Last night, President Joe Biden gave his second State of the Union address. It was difficult to watch at points. Biden made a series of questionable statements like claiming that he added 12 million new jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Biden has only added 2.7 million overall jobs. However, it was his statement on assault weapons that stood out for some of us who have previously flagged his claims as legally and statistically flawed. The claims have not improved with repetition.
The same lines appeared again in the address virtually verbatim from prior campaign speeches:
“Ban assault weapons once and for all.
We did it before. I led the fight to ban them in 1994.
In the 10 years the ban was law, mass shootings went down. After Republicans let it expire, mass shootings tripled.
Let’s finish the job and ban assault weapons again.”
I would truly like to “finish the job” and have the President drop this dubious claim. Biden again does not define what he means by assault weapons. He previously has included 9mm handguns in his proposed ban.
The President is referring to the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act or Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The law banned the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms as well as some large capacity ammunition magazines. That ten-year ban was signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994 but expired on September 13, 2004.
That was before the Supreme Court recognized that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to gun ownership in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008. The Act was not challenged under the Second Amendment in any major litigation.
Putting aside the constitutional challenges, the President’s factual claim is far from established. Indeed, there is no evidence that the ban had any appreciable impact on gun violence and most studies questioned the impact even on mass shootings. There does appear to have been a decrease during this period and an increase after the period. However, the cause-and-effect claim has never been well-established.
Support for this claim could be based on a 2019 study in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery that found that “Mass-shooting related homicides in the United States were reduced during the years of the federal assault weapons ban of 1994 to 2004”. However, the authors said that this reduction was merely “observational” and that the Act was not clearly the cause of the reduction in shootings and deaths.
A Rand study found such claims “inconclusive” while the National Institute of Justice noted:
“A number of factors—including the fact that the banned weapons and magazines were rarely used to commit murders in this country, the limited availability of data on the weapons, other components of the Crime Control Act of 1994, and State and local initiatives implemented at the same time—posed challenges in discerning the effects of the ban.”
Even the Washington Post noted that “Part of the problem is that the assault weapons ban existed for only 10 years, and there are relatively few mass shootings per year, making it difficult to fully assess its impact.” The Post would only say that some studies show the law was “effective.”
A 2020 study published in Criminology and Public Policy found that “bans on assault weapons had no clear effects on either the incidence of mass shootings or on the incidence of victim fatalities from mass shootings.” This study noted that “most mass shootings do not involve assault rifles, but many involve the use of [large caliber magazines].”
A 2004 Justice Department study found little support for this cause-and-effect claim.
The obvious problem with this claim is that mass shootings are statistically rare. It is very hard to associate a decrease to the law, particularly with the abundance of existing weapons and the fact that many shootings do not involve the AR-15 or similar models.
The State of the Union should, in my view, not be just another stump speech. Just as members need to show greater restraint, so should a president.
Of course, we were spared the disgraceful act of “liberated” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripping up the speech of former President Donald Trump. It is doubtful that Democrats would be as thrilled and supportive of a “liberated” McCarthy shredding the Biden speech due to his own deep disagreements with it. He did not do so and it helped restored dignity to the chair and decades of traditions.
I admit that I am a bit of a purest on the decorum question. Kevin McCarthy could be seen mouthing words and shaking his head. It was reminiscent of the controversy over Justice Sam Alito mouthing objections in response to President Barack Obama. While it paled in comparison to the offensive conduct of his predecessor (who also would shake her head and roll her eyes behind Trump), it was still inappropriate in my view. The Speaker represents the entire body of the House of Representatives — Democratic and Republican — in the State of the Union. As difficult as it may be at times, it is better to remain stoic.
The worst part was the yelling and heckling from Republican members. They were clearly baited by the President and it worked. As I tweeted last night, it was wrong when the Democrats did it and it is wrong now when Republicans do it. At one point, Biden was called a “liar” for again claiming that Republicans want to cut social security (a position rejected repeatedly by the vast majority of Republicans). Biden responded that he was not saying “I’m not saying it’s a majority.” It was still a low blow. However, I continue to follow the old school view that members should remain respectful and silent. To his credit, McCarthy was seen glaring at some colleagues and on at least on occasion telling them to “Shush.”
The State of the Union captured the state of our politics and it is not good. While calling for unity, Biden took cheap shots at his opponents on issues like social security while Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R, Ga.) screamed “Liar.” We have lost the civility and, with it, the dignity of such historic moments. Joe Biden is our President. He is granted entry to the House once a year for this constitutional function. He is entitled to a respectful audience. He is also expected to be respectful and accurate in his own words. He also failed that test.
Things will not change in our country until we demand more from both parties and all of our leaders. Fortunately, my children are older now, but I always had them listen to the State of the Union addresses. I would have been mortified to have them watch this spectacle of sparing between the President and members last night. It goes against everything that we have sought to instill in them about mutual respect and civility.
A few edits:
1) “[large caliber magazines]” should be “[large capacity magazines]” and
2) “sparing” should be “sparring”.
Great article, though!
And “purest” should be “purist.” But I do appreciate all of the links, because they can be used in subsequent discussions with people who repeat Biden’s lies.
Although Turley will likely attack the messenger , Joe Patrice demonstrated in ATL today that this passage—–
However, the authors said that this reduction was merely “observational” and that the Act was not clearly the cause of the reduction in shootings and deaths.
A Rand study found such claims “inconclusive”
——
is absolute hogwash, Someone purporting to be an academic would eschew an ad homnem response and instead plead guilty to intellectual (sic) malpractice committed in the spirit of Fox-flunky-ism.
haha! cocky Joe Patrice, the Jeff Silberman of the legal blog “above the law,” which he apparently thinks he is.
You sound pretty pissed. Not healthy. Maybe you should take a break from reading blogs.
Explain how that was ad hominem, please. You can use your crayons, if that helps. You said “Turley will likely attack the mesenger.” Will likely. So you manufacture a fictitious response and then accuse the fictitious response as being ad hominem. Got it. We know your type.
And for the record, that isn’t an ad hominem attack on you, merely an observation of what you did.
The only assault weapon we need to ban is the Democrat Party.
As long as he gives up his armed protection first
What did you think of Nurse Jill sucking face with the Vice Presidents hubby?
They can’t cry about Covid anymore.
Any weapons bans should apply to the security people hired to protect the rich and famous.
Andrew, telling the ruling class that they will have to live by the same laws as the rest of us will stop that proposal in its tracks.
Like the Secret Service?
Indeed the government would like nothing more than to take away your ability to return fire. lol.
TF Metals Report Retweeted
Alex Berenson
@AlexBerenson
·
5h
He’s washing his hands of the mRNAs – and whatever the long-term consequences of their failed effort to rewire the immune system may be.
Tony Fauci is lucky.
He’s 82.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci now admits the mRNA Covid vaccines hardly work and might not be approvable
In fact, a bombshell paper he co-authored last month suggests ALL vaccines for common respiratory viruses may face intractable hurdles. And that’s not even the worst news. I’m not exaggerating.
Alex Berenson
6 hr ago
Last month, three scientists pointed out flu shots barely work and couldn’t be approved based on the standards used for vaccines like measles:
“After more than 60 years of experience with influenza vaccines, very little improvement in vaccine prevention of infection has been noted… our best approved influenza vaccines would be inadequate for licensure for most other vaccine-preventable diseases.” [emphasis added]
True. Several rigorous papers have proven that flu shots are placebos masquerading as public policy.
But the same scientists then compared our beloved and groundbreaking Covid vaccines to those pointless flu jabs:
As variant SARS-CoV-2 strains have emerged, deficiencies in these [Covid] vaccines reminiscent of influenza vaccines have become apparent.
Just who are these vicious anti-vax rebels?
Three researchers at the National Institutes for Health. Including one whose name may ring a bell: the now-retired Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.
Yet the Covid/flu shot comparison is only one of the article’s bombshells.
At its core, the piece raises the question of whether any vaccines can ever work well enough to matter against bugs like common coronaviruses, influenza, and RSV.
And that question hides an even more troubling one, one the authors do not ask: have our efforts to beat Sars-Cov-2 by driving our immune response in ways it was not designed to go caused dangers we are only beginning to understand?
—
(I WAS GONNA PAYWALL THIS ONE, BUT IT’S TOO IMPORTANT. SUBSCRIBE ANYWAY.)
—
(Mistakes were made.)
SOURCE
Long before the coronavirus hit, Fauci and scientists who specialize in vaccine development knew flu shots hardly worked. They knew they needed a better vaccine to beat Sars-Cov-2.
As Covid spread around the world in early 2020, they believed they had found one: jabs that had a completely different mechanism of action than influenza vaccines.
Flu shots are old-school “inactivated virus” vaccines. They contain actual influenza viruses grown in chicken eggs and treated with formaldehyde so they cannot reproduce.
Fauci and his colleagues at Warp Speed, the federal program that developed the Covid shots, decided to focus on mRNA biotechnology to make a next-generation vaccine.
The Covid vaccines consist of a strand of genetic code – mRNA – that tells our cells to make a piece of the coronavirus called the spike protein, along with a tiny fat globe that encases the mRNA and helps bring it to our cells. (mRNA occurs naturally, but the mRNA in the vaccines has been subtly modified to make it easier to deliver to our cells and more potent when it arrives.)
In the most basic way, mRNA vaccines work.
That is, they make our cells produce huge amounts of the spike protein. They cause a powerful response with high levels of anti-spike protein antibodies, far more than our immune systems produce in response to an actual coronavirus infection. Fauci and other scientists hoped those antibodies would have a strong and lasting protective effect.
—
Only they didn’t.
As Ken Frazier, the then-chief executive of Merck, which is history’s most successful vaccine company but which rapidly ended its efforts at a coronavirus vaccine, warned in 2020:
There are a lot of examples of vaccines in the past that have stimulated the immune system, but ultimately didn’t confer protection.
Frazier was right.
We now have two years of real-world data on the mRNAs, based on billions of doses. Putting side effects aside, they work extremely well against Covid – for about four months after the second dose.
After that, their effectiveness rapidly wanes. It falls to zero against coronavirus infection and transmission within a few months. In fact, we have increasing evidence that it eventually turns negative – that vaccinated people are MORE likely to get Covid repeatedly than the unvaccinated.
(Mo’ doses, mo’ problems)
SOURCE
—
What about severe disease and death from Covid? Early on, the mRNAs prevent those too, because if you don’t get infected with the coronavirus, you can’t die from it.
What about after they stop working against infection? What about now? In truth, no one knows. Fauci and vaccine advocates will insist forever that the mRNAs retain some effectiveness against severe disease and death.
But their evidence comes almost entirely from epidemiological studies that compare the results in non-random groups of vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The problem is that these studies cannot be trusted because vaccinated people are healthier as a group than unvaccinated people (and the gap has likely increased with each booster).
This is exactly the same reason that influenza shots seem to work against pneumonia EVEN BEFORE PEOPLE RECEIVE THEM. Flu vaccines are a marker for health, not a driver of health.
—
At the same time, the coronavirus has mutated against the vaccines exactly as some immunologists predicted. It has changed its spike to defeat the mRNA-generated antibodies.
Worse, efforts to update the vaccine against the new Omicron variants do not work, probably because the first generation vaccines leave such a powerful imprint on the immune system.
The upshot is that Covid vaccines, like flu vaccines, appear to be – at best – ineffective on a population basis.
Two years after mass mRNA vaccinations began, the wealthy countries that used them are still having mass Covid waves and significant deaths, mainly in the same very elderly people who have died from Covid all along. Poorer countries that used other vaccines are not reporting many Covid cases or deaths anymore, but whether that’s because they don’t have them or have just stopped counting is not clear.
So the Covid vaccines work mechanistically as promised. Only they don’t actually do any long-term good.
—
And Fauci and his co-authors know where to lay the blame. On the human immune system.
It’s not me (or my vaccines) – it’s you!
No, seriously.
As the paper explains, we spend our lives breathing an almost infinite variety of threats:
Because humans inhale and ingest enormous quantities of exogenous proteins with every breath and mouthful, the respiratory and gastrointestinal immune compartments have evolved to deal with continual and massive antigenic assaults from the outside world.
Thus our immune systems have learned to make a distinction between relatively minor respiratory viruses like influenza and RSV – which have “a short duration of illness and a typically uncomplicated course” – and far more serious intruders like measles, which replicate systemically and can kill even young and healthy people.
The serious threats rouse the full complement of our immune defenses. And if we beat them, we end up with lifetime immunity. The minor viruses do not:
As a result, the non-systemically replicating respiratory viruses, apparently including SARS-CoV-2 tend to repeatedly re-infect people over their lifetimes without ever eliciting complete and durable protection.
—
Any virologist or immunologist will tell you that – in the words of Science magazine:
For many infectious diseases, naturally acquired immunity is known to be more powerful than vaccine-induced immunity and it often lasts a lifetime.
But our immune systems aren’t trying to provide lifetime protection against the minor respiratory viruses. We’d rather live with them and the minor threats they represent, instead of blowing up our own bodies to defeat an infection that will likely last only a few days.
In Fauci’s words, we have made an
immunologic “Faustian bargain” between tolerance versus infection control [allowing] transient, moderated infection by respiratory agents of low or intermediate pathogenicity to restrain the destructive forces of an immune elimination response.
In other words, the natural human response to real coronaviruses is NOT long-lasting immunity. And vaccines are not as effective as real viruses in provoking an immune response. How, then, could a coronavirus vaccine provide such immunity?
—
Two years ago, the geniuses of virology and immunology thought they had the answer.
The mRNA Covid jabs were designed to overcome evolution and make us do something we had evolved NOT to do. They fooled our immune systems into a much more powerful response than it would otherwise have to Sars-Cov-2, producing supra-naturally high levels of IgG antibodies.
Those super-high antibody levels were supposed to be a feature, not a bug. They were the reason that the mRNAs suppressed infection.
But we now know that the body quickly returns those antibody levels to normal.
Worse, if we force them higher again with repeated booster shots, our immune system will respond by producing a kind of antibody normally seen primarily as a response to non-replicating allergens, not viruses.
In other words, our immune systems appear to respond very unfavorably in the long run to the provocation from the mRNAs.
—
The paper ends on a stunning note:
Past unsuccessful attempts to elicit solid protection against mucosal respiratory viruses and to control the deadly outbreaks and pandemics they cause have been a scientific and public health failure…
We are excited and invigorated that many investigators and collaborative groups are rethinking, from the ground up, all of our past assumptions and approaches to preventing important respiratory viral diseases and working to find bold new paths forward.
Wait, what?
Past unsuccessful attempts?
From the ground up?
Fauci just helped spearhead the effort to push a new type of vaccine on the world. After only a few months of testing, the United States and other countries injected their citizens with more than 3 billion doses of mRNA.
Yet with these words, Fauci is admitting that effort has failed completely. He’s not excluding the mRNAs from “past unsuccessful attempts” that “have been a public health failure.” He’s not saying they can form the basis for “bold new paths.”
He’s washing his hands of them – and whatever the long-term consequences of their failed effort to rewire the immune system may be.
Tony Fauci is lucky.
He’s 82.
It’ll be up to the rest of us to deal with what he’s done.
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Brad
Writes Euphoric Recall
5 hr ago
Though we’re constantly bombarded with reasons to believe otherwise, Americans are often uniquely addled by a native idealism that makes us reluctant to believe unsettling truths about our noble overlords. Those of us with half a brain don’t have that issue with Fauci. He is, and always has been, a lying pharma shill.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/how-fauci-wrecked-the-pandemic-response
94ReplyCollapse
7 replies
BARRY ISAACS
5 hr ago
Being a retired criminal defense and corporate tax lawyer with a Classical educational background, I instinctively rejected the mRNA kool-aid, the masks, the social distancing, etc. notwithstanding being married to a ‘we’re all gonna die’ woman who embraced everything I rejected. And so with each passing day, month and year, I remain grateful that I faded the regnant lunacy. If the worst that could be said about the ongoing vaccination fiasco was that it doesn’t work, I might be somewhat charitable towards those who may have meant well by foisting this junk on us. But there is increasing evidence that this stuff may be harmful. Indeed, today I read that one researcher claims that what may be causing young folks to unexpectedly die is that the mRNA vaccines are accelerating the aging process in their bodies. How sad if true. I will be 73 this year and remain in the trim, take no drugs and walk 6-8 miles daily. I am aging the right way and wish the same for everyone else.
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Vaccinated English adults under 60 are dying at twice the rate of unvaccinated people the same age
And have been for six months. This chart may seem unbelievable or impossible, but it’s correct, based on weekly data from the British government.
Alex Berenson
Nov 20, 2021
1,909
695
URGENT: Covid vaccines will keep you from acquiring full immunity EVEN IF YOU ARE INFECTED AND RECOVER
Don’t take it from me, I don’t even get to tweet anymore. Take it from a little place I call the British government. Which admitted today, in it…
Alex Berenson
Oct 21, 2021
3,060
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Attention citizens!
Your Dept. Of Pandemia wishes to congratulate those who have not lost faith!
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https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/dr-anthony-fauci-now-admits-the-mrna
Fauci, aka the Grime Reaper’s great, great, etc, Great Grandson, The Reaper, tells us Opps, my bad!
Ph’ing Idiots, just look at how many Millions are no long among us & how many Millions are permanently Harmed & their Families DNA Forever Changed!!!!!
Loosely stated, UN numbers are that just in 3rd World Shiit Hole Nations the CV19/mRNA Clot/Deeath Shots shut downs caused 20-25 million extra deaths a years not count our own. 3years+++=Math.
It’s High time to Chuck that Phin Evil Elf, Dr Fauci, back across the Potomac River!
White Lab Coats had better get to the high ground fast is what he’s saying.
Just think of the real math in the terms of Millions/Billions harmed……
The Killers, Ted Bundy, John Wyhne Gaycie, the prozac heads of Columbine Co., all the other Pfizer Prozac/SSRI heads like Adam Lanzia of Sandy Hook, etc…, Dr Mengle, Klause Barbie. (sic)
They are NOTHING compare against the MILLION DR Fauci, Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab,George Soros& Family,.., Forever Foundations/JD Rockfeller/Rothchild/Ford, Vaderfags, etc…, have harmed right in front of your eyes.
This is so huge I don’t even know how to type it right now?
I just feel like puking at least it’s almost over!
(Sick)
https://www.facebook.com/samantha.gillas/posts/1623093384788615
While Turley is a liberal at heart, I think he’s trying to at least try to be impartial and honest.
A lot of the comments have meandered away from the topic and that’s Joe Biden on AWBs.
This is now the push in multiple Blue states. He’s leading a charge that makes no sense.
Before you bash him, give him credit. At least he’s being consistent in his policies which are consistently wrong. Not a good thing, but at least he’s consistent.
SCOTUS is the only thing keeping this country from devolving into chaos.
That’s the sad thing.
The MSM praises Joe for offering to get both sides talking, while ignoring that he continues to lie and berate the GOP.
Things will not get better until 2024’s election and then it will take DeSantis a year to get things back on track.
This country has been in constitutional chaos since 1860. The singular American failure has been and continues to be the judicial branch with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
Secession was constitutional, commencing an unconstitutional war, not of common defense but of remarkable offense against a sovereign foreign nation, seizing power through the forcible imposition of martial law, suspending habeas corpus, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s valiant effort to oppose the brutal and despotic “Crazy Abe” Lincoln notwithstanding, denying freedom of speech, press, etc., confiscating private property, committing deleterious dereliction of duty to enforce extant immigration law, corruptly and improperly ratifying amendments in a condition of brutal, post-war, military occupation and oppression, etc., were all unconstitutional and treasonous.
Post-Lincoln, matriculation affirmative action, grade-inflation affirmative action, employment affirmative action, quotas, welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, rent control, social services, forced busing, public housing, utility subsidies, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, TARP, HHS, HUD, EPA, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Labor, Energy, Obamacare, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Social Security Supplemental Income, Medicare, Medicaid, unfair “Fair Housing” laws, discriminatory “Non-Discrimination” laws, etc. are also unconstitutional.
Devolving into chaos indeed.
America has been there for quite some time, comrade.
Oh come now. The trademark of communism: lie to their collective faces and know they won’t do squat because you’ve beaten them down with propaganda.
OT: Be sure to read Seymour Hersh’s substack on how the US destroyed the Nordstream pipeline. Though based on a single source, it makes a lot more sense than the knee-jerk “Russia blew up its own pipeline” narrative.
Professor Turley Writes:
Biden made a series of questionable statements like claiming that he added 12 million new jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Biden has only added 2.7 million overall jobs.
…………………………………………………..
Turley’s statement links a Fox New article which quotes the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet the article links itself in blue highlight under, “added 2.7 million overall jobs”.
“However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the economy under Biden has actually added 2.7 million overall jobs. The other roughly 9 million jobs had been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic when the economy was forced to shut down”.
https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/economy/jobs
***
The New York Times fact-checks Biden’s jobs claim below:
“The economy added 12.1 million jobs between January 2021, the month when Mr. Biden took office, and this January. By raw numbers, that is indeed a larger increase in new jobs over two years than the number added over other presidents’ full four-year terms since at least 1945. But by percentage, the job growth in Mr. Biden’s first two years still lags behind that of his predecessors’ full terms.
Under Mr. Biden, jobs have increased by 8.5 percent since his term began. That jump is less than that in President Barack Obama’s first term (8.6 percent), President Bill Clinton’s first term (10.5 percent), President Ronald Reagan’s second term (11.2 percent) and President Jimmy Carter’s four years in office (12.8 percent).
Mr. Biden is, of course, comparing his first two years in office with the entire term or presidencies of his predecessors, so the comparison is not equivalent. Moreover, Mr. Biden’s first two years in office followed historic job losses wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Most important, presidents are not singularly responsible for the state of the economy.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/us/politics/fact-check-biden-state-of-the-union.html
……………………………………………………………………………
Fox News and The New York Times seem to agree that about 9 million jobs lost during the pandemic returned during Biden’s first 2 years. Still, the fact that those 9 million came back is definitely good news. No one could have taken for granted that those 9 million jobs would return so promptly. We could have very well have had a situation where only half of those jobs returned. Therefore Biden is ‘not’ misrepresenting his achievements. Unemployment is currently at 3.7%, one of the lowest rates since the end of World War II.
In the words of you communist democrats “Shut up”
Joe Biden wants us to worry about back alley abortions. What about the half stoned guy mixing up the fentanyl in some back alley. Their prescription is not being mixed up at your local Walgreens. Now that’s real mass murder compliments of Joe Biden. Stalin would be proud.