Monthly Archives: September 2021

A newly released study has found that nearly half of those hospitalized for COVID-19 in 2021 may have been admitted for another reason entirely, or were mild or asymptomatic for the respiratory virus.

Conducted by a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School, Tufts Medical Center, and the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, the yet-to-be peer-reviewed analysis examined electronic records for nearly 50,000 COVID hospital admissions at more than 100 VA hospitals across the country.

According to The Atlantic, researchers checked to see whether each patient required supplemental oxygen or had a blood oxygen level below 94 percent and if either of these conditions was met, the authors classified that patient as having moderate to severe disease; otherwise, the case was considered mild or asymptomatic.

The study found that from March 2020 through early January 2021before vaccination was widespread, and before the Delta variant had arrivedthe proportion of patients with mild or asymptomatic disease was 36 percent, the report read. From mid-January through the end of June 2021, however, that number rose to 48 percent. In other words, the study suggests that roughly half of all the hospitalized patients showing up on COVID-data dashboards in 2021 may have been admitted for another reason entirely, or had only a mild presentation of disease.

The report later notes the increase was even greater for vaccinated hospital patients, with 57 percent experiencing mild or asymptomatic disease. Moreover, the study found unvaccinated patients have also been registering with less severe symptoms, on average, than earlier in the outbreak, with 45 percent of cases being mild or asymptomatic since January 21.

The studys findings raise serious concerns over whether similar trends are playing out in hospitals across the country. According to Dr. Shira Doron, one of the studys co-authors, refining the definition of hospitalizations is critical when discussing COVID-related public policy measures that affect entities such as schools and businesses.

As we look to shift from cases to hospitalizations as a metric to drive policy and assess level of risk to a community or state or country, we should refine the definition of hospitalization, she said.Those patients who are therewithrather thanfromCOVID dont belong in the metric.

Shawn Fleetwood is an intern at The Federalist and a student at the University of Mary Washington, where he plans to major in Political Science and minor in Journalism. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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Study: Nearly Half 2021 COVID Hospitalizations Weren't For Severe Cases - The Federalist

The funniest man in the world has died.

Norm Macdonald is often spoken of as a comedians comedian, which serves as a backhanded compliment, implying that hes an acquired taste, and if you dont get him, well, go watch some more Kevin Hart.

In my experience, the opposite is true. A Norm Macdonald joke is best understood as a feat of strength, almost as if it were designed in response to a dare: how can I make you laugh at this horrible, terrible thing? How can I make an audience explode at an absurd pun? How can I take a two-line street joke and turn it into a six-minute tale of Russian sadness?

It is the comedy equivalent of deciding out of nowhere to lift a car with your bare hands, and Norm seemed to love it every time.

We didnt have cable growing up, and I was too young to watch Norms original SNL run as Weekend Update anchor. So it was only when I got to college and Comedy Central ran old SNLs on repeat all afternoon that he became the permanent background to my life. The plethora of clips on Youtube today create the ability to take your darkest day spent in a hospital and turn to a clip of Norms combination of acid tongue and impish glee and spur unrestrained laughter and relief.

Please, if you have not done so before, consume them. I cant do justice to the amount of funny there is contained within. There is no line he would not cross, there was nowhere he would not go for a joke he believed in. Or as he told it:

I did this joke in which I showed that picture of the girl running away from napalm in Vietnam. I said, In gossip news, Woody Allens dating again. Lorne told me not to do it, and I told him he was wrong, that people would like it. Then I did it in dress rehearsal and there was this insane audience reaction that went on for two minutes: hate. I was completely wrong.

Or was he? If the point of the joke is that the audience loves you, cheers for you, claps for you, is it really a joke? Does it deserve the laugh if no one is offended? Norm is often held up as a model for the newsy jokesters that followed him to far more popularity and hit shows and money but he didnt just seem disinterested in clapter, he seemed actively interested in turning it against the audience. That remains my favorite Weekend Update aside, about the pie charts on car accidents: So, now you dont know what the hell to do.

Norm was an incredible talk show guest, perhaps the last of his kind a connection that extends to Rickles and Rivers.

You never knew what you would get with him. There was no need for canned stupid games or singalongs or skits he could talk about anything and find humor in anything and turn things around on a dime. The Moth joke so famously associated with him occurred to him in the break, since he didnt know he had an extra segment with Conan. The segment was six minutes, so he took that long to tell the joke.

He was also a surprisingly skilled interviewer. His show, Norm Macdonald Live, which morphed into a Netflix property unfairly stomped on by an interview where he criticized the excesses of MeToo, features a surprising number of moments where he asks famous and oft-interviewed guests questions that probe more deeply into their methods or beliefs than youve ever heard before. And then in classic Norm fashion, he would do his best to get them to tell offensive jokes which he repeatedly swore he did not write.

I met him during his book tour in Washington, D.C., at the event where he told the baby harp seal story.

Afterward, Norm made me one of the handful of people he followed on Twitter, where we had lengthy intermittent conversations about Charles Portis who he called the greatest comic novelist since Mark Twain the state of comedy, family life, and more. I told him honestly that the Moth joke was the first video I played for my daughter. Last year as New York was going through hell, he said we must have a steak dinner when the empty panic dissolves. This spring, when Fox gave me the opportunity to host Primetime, I tried, repeatedly, to have him come on he demurred, but offered words of support, and said he was waiting on a vaccine so he could cross the Canadian border. Ill keep you posted, he wrote to me in June.

There is a loneliness to Macdonalds comedy, particularly in his book, which you all should read the eulogy at the end is particularly moving now. It doesnt surprise me that he didnt tell anyone he was sick as Anthony Jeselnik, himself a darker inheritor to much of Norms acid approach, observed.

Norm could talk about anything. At that dinner that never happened, Id probably talk to him about God, which he raised with Jerry Seinfeld at around the 26-minute mark.

Where his comedy touched on issues of faith and death, he could surprise you by turning from utterly sarcastic to incredibly thoughtful. His bit about fighting cancer came to mind immediately upon the news yesterday, perhaps the only commentary he wanted to offer on his own ordeal:

Im pretty sure, Im not a doctor, but Im pretty sure if you die, the cancer dies at the same time. Thats not a loss, thats a draw.

RIP, you old chunk of coal. I still owe you that steak.

Originally posted here:

There Will Never Be Another Norm Macdonald - The Federalist

LOS ANGELES, Calif. Frustrated California voters may have lost the battle to recall Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 14, but the war to unseat him in 2022 is just beginning.

Multiple outlets officially called the referendum on removing the governor a failure on Tuesday night, less than one hour after polls closed. Some California residents were stunned, but others said they are determined to use the power they amassed to create the recall to keep fighting to hold the governor accountable for his tyranny.

The movement or the feeling on here was a very strong one of disenfranchisement, and the recall movement reignited or theres been a resurgence of people who just got up and said Yeah, we can do something, Chairman of the Conservative Party of California Jon Matthews said.

Los Angeles GOP executive board member Julie Haff told The Federalist that even though results indicate the governor will keep his seat, Newsoms trust in his track record clearly faltered in a way passionate voters can still use.

If he was so confident in the job that hes doing, why did he need to have millions and millions of dollars spent on this? Why does he have to have [President Joe] Biden, [Vice President Kamala] Harris, and others come in and help rally for him? He should be able to stand the job hes doing and feel confident with the job hes doing, Haff said. Hes not talking about the job hes doing, hes talking about the Republicans. I dont think hes doing a good job and obviously, there are millions of other Californians that dont feel like hes doing a good job, because why would we be here today?

Newsom and his national Democrat cronies framed the recall as a shallow effort by Republicans who are still operating under Trumpism. During a rally to keep Newsom in office in Long Beach, Biden compared leading Republican candidate Larry Elder to Trump.

Im gonna make this as simple as I can: You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or youll get Donald Trump. Its not a joke.

On election day, Newsom, who outraised his gubernatorial opponents by millions, lamented how the GOP is literally trying to dismantle democracy.

They are quite literally trying to dismantle democracy and trust in this country Ill accept the will of the voters no matter what it is. Period, full-stop, the governor said.

The Democrat governor repeated these talking points in his victory speech on Tuesday, which came less than one hour after polls on the West Coast closed.

Just in the last few days, the former president put out, saying this election was rigged. Democracy is not a football. You dont throw it around we may have defeated Trump, but Trumpism is not dead in this country, Newsom said

Pinning the recall on partisanship instead of the real issues plaguing Californians such as homelessness, crime, wildfires, and overbearing COVID restrictions, Haff said, not only insults voters but overlooks the diversity behind the recall movement.

I know a lot of friends and people that I know are independent and we even have some people that have called our office and they said Where do I sign up to be a volunteer? Im an independent but I dont like the direction that California is going in and its not the state I recognize, Haff said. This is a nonpartisan recall.

Matthews, who moved to California in 1959, said the state has changed and its up to voters to change it back.

It was the most Republican state in the union when I moved out here, and it has turned into the exact opposite, he said. And its only because of the apathy that has settled in so many voters. Were still a pretty conservative state, its just those people arent voting and theyre not doing anything because theyve just kind of given up. And so were just hoping that if we can maintain them or the morale and keep the movement going and keep building on it that perhaps by next year when the governors election comes up that we can make a mark.

Elder is clearly a fan favorite among Californians hoping to unseat Newsom. The states passion for the Republican broadcaster, Matthews said, should be harnessed for the 2022 gubernatorial election.

If we can get the governor and get the secretary of state out, those are the only two people we need to change in California to turn things around, Matthews said.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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Californians May Have Lost On Recall, But The War On Newsom Isn't Over - The Federalist

The FBIs pattern of unresponsiveness is troubling and has left countless victims unprotected, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday at the Senate Judiciary Committees hearing into the bureaus botched handling of the Larry Nassar investigation.

Grassley has been trying to meet with FBI Director Christopher Wray for more than a year after the FBI weaponized an information leak against him and Sen. Ron Johnson.

In May, Sens. Johnson and Grassley pressed FBI officials after seemingly confidential information was leaked to the public after a secure briefing in August 2020. The senators pointed to potential partisan leaks to reporters which the Wall Street Journal noted were used to smear Mr. Johnson and his report on Hunter Bidens foreign business dealings, suggesting that hed ignored FBI warnings and thus may have been manipulated by the Kremlin.

Before that, in a letter back in May 2019, the senators had pointed to texts and emails from Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that demonstrated the need to investigate leaks from agencies or entities other than FBI.

Grassley said on Wednesday that Wray would not address the senators concerns about the leaks from the August briefing. The bureau followed the same pattern of non-responsiveness in the Larry Nassar case, Grassley added.

In July, a report from the Department of Justices Office of the Inspector General confirmed that the FBI turned a blind eye to allegations against disgraced doctor Nassar while he abused hundreds of young women, including Team USA Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.

Ive asked Director Wray to meet with me regarding a very troubling briefing that I received August 2020 from the FBI, and which was later weaponized against me and Sen. Johnsons oversight, Grassley said in Wednesdays hearing, referencing the leaks he condemned in May. Director Wray and his staff have ignored my request to meet, mimicking the pattern here with the Nassar case non-responsiveness.

Although Grassley and Johnson requested a meeting with Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, he alleged that Wray had been consistently unresponsive.Parallel to the FBIs previous delays and inaction, Grassley said, is the bureaus neglect in the Nassar case.

Children suffered needlessly because of multiple agents in multiple offices that the FBI neglected to share Nassars allegations with their law enforcement counterparts at the state and local levels, Grassley said.

As former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Grassley previously convened a hearing on the importance of protecting young athletes from abuse. In 2018, Grassley testified before the Senate Commerce Committee and about his concerns with the FBIs handling of the Nassar investigation. The recent inspector general report on the FBIs handling of Nassar found that the FBI knew of Nassars abusive streak for years and did nothing.

When the report was released this summer, Senate Judiciary Committee leaders confirmed Wednesdays oversight hearing to hold the bureau accountable. The FBI owes the American people an accounting for its failure to protect these children, and explanation for how it plans to do better in the future, Grassley said in July.

Clearly, the bureaus corrupt and incompetent leaders placed publicity and image before victims protection, Grassleysaid at Wednesdays hearing.

Ensuring that truthful information was provided about the FBIs role in this investigation was clearly not the main priority. This is a serious problem at the heart of the FBI, not a case of a few errant agents, he said.If theres one thing the inspector generals report illustrates, its this: We need to make sure the bureau is both more effective and held more accountable.

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Grassley: FBI Refuses To Answer About Illegal Leaks And Botched Investigations - The Federalist

Sometime this summer, my colleague Chris Bedford had to be dragged kicking and screaming to discuss the infrastructure negotiations on Federalist Radio Hour. His instinct, we ultimately agreed, was correct.

Why, wondered Chris, should we spend a second worrying about deficits while the culture is crumbling around us? Why should we waste precious time fretting over the growth of the state when children are being mutilated in the name of social justice, with the full support of our institutions?

Chris came around.President Bidens new federal vaccine requirements show the dangers of treating these issues as mutually exclusive. Indeed, many on the right are increasingly tempted to treat them as such, exhausted by the useless Republican establishment and animated by the swift radicalization of our institutions.

Its boring and sounds tired, I know, but ballooning state power is not a silly fear of Zombie Reaganites and insufferable libertarians. Its a vehicle of cultural tyranny as much as economic. Its a tool for the political establishment to bulldoze our culture from their sad office buildings here in Washington.

As the chattering class debates Bidens sweeping vaccine policy, the vast scope of the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHAs) power is coming into focus. Biden invoked the Labor Department agencys authority in announcing the policy, tasking them with overseeing its implementation under the scope of their powers.

See this reference to Cass Sunsteins explanation of that scope for a harrowing reminder on the federal bureaucracys growth. Whether Bidens policy should fail in court is a different question than whether it will.

Heres how the New York Times described the agencys authority to carry out Bidens rule:

OSHA has the authority to quickly issue a rule, known as an emergency temporary standard, if it can show that workers are exposed to a grave danger and that the rule is necessary to address that danger. The rule must also be feasible for employers to enforce.

Such a standard would pre-empt existing rules by state governments, except in states that have their own OSHA-approved workplace agencies about half the states in the country. States with their own programs have 30 days to adopt a standard that is at least as effective, and that must cover state and local government employees, such as teachers. Federal OSHA rules do not cover state and local government employees.

This brings us to the definitions of emergency, grave, and necessary. The reasonably necessary or appropriate standard Sunstein highlighted is incredibly broad. Legal interpretations will obviously vary, but we neednt delve into debate over constitutional law to consider that Biden, his party, and his supporters in politics and the public are happy with his interpretation.

The popularity of that interpretation is a statement on our sprawling federal bureaucracys latent power to control our freedoms and our culture from D.C. Im vaccinated and personally hope all my loved ones are too, but peoples hesitance is entirely reasonable, as Matt Mehan of Hillsdale argues below.

But our immense cultural sorting renders the unvaccinated into toothless MAGA rubes in the eyes of our cultural elites, whose hands control the powerful levers of our massive bureaucracy. Their trigger fingers are itchy.

Two of the political establishments most powerful publications, Politico Playbook and Axios AM, gave telling treatment to Bidens decision on Friday morning. Playbook decided the neutral take on Bidens mandate was to treat it objectively as federal authority, and refer to the position that its not in his authority as stubborn and deadly.

Presuming, similarly, that Biden had done something relatively uncontroversial, Axios AM wrote a classic Republicans pounce, deciding the primary news value was the GOP reaction to Bidens policy, not the policy itself. These casual insights into the worldview of an elite cultural leftist are important. The reality that Bidens policy will be popular with a decent slice of the broader public is important as well.

Elites love corporate power, but they also love federal power. (Unless, of course, Donald Trump is exerting it.) Note that the Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable both supported Bidens vaccine requirements.

As the patterns of socioeconomic sorting worsen, the bureaucracy will grow and its stewards will be more eager to use it and more disconnected from the country they oversee. Some of the public will become numb to federal power grabs, many people will even welcome them.

From Bidens child tax credit extension, which conditions nearly all families to depend on the federal government every month for aid, to his extension of the federal eviction moratorium, this president and his elite champions are not worried about these power grabs. The blueprint for Democrats infrastructure bill is more proof of that. Their goal is to create a leftist elites utopia, blending cultural leftism with neoliberal economics and imposing it on America by any means necessary.

Mocking libertarians is a conservative tradition, made all the more fun in recent years as many reflexively defend Big Tech and woke capital. But reflexively dismissing their dry warnings about liberty does not serve conservatives well in this perilous moment.

Simply put, weve let our government become very big as its stewards have become very radical. Its a vehicle for their cultural revolution, not a distraction from it.

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The Revolution Will Be Bureaucratized - The Federalist

Amid the media frenzy surrounding President Joe Bidens decision to pull his Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) pick, David Chipman, the National Rifle Association (NRA) tells The Federalist that no Biden nominee will respect the constitutional rights of Americans.

The NRA does not expect an administration as anti-gun and radical as Bidens to nominate anyone who supports the Second Amendment and cares for the constitutional rights of American citizens, NRA spokeswoman Amy Hunter said. That said, were pleased we defeated Chipman, who was on record as a radical gun control proponent and who could have imposed widespread bans and countless attacks on [Second Amendment] rights.

Biden yanked Chipmans nomination Thursday after it became clear not enough lawmakers would back him. The senior policy advisor at Giffords, a gun-control group, has been roundly scrutinized for his controversial positions and actions. As The Federalist reported in July, Chipman claimed in 2019 he was frustrated by the First Amendment freedom of gun owners to say things he disapproved of.

Republican leadership indicated to The Federalist that Chipman was an inadequate nominee and other potential picks must show consideration for the rights of Americans.

Mr. Chipmans disregard for the Second Amendment was radical, even for the Senate Democrats who killed his nomination, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said. Leader McCarthy would support a nominee who stands with law enforcement and respects the Second Amendment a glaring omission in Mr. Chipmans resume.

A baseline qualification for anyone to be considered for this position would be a strong support for the Second Amendment and the rights of law-abiding gun owners, said Lauren Fine, spokeswoman for House Minority Whip Steve Scalise.

While the NRA is pleased with Chipmans withdrawal, the organization is still convinced the Biden administration has little regard for the Second Amendment. In August, for instance, Republicans on the Second Amendment caucus slammed the White House for altering the legal definition of a firearm.

In Chipmans defeat, weve won the most immediate threat to our rights, Hunter said. But, we expect many more battles in the future as long as Biden remains in office.

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NRA: Blocking Chipman Is A Win But Biden's War On Gun Rights Isn't Over - The Federalist

Casualties Police Officer Fatalities1 Police Officers Assaulted/Injured1402,03712 Non-Officers Who DiedAshli Babbitt, 3 others6-20+Arrests>57016,241234Federal Charges Assault17544101 Weapons>6079Estimated Damage~$1.5M$1B-$2B>$100KPretrial DetentionAt least 50 defendants transported to D.C. jail from home states; some reportedly subjected to solitary confinement; alleged abuse by prison guards, including beatings, and denial of routine access to family and attorneys. Many held without bail on misdemeanor charges in separate D.C. lockup designated for Capitol rioters.50 detained pre-trial; prosecutors appealed judges decisions to release from detention in at least 18 casesN/APretrial Detention DurationDozens held for months or longerSeveral held for monthsNo reporting indicating lengthy detentionsCase OutcomesNonviolent offenders without criminal histories given months of jail time; one dropped case.In most of a dozen major jurisdictions, 90%+ of citations/charges dropped, dismissed, or otherwise not filed; D.C. prosecutors dropped most felony rioting charges; feds dismissed or are on track to dismiss charges in majority of Portland, Ore., cases largely stemming from violence around federal buildings.21 guilty pleas, all other cases (>200) dismissedGovernment ClassificationDomestic TerrorismRiotsRiotOrganizations ImplicatedOath Keepers, Proud Boys, Three PercentersBLM; antifa; anti-BLM/anti-antifa groups#DisruptJ20 anti-fascist, anti-capitalist umbrella organizationDuration~5 hours from initial violence to orderWeeks~30 minutesScopeSingle event; single location~8,700 events, 574 involving violent acts; 140+ citiesSingle event, multiple locations in one cityInvasions of Public SpaceDefacement of PropertyOther Incidents Explosions Shootings by Participants Arson Looting Impeding Traffic Vehicular CrimesDangerous Weapons EncounteredKnives, flag poles, fire extinguishers, baseball bats, tasers, crowbars, tomahawk axesFirearms, incendiary devices including Molotov cocktails, vehicles, rocks, bricks, bottles (frozen water and glass), fireworks including those improvised to explode; poles and bats (metal and wooden), hammers, wood, cinderblocksHammers, crowbars, poles (metal and wood), wooden sticks, bricks, rocks, pieces of concrete, lighters, flares, firecrackers, other explosive devicesViolent Protester TacticsBludgeoning with poles and bats; pushing and trampling; crushing in doorways; spraying of chemical irritantsShooting at officers; throwing Molotov cocktails at officers standing at skirmish lines, or behind officers to trap them between fire and protesters; throwing dangerous objects at officers from elevated positions; using peaceful protesters as human shields; targeting officers eyes with lasers; doxing police officers; aggressive tactics to free arrestees from police custody; use of weapons caches and snack vans to conceal weaponsMass of several hundred descended on streets in a bloc clad in black with faces covered to avoid identification, armed in some cases with crowbars, hammers to cause mayhemDamage DescriptionBroken glass, doors; graffiti; varying damage to statues, murals, historic benches, original shutters, primarily from pepper spray accretions and residue from chemical irritants, fire extinguishersBurned buildings and cars, looted stores, smashed storefronts, property destruction, graffitiSmashed windows, fires, damaged vehiclesInvestigative/Prosecutorial RigorAuthorities call this one of the largest and most complex investigations in history concerning the most dangerous threat to democracy. They collected >200,000 tips, >15,000 hours of footage, >80,000 reports related to interviews of suspects and witnesses and other investigative steps; over 93,000 associated attachments. They reportedly requested, obtained, used private customer data from banks in pursuit of suspects. They also reportedly collected private cellphone data and communications data including records from members of Congress and staff in connection with investigation.Justice Dept. designated New York, Portland, Seattle as cities permitting violence and property destruction. Most major city DAs dismissed charges en masse, choosing not to prosecute protest-related cases. One would only pursue cases with multiple charges; some prosecutors refused to charge those arrested for felony crimes committed during protests despite availability of video evidence and confessions.Federal authorities reviewed 650 hours of video from police officer body cameras, cellphones, undercover cops, helicopter cameras; confiscated 188 protester cellphones; sought 1.3 million IP addresses of visitors to Disruptj20.org website, but when challenged in court, dropped request, ultimately claiming they were solely concerned with a small and focused group of individuals who visited site pursuant to singular focus in this case of investigating the planning, organization, and participation in the January 20, 2017 riot.Alleged Investigative/Prosecutorial AbusesJudges and prosecutors have cited defendants views regarding elections as indicating their danger. Charging documents frequently cite views on election fraud as suggesting wrongdoing. Judge found one defendant deprived of due process rights over withheld evidence. The federal government has kept from public view >14,000 hours of footage while selectively publishing clips. Other anomalies: slow-walking of trials; one court-appointed attorney provided reading lists to defendants to educate clients and dissuade them from purportedly wrongheaded views; another court-appointed attorney representing Jacob Chansley, a.k.a. QAnon Shaman, disparaged January 6 defendants in a May 2021 interview with Talking Points Memo, stating A lot of these defendantstheyre all f-cking short-bus people. At least one judge has questioned whether Justice Dept. is flouting the Constitutions speedy-trial clause.Claims of unprecedented wave of federal prosecutions against protesters; excessive pretrial detentionD.C. ultimately reached $1.6M settlement in two lawsuits alleging riot arrests without cause, unlawful confinement conditions, use of excessive force. Judge found government withheld evidence in certain cases. Prosecutions legal strategy decried by left as seeking to criminalize many for actions of few, through liberal riot culpability standard; slow-walking of trials.FalloutDevelopment and initiation of Biden admin countering domestic terror strategy; second impeachment of President Trump and social media banning; numerous congressional probes including January 6 Select Committee likely to span many months; lockdown of Capitol Hill; Capitol Police expansion of operations outside of D.C.Dramatic rise in homicides and aggravated assaults continuing into 2021, corresponding with declining arrest figures in several major cities; major cities facing wave of police retirements, resignations, and hiring issuesN/A

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Compare The 2017 Inauguration Riot, 2020 Riots, And 2021 Capitol Riot - The Federalist

The Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech was joined by Miranda Devine, a New York Post columnist and Fox News contributor, on the Ben Domenech Podcast to talk about what the corporate media wont cover, lessons since 9/11, and her new book, Laptop From Hell: Hunter Biden, Big Tech, and the Dirty Secrets the President Tried to Hide.

What sets apart American media in this current moment, from the rest of the world in the attitude the media has toward these partisan debates that were going through, and toward other fellow media members? Domenech asked.

I always had thought of the American mode [of journalism] as being more protected against pressures to be partisan and to lie and to [push] propaganda, Devine said, but it turned out to be more exquisitely vulnerable. Outlets like The New York Times and the Washington Post are still capable of solid journalism at moments, she added, but they have so sullied the idea of objectivity that they are now routinely publishing propaganda that services one side of politics.

The Biden administration, furthermore, is demonizing their opponents while bemoaning a lack of national unity, Domenech noted. Meanwhile, corporate media outlets have forsaken their old practice of sticking up for journalists of other political views simply for the sake of their professions integrity, with the treatment of the New York Posts Hunter Biden laptop revelations being a prime example.

The information about Joe Biden from Hunters laptop should have disqualified him from office, Devine said, and yet the story was actively suppressed it was a collusion of Big Tech, Facebook and Twitter, and The New York Times, CNN, Politico, all these august journalistic organizations decided to go mum on it.

This suppression campaign, which is all you can call it, got a big assist from the former intelligence community, Devine added. Fifty former spooks, she said, all signed an open letter to say this had all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation operation, and that was a complete lie.

Do you believe that ultimately we will learn the truth about the various deals that have been done [involving Hunter Biden], the amount of money that has sloshed through into the Biden family coffers? Domenech asked Devine. Or is this a situation where even when we do learn it, the power of the media cathedral to spin this narrative the way they want is going to mean that most Americans remain unfamiliar with it?

Hunters antics, you can only see as part of Joe Bidens, Devine said. Joe used his son as the bagman for the family. This is not a story about Hunter Biden, addict. This is a story about Joe Biden and his 50 years of corruption in the state of Deleware which he then globalized when he became vice president.

Domenech and Devine also reflected on the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and lessons learned since then. The feeling of camaraderie and unity was incredible, Devine remembered. It was like wartime.

Since then, however, the 20 years of war has really profoundly demoralized Americans because you had successive administrations that didnt know why they were sending soldiers over there, she added. Ultimately now were trying to grapple with all those years of wasted effort which was brought to an unholy conclusion by the worst person possible in Joe Biden.

While the American spirit which was on display after 9/11 is whats kept everything going and kept us safe, Devine said, unfortunately there is this malign influence now inside this country which is weakening it from within, and thats coming from the left.

Republicans should realize that the left never misses an opportunity to capitalize on misfortune, she added, and should stop expecting Democrats to work with them in a bipartisan way. Im hoping the red pilling thats happening with the Biden presidency will wake up a lot of people.

Listen to the full recording here.

Elle Reynolds is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. You can follow her work on Twitter at @_etreynolds.

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What The Campaign To Suppress The Hunter Biden Story Tells Us - The Federalist

Some on the right saw a golden opportunity for A-Class mockery when Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez showed up to this years annual Met Gala wearing a ridiculous white dress that said tax the rich on its backside.

There is nothing to laugh at or make fun of here. This is simply another example of those in power, those running our most influential cultural and political institutions, sending a message: Theres a new social hierarchy in America. And this one isnt about what you can afford to do, its about what youre allowed to do.

The more important image from the dress saga isnt the one now meme-ified a million times over, wherein mini Jenny from the Block is seen posing alone, looking back over her shoulder so the text can be seen by the camera. Its the one Ocasio-Cortez posted on Twitter, apparently being fitted for the dress. The congresswoman is not wearing a face covering. But the woman who helped her into the gown is.

Thats the way this works now. The misery of social distancing and mask-wearing during the pandemic, both pushed by Democrats and the experts, are for you, the help, to endure. Not the rich and famous. Not the ones who establish and insist on those rules.

Recall that just a few days ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the medias favorite sex symbol, lectured Americans about gathering outdoors the safest place possible at sporting events. I dont think its smart, he said on CNN, before dropping that timeless wisdom about strapping masks to your face, even when having gone through the trouble of being vaccinated against COVID-19.

Interesting. That was in August, which was the same month that former President Barack Obama, weeks earlier, was seen on video getting amp at an indoor birthday party with hundreds of guests and service staff in Marthas Vineyard. Fauci wasnt invited on national television to weigh in on that one. Or if he was, he declined.

Dukes County, where Marthas Vineyard is located, had been on an upward trend of new coronavirus infections since early July, just like almost everywhere else. Why should that particular place be the exception to host a massive indoor bash without masks? Guests at the Obama party were supposedly required to have been vaccinated, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began advising face coverings for even the vaccinated when indoors back in late July.

And New York Times reporter Annie Karni was sure to do her part reinforcing our new social order by explaining on CNN that the Obama party attendees were a sophisticated, vaccinated crowd.

Its not enough that you did what you were told was the right thing and got vaccinated. You now have to be sophisticated to enjoy large gatherings. And by sophisticated, they certainly dont mean you.

Its been happening over and over. It was also in August that Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib was seen in a video on social media, dancing at an indoor wedding in Dearborn, Michigan. She wore no mask, even though cases in Wayne County, where Dearborn is located, were climbing at a quick clip at that time.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is another one seen in recent weeks at yet another indoor wedding, beaming for photos with no mask on her face. That event was in New Mexico, where the governor had put in place a universal indoor mask mandate.

It started off looking like obscene hypocrisy: Democrat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot shutting down salons and then getting a handsome haircut. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting a closed stylist in San Francisco, against government orders, for a maskless primping. Democrat New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio overseeing the closure of gyms before heading to a fitness center for a quick pump. Democrat D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser reinstating an indoor mask mandate before attending an indoor wedding reception without a face cover.

When its so frequent and with no penalty, its no longer a matter of hypocrisy. Its just the way these people think the order is supposed to be.

And its not just masks. Recall Democrat Missouri Rep. Cori Bush calling to defund the police and then retaining her own private security. Thats the way she truly believes it should be.

The tax the rich dress wasnt a display of hypocrisy. It was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reinforcing the new hierarchy.

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AOC's Dress Wasn't About Hypocrisy, It Was About The Social Hierarchy - The Federalist

President Joe Biden has a vaccine problem, and it isnt that nearly half of Americans arent vaccinated against COVID-19.Its that every single thing the Biden administration does and says, paired with everything the massive federal bureaucracy does and says, absolutely destroys all confidence in the shot.

Take, for example, the massive clash going on right now between the administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As Politico reported on Monday, the president is mad because he wants to propel his vaccine campaign with a booster shot by Sept. 20 and the CDC isnt cooperating. The CDC is annoyed in turn because it says the White Houses plans are unrealistic.

Its a bit of a he said, she said, as far as who is holding out on whom because, of course, the administration and federal agency each have their own agenda and special interests. Either way you look at it, however, confidence in the vaccine is a casualty.

The agency that changed its guidelines under pressure from anti-science and partisan teachers unions is at war with the Biden administration that skates by under the Science(TM) banner but stoked vaccine hesitancy before they even got into office. No matter who wins the booster fight, who can trust them? Never mind the subtext to the whole debate, which is that the immunity afforded by these injections doesnt last all that long.

Thats just the administrations latest self-sabotage of faith in the vaccine. Heres another, straight from Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday night:

According to the second-in-command, the plan for ending this pandemic is By vaccinating the unvaccinated and protecting the vaccinated.

Thats exactly what we are committed to doing, she said proudly. What? Presumably, the way to protect the unvaccinated is to vaccinate them. But according to Harris, the vaccinated also need protecting, probably in the form of more testing, more masking, and more all in this together transmission mitigating which is exactly what we were doing before the vaccine, so why vaccinate?

Consider the same sort of curious mixed messaging from the president last week when he announced his plan for the Department of Labor to issue an invasive emergency overreach into every company of more than 100 employees that would require the jab or endless negative testing.

We are going to protect the vaccinated workers from unvaccinated coworkers, he declared in a video posted to Twitter, seemingly totally unaware that he destroyed the premise for getting the vaccine in the first place. If the vaccine does indeed protect those who have gotten it, why does he need to protect the vaccinated from the unvaccinated?

None of these recent PR disasters are surprising, though. After all, this is the same president who wore a mask while far away from other people after being fully vaccinated on live television. This is the same vice president who said before the election that if Donald Trump tells us that we should take [the vaccine], Im not taking it.

This is the same bureaucracy that lied about COVID-19 origins, rushed the vaccines Food and Drug Administration approval, and told the vaccinated that actually, yeah, they should keep wearing masks. This is the same administration that works with Big Tech to flag coronavirus news it doesnt like as misinformation and tells low-income workers they must comply with vaccine mandates, jump through nonsensical hoops to prove theyre healthy, or else be fired.

Biden says his patience is wearing thin with those disobedient Americans who remain unvaccinated. But if the coronavirus shot is really that critical for the unvaxxed masses, the worst thing Biden and his administration can do is to keep talking. There were never as many reasons to distrust the vaccine as there are right now, and thats on him.

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Joe Biden Is The Reason Millions Of Americans Don't Want A COVID Shot - The Federalist