Monthly Archives: March 2022

When Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago, some were quick to quip that Vladimir Putin had single-handedly killed Covid. As the story goes, worldwide collapse of public support for Covid restrictions, abysmal approval ratings for the Biden administration, and internal Democratic party polling warning of a political bloodbath in November necessitated a shift in the news cycle away from the pandemic. In characteristic lockstep, jurisdictions around the world began hastily walking back their mandates because, you know, science.

Putins war in Ukraine certainly provided a much-needed diversion from Covid woes. Yet we should not conclude that the unconscionable precepts underpinning the pandemic response have been definitively shelved, and content ourselves with gawking at the unfolding disaster in Eastern Europe. Indeed, the hoaxers who used the pandemic as an excuse to crush fundamental liberties are the same warmongers who want you riled up over Ukraines borders and transfixed by a regional dumpster fire that their own meddling, grubby hands have been pouring gasoline on for years.

Those behind the trucker convoy that has descended on D.C. have proven less easily distracted. As we mark the two-year anniversary of 15 days to slow the spread, the truckers understand better than anyone that Covid is not dead until every childs face is uncovered, every emergency order rescinded, every public health edict shredded, and every worker fired over vax mandates reinstated or compensated. To prevent the Covid cartel from ever pulling this stunt again, every lockdown-advocating, mask mandate-imposing, vax pass-wielding politician and public health mystic needs to answer for the destruction they have caused.

At a press briefing last week with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and representatives of the Peoples Convoy, one reporter seemed confused as to the point of the truckers protest, given that many mandated have now been lifted. Even conservatives like The Daily Wires Matt Walsh have superciliously questioned what difference any of this makes.

Cruz explained it this way: It makes a difference to everyone whos lost their jobs over these mandates. For Johnson, its about bringing the truth to the American public. He argued that although our response has been a miserable failure the people that foisted this response on us will never admit they were wrong.

Many of these tyrants are not only failing to acknowledge wrongdoing, theyre also not even conceding defeat. The White House has stated that President Joe Biden will veto any resolution passed by Congress to repeal the federal state of emergency, claiming the virus continues to pose a risk, and the federal government must be prepared to respond to potential future variants. The Biden administration also just extended the mask requirement for airlines and airports.

The trickle-down effect of this belligerent fear-mongering is evident in school districts nationwide, including San Francisco and Boston, as well as institutions like George Mason University, that still cling to mandates. New York City Mayor Eric Adams just announced that masks will continue to be required for all settings for children younger than five. Worse, the citys new color-coded system for the Covid alert level reveals that lockdowns are very much still on the table.

Elsewhere in the world, repeals of mandates conceal sneaky clauses permitting future draconian action if the despots so choose. Austria has already announced a U-turn on its egregious general vaccine mandate, which would have entailed roughly $4,000 fines for adults who refused to comply. Yet EU Minister Karoline Edtstadler emphasized this is only a temporary suspension, which allows the legal framework to be kept in place in case another, more dangerous variant became dominant in the future.

Similarly in Germany, where authorities announced the lifting of Covid restrictions by March 20, masks and testing will still be mandatory in some settings and individual states can continue to impose vax passes. The new legislation is supposed to guard against future waves.

Indeed, Health Minister Karl Lauterbachwarned on Friday that the pandemic was certainly not over, the situation in Germany was critical, and the easing of restrictions was to blame for the record high daily case numbers. He also speculated that without a general vaccine mandate, autumn could bring a new surge of infections, a view shared by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

This Covid forever hysteria is by no means confined to outliers. One hundred and thirty politicians, officials, Hollywood A-listers, and other grifters just signed an open letter insisting that the pandemic is not over, warning western leaders against complacency, and urging more spending on vaccines, testing, and PPE.

This attitude underscores the argument by Peoples Convoy spokesman Brian Brase that this is not just an American but a global issue, describing it as a renaissance of freedom. States of emergency and mandates must be rescinded worldwide, and investigations launched into the public health measures adopted by our elected and non-elected officials. If not, the pandemic campaign will continue, with a continually-stocked arsenal of variants, surges, and boosters serving as weapons with which to dominate populations and punish dissenters.

It was never the prerogative of politicians, health agencies, and international organizations to snatch our rights away. Enormous suffering has been inflicted as a result, and the working and middle classes throughout the world are shouldering the burden of this outrage.

A 2020 UNICEF analysis projected that an additional 150 million children will be plunged into multidimensional poverty. UNICEFs latest findings, using data from 35 countries, revealed that at least 68 percent of households with children have lost income since the start of the lockdowns. Roughly a quarter of adults living with children reported going without food for a day or longer. Among households with children who were attending school before the pandemic, only one-half reported children participating in any educational activities after authorities shut down schools.

Here in the United States, where millions of students were forced out of their classrooms for the better part of a year, studies warn of serious language and literacy deficits among children in the earliest grades. The long-term cognitive, emotional, and physical impact of muzzling our little ones against their will, including elementary school students, toddlers, the hearing impaired, and other special-needs children for several hours a day may never be fully comprehended.

Those who crowed about an overall 5 percent drop in U.S. suicides for 2020, did not seem particularly concerned by indicators that suicides for blacks and Latinos surged during that period. Another sobering statistic is the 30 percent jump in drug overdoses during 2020 to an estimated 93,331 deaths, the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period.

Thousands of Americans have lost their jobs thanks to vax mandates, despite the admission by Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky that vaccines do not prevent transmission and revelations the CDC has been withholding key data on vaccine and booster efficacy. Late last year, the largest health care provider in New York fired 1,400 doctors and nurses who didnt want the injection.

Corporations including Google, Facebook, Tyson Foods, Verizon, Nike and Columbia Sportswear have all imposed vaccination requirements for staff. Even a Catholic Priest in Vermont, who has served as pastor of his parish for two decades, was just dismissed by his bishop for resisting the dioceses intrusive vax and mask policy.

Now the authors of this debacle expect us to ignore the wreckage and ogle at Ukraine, or whatever freakshow they parade before us next, while they get to withhold and dispense freedoms as they desire, whenever the political moment is right.

Covid will not be killed by Putins war in Ukraine, or any other impeccably timed, amnesia-inducing catastrophe. It will be destroyed by ditching the fake science and superstition, recognizing the peoples sovereignty over their own lives, and holding accountable the gang of self-serving officials and petty tyrants who spent two years crushing us.

Carina Benton is a dual citizen of Australia and Italy and a permanent resident of the United States. A recent West Coast migr, she is now helping to repopulate the countrys interior. She holds a masters degree in education and has taught languages, literature, and writing for many years in Catholic and Christian, as well as secular institutions. She is a practicing Catholic and a mother of two young children.

Go here to see the original:

Covid Isn't Over Until Every Official Who Abused It Is Held Accountable For The Destruction They Caused - The Federalist

Presumably because of her inspirational performance as czar of the Southern border crisis, President Joe Biden sent Vice President Kamala Harris to Poland to represent the United States as Europe and NATO grapple with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That trip resulted in moments like a really awkward outburst of cackling in response to a question about Ukrainian refugees, a reaction Harris has delivered before in response to serious questions about things like the deadly U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the migrant crisis at our own border.

But Harris has another special talent, in addition to her incredible penchant for laughing at all the wrong moments. She has an incredible ability to say absolute gibberish and then look genuinely inspired by herself. We can all benefit from a little of that inspiration, reminding us that lying is what Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been doing, and the day she does it is every day.

Or was it that paying higher gas prices is what weve all been doing and the time for it is every day? Or that inflation is rising and the time it does is every day?

Either way, shes an inspiration, putting to shame even our cultural bastions of profound wisdom like Deep Thoughts with Jack Handey.

In Harris honor, here are some high-quality motivational posters featuring some of her most inspirational quotes. Feel free to print them out and frame them, alongside your certificate of getting your seventh Covid booster and your Ive never been to Europe vintage travel poster. Or post them on Twitter to show everyone how much you admire strong women and love paying more money for groceries. Be inspired, and youre welcome.

There was this profound reminder, from Harriss inspiring spiel suggesting that Americans struggling at the gas pump just shell out $56,000 and change for an electric car.

There was also this teambuilding charge, from a November trip to France. (The only thing that would have made it more inspirational is if shed said it in a French accent but that was a different point on the trip.)

Then there was this resurfaced insight about her voter base from 2014, which may be the truest thing shes ever said.

And of course, Harris helpful foreign policy expertise was on display in a radio interview earlier in March.

She also has profound insights as to what living in rural America is actually like.

And then there was this remark about the countrys Covid response, which is so wise it could be applied to literally almost any situation (unless, of course, what youre doing is bad like shutting down the country or causing inflation or trying to start a war, in which case it is time to stop doing what you have been doing every day and do something else).

Then, in a February speech at the White House, Harris proved her sanguine ability to leave the teleprompter behind.

In addition to uncomfortably laughing at a question about Ukrainian refugees, Harris used a press conference in Poland last week to deliver this inspiring reminder of what we know, and what we dont.

Finally, her most iconic phrase, which she has a seemingly endless ability to work into any conversation.

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.

Here is the original post:

Kamala Harris Quotes As Motivational Posters, Because The Time To Be Inspired Is Every Day - The Federalist

Less than nine months after Meghan McCain signed off as the conservative co-host of The View, the panel of leftist ladies has turned to offering their full endorsement of a fascist police state with no on-air pushback.

On Monday, ABCs daytime political talk show hosts made headlines demanding President Joe Bidens Department of Justice (DOJ) probe Fox News Tucker Carlson and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as Russian assets. The same Department of Justice targeted parents last fall who made objections to race-based curriculums and integration of radical gender theory into schools as domestic terrorists.

I think the DOJ, in the same way that it is setting up a task force to investigate oligarchs, should look into people who are Russian propagandists and shilling for Putin, said longtime substitute co-host Ana Navarro filling in for Sara Haines. Thats being, if you are a foreign asset of to a dictator, it should be investigated.

Carlson and Gabbards apparent crime? Public dissent to the media-manufactured consensus that American intervention in Ukraine is in U.S. interests.

Navarros radical suggestion went unchallenged on air, with no pushback even from the former Trump White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin, auditioning for the conservative chair left vacant by McCain. Griffin, however, now a CNN commentator, is no conservative crusader having capitalized on the media incentive to play the Republican who attacks other Republicans.

In the absence of any repudiation of the idea that political dissidents be prosecuted by state actors, Whoopi Goldberg supported the approach.

They used to arrest people for doing stuff like this, Goldberg said. If they thought you were colluding with a Russian agent, if they thought you were putting out information or taking information and handing it over to Russia, they used to actually investigate stuff like this. And I guess now, you know, there seems to be no bars. (Its unclear whether Goldberg was referring to the United States unjust practice of rounding up Japanese Americans suspected of being foreign agents during World War II, or some other historical event.)

Is there any evidence that Carlson or Gabbard were deliberately colluding with Russian agents to manipulate public opinion? If there was, the panel co-hosts amplifying a conspiracy theory promoted by Hillary Clinton three years ago failed to offer any. Griffin, whose job in the conservative seat is to refute extreme ideas on air, did nothing to counteract the echo chamber playing to the programs more than two million viewers. Instead, the conservative tryout sat silent after supporting Utah Sen. Mitt Romneys indictment of Gabbard as guilty of treason.

Navarro spent the afternoon on Twitter doubling down on authoritarian demands that the Biden administration criminalize dissent on Ukraine.

Navarro, who self-identifies as a Republican but cant explain why, argued because Gabbard and Carlsons talking points have been adopted by Russian state television, the pair are required to register as foreign agents.

In contrast, McCain offered a preview of what might have been said to the shows massive audience had she or another genuine free speech activist been present instead of Griffin.

I strongly support the most robust intervention possible to help Ukrainians. Putin is a thug and a monster, and this war must end now, McCain wrote on Twitter. I am also friends with [Tulsi Gabbard] and we have robust, respectful political arguments and differences.

For months the networks flagship daytime program has struggled to recruit a permanent conservative co-host to replace McCain. The search parameters nearly guarantee the networks pick will not be someone who would offer substantive and consistent pushback to the hive mind playing out on screen.

Politico Playbook outlined the criteria producers and the incumbent co-hosts were looking for in December:

Sources close to the show said that the search has stalled as executives struggle to find a conservative cast-member who checks all the right boxes. They will not consider a Republican who is a denier of the 2020 election results, embraced the January 6 riots, or is seen as flirting too heavily with fringe conspiracy theories or the MAGA wing of the GOP. But at the same time, the host must have credibility with mainstream Republicans, many of whom still support Donald Trump.

Of course, such constraints indicate broad definitions of what it means to be a denier of the 2020 elections results or flirting too heavily with the MAGA wing of the GOP. In other words, the co-hosts dont want a new panelist who represents the Republican base ready to offer a serious challenge on air.

The end result is a rotating audition of panelists who are selective in what they counter, leading to the extremism broadcast Monday.

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.

Link:

Lack Of Ideological Diversity On 'The View' Is Breeding Dangerous Ideas - The Federalist

Every time some member of the ruling class says inflation is transitory or we predict it will come down by the end of the year, I read it as confirmation things are going to get worse. Thats because these are the same people who told us just a few months ago that inflation wasnt happening until it was so obvious that the screen people had to switch narratives.

Its also because U.S. corporate media, which today drives national politics, has been for some time the American Pravda. You have to read between the lines, sometimes backward, to understand what is really going on.

These are, recall, the same people who also tell us every election is questionable except 2020s, some men are women, babies arent people, war is bad but we should get into another one, and critical race theory is a mirage. They simply cant be trusted on anything.

In fact, a rule of thumb Ive developed based on watching the media lie so many times is that whenever the ruling class insists on something, its a pretty good bet to assume the opposite is closer to the truth. It works extremely well to combat propaganda stampedes.

The people telling us that inflations not happening but its Vladimir Putins fault do so in direct contradiction to empirical demonstrations of the opposite. Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, for one, demonstrated that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon i.e. directly caused by governments essentially printing money.

Its the money supply, stupid. And hoo boy, has our government been printing money. Its not only gone on a money-printing bender using the magical blank-check excuse of covid, but hundreds of billions of deficit-funded dollars Congress already chucked out of helicopters hasnt even gone into circulation yet. Massive Federal Reserve money creation likely hasnt finished hitting the markets, and the minuscule interest rate hikes on the Feds table this week arent close to the levels needed even to start addressing that situation.

In addition, state and local governments are hoarding some $800 billion of already passed Covid stimulus. Approximately $1 trillion more in infrastructure spending is also still not out the door. This is all yet to be spent while the federal government has already expanded the dollar supply (M2) more than 40 percent since February 2020. So were seeing historic inflation right now long before Congress has finished blowing up the balloon.

This is the same Congress telling us that balloon needs even more air. Besides Democrats constant insistence that we need trillions more in unfunded spending for an even bigger welfare state, Republicans just helped them pass another porkfest omnibus that keeps all the palms greased and the countrys structural problems unaddressed, like usual. This is a Congress that sends billions to a foreign country while our own is in complete disarray.

Washingtons complete dysfunction and constant, dangerous denials of reality indicate that more inflation and other crises are already baked into the economic cake. Anyone saying otherwise is an idiot or lying.

Another confirmation that inflation is going to continue for the foreseeable future is that the people whose responsibility it is to get this situation under control seem to live in la-la land. Congress is completely controlled by magical thinking and has been for so many years, to the point its legit to wonder if they all live in an alternate universe inside Meta headsets. Given how much power Twitter hashtags have over government priorities, this metaphor is already pretty close to reality.

In Congresss alternate universe, spending trillions of dollars Americans and their grandkids dont have and cant possibly ever earn is not only a great idea, it will solve the problem of not having enough money. Spending is saving!

The decades-long persistence of this type of unserious abdication of leadership underscores that it is a systemic problem. Along with Democrats, Republicans voted for the legislation that gave us todays inflation, and they help maintain the conditions under which it will continue. The same system giving us historic inflation and other unaddressed national crises is not exactly positioned to solve those crises.

Anyone with half an education who did not live in congressional la-la land could see that bombing the supply chain under Covid and then blanketing the most in-debt country in the history of humankind with even more fake dollars would cause an economic crisis. It doesnt take fancy degrees to understand that spending a lot of money you dont have is for fools. Plenty of hillbillies and high-school dropouts know that.

Since all Congress apparently knows how to do is spend money Americans dont have, thats what they did in historic amounts because Covid, thereby directly causing historic inflation. Witless Republicans willingly assisted in the fake panic Democrats fanned over Covid to shower campaign donors with piles of cash and Americans with just enough leftover bits of cash to shut them up about trading their constitutional rights for this mess of government pottage.

The same people who got us into this mess sure as shootin aint going to get us out. People in the ruling class make enough income that they can buy Teslas that run on coal-fired electricity while the rest of us stay home because we cant afford to fill up our Camrys. They also self-insure from the national crises they create by using those crises to gain even more power.

The ruling class loves creating crises, because destroying their fellow citizens lives and livelihoods allows them to seize more power while other people panic. Until enough Americans get wise to this bipartisan dynamic and amass enough effective pushback for long enough to stop it, things are only going to get worse.

More here:

Ruling Class Response To Inflation Proves It's Only Going To Get Worse - The Federalist

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah voted with a room filled with several bare-faced Democrats on Tuesday to keep the federal mask mandates for toddlers as young as two years old.

During a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing over the bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act, Romney voted no to lifting mask and jab mandates in the federal Head Start program.

The current U.S. Department of Health and Human Services standards for the Head Start program require universal masking for all individuals two years of age and older and Covid-19 jab proof for all adults involved in the program.

Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana introduced an amendment to the PREVENT Pandemics Act which was was designed to prevent HHS from implementing or enforcing their regulations regarding mask or vaccination protections in the Head Start program again.

After being subjected to federal mask mandates for almost two years, President Biden announced in his State of the Union address under the CDCs new mask guidelines, most Americans in most of the country can now be mask-free, Braun said. I completely agree with him on that. Its time to get our lives back especially based upon science and not the political science.

Brauns amendment was publicly backed by several of his GOP colleagues who noted the low-risk Covid poses to children.

Really, what were doing is just punishing children, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said. The rest of America is insulted by you telling them that their kids who are not at risk from dying from this disease, are not spreading it, that somehow were going to force these kids to keep wearing masks. Its unscientific, its inhumane and it stunting their learning.

Despite urgings from other Republicans, the amendment ultimately failed. Even though swing Republicans such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted to unmask the children, Romney crossed the aisle and helped doom two-year-olds to wearing face coverings even though most adults in cities, schools, and workplaces dont have to any longer.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordangdavidson.

Read more from the original source:

Mitt Romney Just Voted To Keep Masking Two-Year-Olds - The Federalist