that Democrats are in partnership with BLM (which is NOT an organization, no matter how may times Hannity says it is) or that economic problems in black communities are the fault of Democrats. Our economic problems are squarely the fault of Trump, who just won’t shut up or go away because of his pathetic need for attention and adulation.

                You are NOT a conservative. Trumpists are NOT conservatives. No matter how many times you repeat this, it is still not the truth. Conservatives are patriots, and don’t call members of the military “losers” or “suckers”. Conservatives would not refuse to attend a ceremony honoring WWII soldiers killed in action because it is raining and it would muss their hair. They believe in personal responsibility, like paying valid debts (something Trump abhors) and marital fidelity, something foreign to Trump. They believe in limited government and honesty. Trump is infamous for lying and cheating in business, conning people and for racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and White Supremacy, all things that conservatives find repulsive.

              4. Karen, you really need to stop. The current economic crisis we are in is 100% the fault of Trump, his lying and downplaying of the pandemic, his discarding of the pandemic playbook, refusal to wear a mask, pushing Hydroxychloroquine, and failure to have any organized system for vaccine distribution. This allowed the pandemic to get out of control, but more importantly, to allow the virus a chance to mutate to the more-virulent Delta variant.

    1. South Africa has set its course. It will continue its Marxist, inevitable slide into self destruction. Once prosperous, it will suffer famine and continued violence. Much of this violence is racially targeted against white land owners, while tribal land is still not given to individuals.

      The violence we see in South Africa illustrates the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, wanting to heal the wounds and welcome back the South to the bosom of the family. This is also why Germany and Japan were not harshly punished, aside from the Nuremberg Trials of war criminals. But we did not take revenge upon those countries.

      South Africa is what happens when instead of welcoming each other as having equal rights and worth, people take revenge upon those closest to hand.

      Anyone, black or white, who opposes Marxism, should flee and leave South Africa to its fate. White landowners are being butchered. Read the room and leave.

  16. Any and all who advocate the compulsory or forcible imposition of vaccination or other healthcare mandates are the direct and mortal enemies of America, actual Americans, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

    It is long past time.

    But then, you’ve known that for decades.
    ________________________________

    “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

    – Declaration of Independence, 1776
    _____________________________

    “You can’t handle the truth.”

    – Colonel Jessup
    _____________

    You can’t handle the truth of the scope and breadth of American freedom.

    Americans are provided maximal freedom while government is severely limited and restricted to its prescribed role of merely providing security and infrastructure which facilitates the maximal freedom of individuals.

    The People are the Sovereign.

    Government is the Subject of the Sovereign.

    The judicial branch is the singular American failure, having failed to do its sworn duty to support the literal “manifest tenor” of the Constitution.
    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    No Brainer!

    Tie goes to the runner.

    Every conceivable, natural and God-given right, freedom, privilege and immunity is provided to individual citizens of the United States of America, per the 9th Amendment.

    Most certainly, Americans enjoy the right and freedom to provide for their own healthcare.

    Most certainly, a power to impose or otherwise provide healthcare is not granted to the government by the Constitution.

    Most certainly, no “emergency” power or power to suspend habeas corpus is granted to the government by the Constitution, with the exception of the conditions of invasion or rebellion, which are currently absent.

    That elected officials believe themselves superior, does not provide them supremacy, or power and authority not provided by the Constitution.
    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    9th Amendment

    The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

  17. While tightening the screws on American citizens, the Biden administration actively supports the importation of vast numbers of untested, unvaccinated and COVID positive illegals at the Mexican border. With the knowing collaboration of their media mouthpieces and the support of the noted political scientists heading up the CDC.

    1. And the border authorities test those illegals, and only let the Covid positives into the country. And those who test negative, the government refuses to vaccinate them despite their passionate pleas. Instead, the border authorities wait until they too get infected, then and only then are they permitted to enter the country to infect the unvaccinated Trumpists….

      1. Infections among the great unwashed. A Progressive’s wet dream!

      2. Jeff, take 5 minutes and review the influx of Covid-infected illegal immigrants, who have been released into communities.

        All you have to do is look it up. Didn’t you read the news about Covid-positive illegal aliens being housed at a hotel in La Joya, TX, walking around the town and coughing? Biden has let in nearly 1 million illegal aliens, with thousands more coming daily. BP is overwhelmed, and doesn’t have the infrastructure or logistics to test and quarantine that many people. The very act of processing people who have traveled through multiple countries, exposes participants, and BP itself, to Covid.

        Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and many other countries have shut their borders up tight.

        Yet Democrats have allowed nearly a million illegal aliens into he US within less than a year, during a pandemic.

        Honestly, they could flip a coin and make better decisions.

        https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2021/07/28/border-towns-are-getting-fed-up-with-covidpositive-illegal-immigrants-being-released-into-their-communities-n2593202

        From the Dem Bible, the NYT:

        https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/us/coronavirus-migrants-testing.html

        “The Border Patrol says it has insufficient time and space to conduct coronavirus testing at crowded processing stations. Officials in border cities fear further spread of the virus.”

        “More than 170,000 migrants crossed the border in March — many coming from countries still grappling with high infection rates — but the Border Patrol is conducting no testing for the coronavirus during the several days that the newly arrived migrants are in U.S. custody except in cases where migrants show obvious symptoms.”

        Illegal aliens pay drug cartels to smuggle them across the border. They cram together in vehicles. Then they arrive at the border where they get even more squashed tougher. BP only tests those with obvious symptoms, if they can get to it. The rest are exposed, and released, to spread it.

        It’s interesting that the journalist claims there have been no massive outbreaks. They say that only 5 percent of people tased since their release had Covid. What percentage of illegal aliens were followed up with? Only around 12% show up for their court hearings. The rest just disappear. Once again, official figures are baloney.

        “But local officials and shelter operators said they feared that the actual number of infections could be much higher.

        In California’s Imperial Valley, where the Cuban couple was apprehended, 15 percent of the migrants released by the Border Patrol into the community between April 7 and April 13 tested positive for the virus — three times higher than the official average, according to the California Department of Social Services.

        And the operator of several large shelters where migrant children go after their release from border processing said one out of five children at those facilities was showing a positive test result on arrival.”

        Democrats – Fix. Your. Party.

        This is deadly foolishness.

        1. Karen says:

          “Yet Democrats have allowed nearly a million illegal aliens into he US within less than a year, during a pandemic.”

          Republicans lie about massive election fraud in order to “justify” passing statutes to wrest control of certifying future election results into the hands of Republican-led State legislatures.

          Democrats have to fight back somehow. We let in immigrants in order to bolster our odds in future elections to offset your strategy of changing the voting rules to your favor.

          All’s fair in love and war. And this is WAR!

          Do you want Trump to be elected for 4 more years or not? Will that be enough time to right the ship of state? How do you Trumpists intend to deal with us American Marxists who will try to discredit everything Trump does just like you discredit everything Biden does? After all, politics nowadays is a zero sum game. Trumpists can’t allow Biden any successes because whatever benefits Biden comes at the Trumpists’ expense. For you, Democrats can never do anything right, and Trumpists can do no wrong.

          1. “All’s fair in love and war. And this is WAR!” — jeffsilberman

            You spout off an awful lot, and mostly I don’t care, but this reeks of inexperience and insanity. You obviously have never been to war. That’s a good thing. Pray you never do.

            As for your Biden love and Trump hate — neither represents my or your best interests. There is little to no difference between the Republican and Democratic parties — both are funded and controlled by same wealthy elitists. Get over it. The only game in town is divide and rule. Until you understand that simple fact, you’ll be nothing more than one party or the other’s useful idiot.

            And only an idiot wants a war.

            1. Hiya Spanky,

              If that’s your real name. Yeah, I do spout off a lot, but I have a lot to say. I was too young to go to war and then too old. Thanks for your service?

              You don’t know me well enough to tell me whom I hate. Why don’t you ask me? Fact is, I don’t hate people who have never harmed me personally, but I do hate Trump’s LIES. I don’t love Biden. I don’t love people who I have never met. I wouldn’t think to tell you who you love or hate. You tell me.

              I don’t want war. I’m a lover, not a fighter. But I can recognize that this country is engaged in a cold cultural civil war.

              1. “I do hate Trump’s LIES. “

                But, I, will keep a secret of what significant lies of Trump I hate. That is how I resolve problems. I make unfounded accusations because I am an ideologue who doesn’t know much of anything.

          2. We intend to destroy you, root and branch. Reap the whirlwind, stupid. REAP IT.

  18. Turley says:

    “Not unreasonably, it assumed that Americans would want the vaccine, given the dire consequences of being unvaccinated. For many of us, it took little persuasion. My family and I took the earliest possible date for vaccinations.”

    Not unreasonably, indeed! But then we are trying to convince gullible Trumpists who fell for the lies of a conman. Is it any surprise then that reason failed to work? Turley has good common sense which explains why he didn’t need coercion to take the vaccine. His actions speak louder than all his words.

    1. Jeff, you said, “But then we are trying to convince gullible Trumpists who fell for the lies of a conman.”

      This is cognitive dissonance.

      A. Trump’s administration developed the vaccine and touted its efficacy. They achieved nearly 1 million doses per day before Biden ever took office.
      B. Blacks and Latinos, statistically Democrat voters, are less likely to be vaccinated than other races.
      C. Trump never told anyone not to get the vaccine.
      D. Biden and Harris both urged people not to trust the vaccine because it was developed under the Trump administration. Then they reversed course and expected people to develop amnesia.
      E. Young, low risk people of any political party are hesitant to get the vaccine because i) they’re low risk for complications of Covid infection ii) they’ve already had Covid infection and therefor have protective antibodies iii) they are concerned about the high incidence of side effects from the vaccine and because of the preceding they don’t feel the risk to benefit ratio works out.

      You shouldn’t keep repeating what you’ve been told like this. It’s ironic, given that you question the reason of Republicans.

      Rather than make vaccines political, we should just promote the benefits of the vaccines, accurately explain the side effects, and we need data on whether Covid protective antibodies from infection with alpha are effective abasing Delta.

      1. I accept A and B though C and D are blatant lies. E is debatable.

        Um, I agree that taking vaccines should not be made into a culture war. Tell that to Fox News, Newsmax, OAN and Infowars.

    2. I didn’t vote for Trump but I’m not getting that f****** experiment. I’m also not anti-vaxxer .. I received five vaccine injections this year so that I might receive the appropriate titer level to overcome possible symptomatic rabies as I Tangled with a bat that got me.
      Rabies is 100% fatal once it’s symptomatic. This disease called covid has a 99% survival rate and I think those numbers aren’t even right it’s probably higher than that.
      Go ahead and take your poison. Leave me and the trumpers alone.

  19. Puppet Named “Terry Hawaii” Posting From Mystery Source

    Further down, our blog stooge uses the name “Terry Hawaii” to post an interview with some alleged expert that supposedly calls vaccines into question:

    TerryHawaii says:

    Here is a highly credentialed scientist and former Pfizer chief scientific officer to refute your claims:

    https://off-guardian.org/2021/07/20/watch-perspectives-on-the-pandemic-16/
    ……………………………………………………………….

    Notice how the link says “guardian . org”..? Apparently this a ruse to fool liberals who read the well-known British-American newspaper. Said article is NOT from The Guardian and the interview ends with an odd disclaimer admitting they are NOT The Guardian.

    Oh, well, so much for Terry Hawaii; one of endless puppets fielded by our blog stooge.

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