CHAZ Thugs Exposed Doing EVERYTHING They Condemn America For
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzeiBeZYVtk
Here’s a detailed summary of Obama’s IRS scandal, explaining how his administration illegally used the IRS to harass conservative organizations.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
June 14, 2020
In May 2013, the Washington Post reported that the IRS had illegally targeted conservative groups for additional reviews. Organizations with the words “tea party” or “patriot” were singled out for harassment, such as requiring them to provide a list of donors, details about their internet postings on social networking websites, and information about their family members.
When this was first reported by the media in May 2013, Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that had conducted these illegal activities, claimed that only low level employees had known about it, and that no high level IRS officials had known about it. However, soon afterward, NPR reported that an Inspector General report showed that Lerner had been lying, and that she herself had actually been aware of it since June 29, 2011. Even worse, during March and April of 2012, Lerner herself had actually written such letters to fifteen different conservative groups. One of these letters can be read here.
While testifying in May 2013, Lerner said:
“I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations. And I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.”
However, afterward, Lerner invoked her fifth amendment right to remain silent. The Washington Post reported that there was disagreement as to whether or not Lerner’s statement constituted a waiving of her fifth amendment right to remain silent. Soon afterward, she was placed on paid administrative leave. At a later hearing in March 2014, Lerner again invoked her fifth amendment right to remain silent.
In September 2013, a House committee released several of Lerner’s emails, which showed that she had targeted tea party groups, and that she had asked that their applications be delayed. In one of the emails from 2011, she had written “Tea Party Matter very dangerous.”
In September 2013, after having been on paid leave for four months, Lerner had still not been fired by Obama.
In September 2013, Lerner retired with a full pension.
In October 2013, it was reported that newly discovered emails proved that Lerner had violated federal law by giving the Federal Election Commission confidential tax information of several Tea party groups.
The Washington Post reported that IRS officials at the IRS headquarters in Washington D.C. had sent such letters to conservatives groups. Reuters reported that higher level IRS officials had taken part in discussions about it as early as August 2011. However, 21 months later, on May 10, 2013, the Washington Post reported that President Obama had not done anything to investigate or fire the IRS employees who had engaged in this illegal harassment. As of May 14, 2013, none of the IRS employees who engaged in any of this illegal behavior had been disciplined, despite the fact that higher level IRS officials had known about their illegal behavior at least since August 2011. Despite all of these media reports about the involvement of high level IRS officials, in February 2014, Obama said that these things had come from “a local office.”
On May 15, 2013, it was reported that Steven Miller, the acting IRS commissioner, had resigned. However, it was also reported that his assignment would have ended in early June anyway. He resigned – Obama did not fire him.
The IRS gave out confidential information about conservative groups. ProPublica wrote:
“The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year.”
“In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved—meaning they were not supposed to be made public.”
“No unapproved applications from liberal groups were sent to ProPublica.”
President Obama either lied about when he first knew about this – or was too busy playing golf and attending fundraisers to read the memos that were sent to him. The Daily Caller wrote:
“White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a press conference Tuesday that the White House was notified about the IRS targeting tea party groups ‘several weeks ago.’ This comes a day after President Obama said he found out about it from news reports on Friday of last week.”
“During a press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday, President Obama was asked about the IRS scandal. He responded, ‘I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday.’ “
“However, Carney said Tuesday that first a report had to be compiled by the IRS’s inspector general and then when it was completed, it was passed on to the administration.”
“‘A notification is appropriate and routine and that is what happened and that happened several weeks ago,’ Carney said.”
When Media Trackers, a conservative organization, applied to the IRS for non-profit status, after waiting 16 months, it got no response. But when it reapplied with a liberal sounding name, it got approval in just three weeks. Yahoo wrote:
“In May 2011, Drew Ryun, a conservative activist and former Republican National Committee staffer, began filling out the Internal Revenue Service application to achieve nonprofit status for a new conservative watchdog group.”
“When September 2012 arrived with still no word from the IRS, Ryun determined that Media Trackers would likely never obtain standalone nonprofit status, and he tried a new approach: He applied for permanent nonprofit status for a separate group called Greenhouse Solutions, a pre-existing organization that was reaching the end of its determination period.”
“The IRS approved Greenhouse Solutions’ request for permanent nonprofit status in three weeks.”
Politico reported:
“The same Internal Revenue Service office that singled out Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny also challenged Israel-related organizations, at least one of which filed suit over the agency’s handling of its application for tax-exempt status.”
“The trouble for the Israel-focused groups seems to have had different origins than that experienced by conservative groups, but at times the effort seems to have been equally ham-handed.”
The IRS asked conservative groups what books they were reading.
Although the IRS went 18 months or longer without responding to conservative organizations’ applications, the IRS demanded that these same organizations answer the IRS’s intrusive questions within a few weeks.
After the Waco Tea Party sent an application to the IRS, the IRS waited 19 months to respond. In its response, the IRS asked for printouts of its web page and social networking sites, copies of all of its newsletters, bulletins and fliers, and copies of all stories written about it. The IRS also asked for transcripts of its radio interviews.
As one example of how the IRS treated conservative organizations differently from liberal ones, Politico reported:
“Chris Littleton, one of the co-founders of the Ohio Liberty Coalition, said the group got a grilling from the IRS when it submitted its application, in letters the group has posted on its website. The IRS also gave him so much grief when he tried to apply for tax-exempt status for another group, American Junto, that ‘we just gave up on it,’ he said.”
“But when he submitted an application for a third group — Ohioans for Health Care Freedom, now renamed Ohio Rising — ‘it went through just fine,’ Littleton said. ‘They never asked a single set of questions.’”
After the Greater Phoenix Tea Party Patriots sent in their application, it took two years for the IRS to respond. The IRS response included 35 questions. When the group’s cofounder called the IRS, the IRS agent claimed that he had their group’s file right in front of him. But when the group’s confounder asked the IRS agent a question, the IRS agent asked, “What’s your group’s name again?”
Tea Party groups who spoke with each other said they were all getting the same questions from the IRS.
The Washington Post reported that some IRS employees were “ignorant about tax laws, defiant of their supervisors, and blind to the appearance of impropriety.”
In 2012, the IRS leaked confidential information about Mitt Romney to the co-chairman of President Obama’s re-election committee.
For a 27 month period that began in February 2010, the IRS gave exactly zero approvals to Tea Party organizations that had sent in applications. During that same time period, numerous liberal organizations with names including words such as “progress” or “progressive” did get approval.
After True the Vote, a conservative organization which was founded by Catherine Engelbrecht, sent its application to the IRS, the IRS went three years without responding. During that three year period, Engelbrecht and her family’s small manufacturing business were audited by the IRS, and were investigated by OSHA, the ATF, and the FBI.
Democratic U.S. Senators pressured the IRS to target conservative groups. In May 2013, U.S. News & World Report wrote:
“Over the last three years, Democratic senators repeatedly and publicly pressured the IRS to engage in the very activities that they are only now condemning today. At the same time, Republicans repeatedly and publicly warned against this abuse of government power and pointed to a series of red flags that strongly suggested conservative political organizations were being targeted by the IRS. Those warnings were deliberately ignored by the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress.”
“From Max Baucus to Chuck Schumer to Jeanne Shaheen, key Senate Democrats publicly pressured the IRS to target groups that held differing political views and who, in their view, had the temerity to engage in the political process. The IRS listened to them and acted.”
In order to get approval, the IRS required members of Coalition for Life of Iowa, a pro-life organization, to sign a promise to avoid protesting in front of Planned Parenthood.
The IRS asked Christian Voices for Life, a pro-life organization, questions about its prayer vigils.
According to the official White House visitor’s log, during Obama’s first four years as President, IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman made 157 visits to the White House. This is more visits to the White House – by a very large margin – than any other cabinet member during Obama’s first term. By comparison, during the four years that Mark Everson was IRS commissioner when Bush was president, Everson made only one visit to the White House.
Shulman donated $500 to the Democratic National Committee in October 2004.
During Congressional testimony that had taken place in March 2012, Shulman falsely said that the IRS had not targeted conservative groups.
Shulman’s wife, Susan L. Anderson, is the senior program advisor for Public Campaign, a liberal organization. The Dailer Caller wrote of this group:
“Public Campaign receives “major funding” from the pro-Obamacare alliance Health Care for America NOW!, which is comprised of the labor unions AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, and the progressive activist organization Move On, among others.”
“Public Campaign also receives funding from the liberal Ford Foundation, the Common Cause Education Fund, and Barbra Streisand’s The Streisand Foundation, among other foundations and private donors.”
Stephen Seok was one of the IRS agents who wrote threatening letters to conservative groups. After doing so, he was given a promotion.
In June 2013, it was reported that two IRS employees had violated government ethics rules at a 2010 conference when they received $1,100 in free food and other items. One of them was Fred Schindler, the director of implementation oversight at the IRS Affordable Care Act office. The other was Donald Toda, a California-based employee. Obama did not fire them. Instead, he gave both of them paid leave. By comparison, in 1981, President Reagan fired 11,359 air-traffic controllers who had been illegally striking.
In June 2013, it was reported that The National Organization for Marriage, a conservative organization, had forensic evidence which proved that its donors’ private information had been illegally leaked by the IRS. The IRS employees who illegally leaked this private information could get five years in prison. However, Obama refused to file any charges against these IRS criminals.
The IRS illegally leaked the private information of Christine O’Donnell the same day that she announced that she would run for U.S. Senate as a tea party candidate.
According to White House visitor logs, Obama met with Colleen Kelley, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union, on March 31, 2010. The very next day, IRS employees who belonged to that union union started to target tea party organizations.
In June 2013, Associated Press claimed that the IRS had targeted liberal groups, but refused to actually name any of those liberal groups.
In July 2013, it was reported that Obama had met with a key IRS official who was involved in the targeting just two days before the key official had told his colleagues how to target tea party groups. The Daily Caller reported:
“The Obama appointee implicated in congressional testimony in the IRS targeting scandal met with President Obama in the White House two days before offering his colleagues a new set of advice on how to scrutinize tea party and conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.”
“IRS chief counsel William Wilkins, who was named in House Oversight testimony by retiring IRS agent Carter Hull as one of his supervisors in the improper targeting of conservative groups, met with Obama in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 23, 2012. Wilkins’ boss, then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman, visited the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 24, 2012, according to White House visitor logs.”
“On April 25, 2012, Wilkins’ office sent the exempt organizations determinations unit “additional comments on the draft guidance” for approving or denying tea party tax-exempt applications, according to the IRS inspector general’s report.”
In May 2013, Jon Stewart said of the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups:
“Well, congratulations, President Barack Obama. Conspiracy theorists who generally can survive in anaerobic environments have just had an algae bloom dropped on their f***ing heads, thus removing the last arrow in your pro-governance quiver: skepticism about your opponents.”
In May 2013, Michael Macleod-Ball, chief of staff at the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, said of the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups:
“Even the appearance of playing partisan politics with the tax code is about as constitutionally troubling as it gets. With the recent push to grant federal agencies broad new powers to mandate donor disclosure for advocacy groups on both the left and the right, there must be clear checks in place to prevent this from ever happening again.”
In January 2014, it was reported that the Obama administration had chosen Barbara Kay Bosserman to head the investigation of the IRS’s targeting of tea party groups. Bosserman had donated more than $6,000 to Obama’s two presidential campaigns.
In January 2014, it was reported that since Sarah Palin had announced her candidacy for vice-President in 2008, the IRS had harassed her father six different times. Prior to that, the IRS had never contacted him during the 50 years that he had worked. The report did not specify how many of these six incidents happened under President Bush, or how many happened under President Obama.
In January 2014, it was reported that during the FBI’s so-called “investigation” of the IRS’s harassment of tea party groups, the FBI had not actually interviewed any tea party groups.
In January 2014, it was reported that the IRS had demanded that Friends of Abe (a conservative organization whose members work in the entertainment industry) give the IRS enhanced access to its security protected website (which included its secret membership list), even though such a demand was not standard IRS procedure. In addition, even though the organization had applied to the IRS for tax free status two years earlier, the IRS had still not made a decision regarding the application.
In February 2014, Obama said that there was “not even a smidgeon of corruption” in the IRS’s actions.
In February 2014, it was reported that during Obama’s presidency, 100% of the established 501(c)(4) groups that had been audited by the IRS were conservative.
In February 2014, when Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly asked Obama about the IRS harassment of tea party groups, Obama said “These kinds of things keep on surfacing, in part because you and your TV station will promote them.”
In May 2014, it was reported that tea party donors had been audited by the IRS at ten times the rate of the general population.
In May 2014, it was reported that the IRS had illegally ignored four Freedom of Information requests from Judicial Watch between May 2013 and October 2013. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit in October 2013, and was finally able to get the information in May 2014. It showed that the orders for the IRS to harass tea party members had come from IRS headquarters in Washington D.C. It also showed that U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) had pressured the IRS to shut down tea party organizations.
In June 2014, the IRS claimed that Lerner’s emails to outside agencies from January 2009 through April 2011 had been “lost” when her hard drive “crashed.” Also in June 2014, the IRS claimed to have “lost” the emails from six additional IRS employees who were relevant to this scandal when their hard drives “crashed.” One of these IRS employees was Nikole Flax, who had been chief of staff to former IRS commissioner Steven Miller. Flax had made 31 visits to the White House during the time that the IRS had been targeting tea party groups. However, a private company called Sonasoft had a contract with the IRS since 2005 to back up all of the IRS’s emails. The company keeps multiple and redundant backup copies of all the IRS’s emails. The company advertised itself by saying “If the IRS uses Sonasoft products to back up their servers why wouldn’t you choose them to protect your servers?” In addition, Norman Cillo, an Army veteran who had worked in intelligence, and who had also worked as a program manager at Microsoft, listed six reasons why the IRS’s claim about “losing” the emails must be false. Also, federal law requires the IRS to keep permanent, backup copies of all of its emails at an external location. And finally, the NSA has copies of all of the emails.
Although federal law requires the IRS to keep permanent, backup copies of all of its emails at an external location, in June 2014, it was reported that the IRS has canceled its email archiving contract with Sonasoft weeks after Lerner’s computer “crashed.”
In June 2014, it was reported that emails showed that Lerner had suggested that the IRS audit U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).
In June 2014, the IRS admitted that it had illegally given out information about the conservative group National Organization for Marriage.
In July 2014, it was reported that Lerner had called Republicans “crazies” and “assholes” in her emails.
In July 2014, it was reported that after Lerner’s hard drive “crashed,” the IRS deliberately destroyed it, without making any attempt to recover her emails. Top IRS officials told Congressional investigators that the hard drive was irreparably damaged before they destroyed it. However, IRS technical experts who had examined the hard drive before the IRS destroyed it said that this was not true, and that the data could have been recovered. Bruce Webster, partner at Provo, Utah-based IT consulting and expert witness firm Ironwood Experts, who has served as a consulting and IT expert in more than 80 civil lawsuits, said of this:
“… the IRS has no excuses for having handled this so poorly… This happens all the time… There are little storefront companies in just about every major city that can do this and there are forensic companies that can restore files and even do higher end recovery of data.”
In August 2014, the IRS admitted in a court filing that it had deliberately destroyed Lerner’s Blackberry after her computer “crashed.” In addition, an IRS official admitted, under penalty of perjury, that Lerner’s Blackberry had contained the same emails that had been on her computer.
In August 2014, the IRS finally admitted, under penalty of perjury, that Lerner’s emails had never really been “lost.” The IRS said the “missing” emails had been on its backup system all along.
On November 5, 2014, it was reported that the IRS had admitted to the court that it had not even tried to find Lerner’s “missing” emails in its backup system.
On November 21, 2014, it was reported that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration had obtained as many as 30,000 of Lerner’s “missing” emails from IRS disaster recovery tapes.
In February 2015, it was reported that Lerner had received a total of $129,300 in bonuses between 2010 and 2013.
As of April 2015, no criminal charges had been filed against Lerner.
On June 12, 2015, when the IRS missed a court ordered deadline for releasing 6,400 newly found emails from Lerner’s hard drive, the IRS said it would not be able to release those emails for another three months because it needed those three months to remove any duplicates.
In June 2015, government investigators said the IRS had “mistakenly” erased 422 backup tapes of IRS emails.
In July 2015, the House Oversight Committee released information which showed that in 2011, when Lerner’s hard drive was examined by John Minsek, a senior investigative analyst with the IRS Criminal Investigations unit, it contained “well-defined scoring creating a concentric circle in the proximity of the center of the disk.”
In July 2015, the House Oversight Committee released information which showed that the IRS had avoided searching five of six possible sources of electronic media for Lerner’s emails.
In July 2015, the House Oversight Committee released information which showed that some IRS officials, including some who were supervised by Lerner, had used a “wholly separate” instant messaging system called “Office Communication Server” that automatically erased its messages. None of these messages were archived. In an email conversation, Lerner had asked if the Office Communication Server archived its messages, and when she was told that it did not archive its messages, she responded by saying “Perfect.”
In July 2015, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan threatened to hold IRS employees, including IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, in contempt because they had illegally ignored the judge’s orders to release some of Lerner’s emails and other IRS documents. These same IRS employees had previously illegally ignored Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits for those same emails and other documents.
In August 2015, a report by the Senate Finance Committee said that during the 40 month period from February 2009 through May 2012, only one conservative group had been granted non-profit status by the IRS. The Senate Finance Committee report stated:
“Due to the circuitous process implemented by Lerner, only one conservative political advocacy organization was granted tax-exempt status between February 2009 and May 2012. Lerner’s bias against these applicants unquestionably led to these delays, and is particularly evident when compared to the IRS’s treatment of other applications…”
“Although applications from the Tea Party and conservative organizations languished at the IRS, this was not the case for all groups that applied. In cases where the IRS wanted to act quickly, it did – particularly for other high-profile applications that attracted political attention…”
“The IRS’s treatment of these organizations was almost universally consistent with Lerner’s personal political views – this is, supporting Democratic candidates and opposing conservative tax-exempt organizations…”
The Senate Finance Committee report also said:
“We found evidence that Lerner’s personal political views directly resulted in disparate treatment for applicants affiliated with Tea Party and other conservative causes…”
“Her influence led not only to indefinite delays in the processing of these groups’ applications for tax-exempt status, but also to audits. During that same time, the IRS generally responded quickly and favorably to nonprofit organizations that were affiliated with progressive causes…”
In June 2016, the IRS released a list of names of 426 conservative organizations that it had targeted.
In June 2016, it was reported that in October 2010, at Lerner’s request, 1.25 million pages of confidential tax returns had been transferred from the IRS to the Department of Justice’s criminal division. The only way that this transfer could have been legal would be if the Justice Department had specifically requested it, and the only circumstances under which the Justice Department is legally allowed to make such a request is when the parties in question are under criminal investigation by the Justice Department. However, the Justice Department never requested these documents, and there was no criminal investigation of these organizations by the Justice Department. Therefore, Lerner’s action was illegal. Included in this transfer were the names and address of donors to these organizations – information which is supposed to be private and confidential. Of course, as always, Obama refused to file any charges against Lerner for her illegal activity.
On July 29, 2016, a Freedom of Information lawsuit by Judicial Watch resulted in more documents being released. These documents showed that top IRS officials in Washington D.C., including Lerner, had known as early as the summer of 2011 that the IRS was targeting conservative groups because of their ideology and political affiliation. Judicial Watch wrote of this:
“These documents show that the Obama FBI and Justice Department had plenty of evidence suggesting illegal targeting, perjury, and obstruction of justice. Both the FBI and Justice Department collaborated with the Lois Lerner and the IRS to try to prosecute and jail Barack Obama’s political opponents. These documents show the resulting compromised investigation looked the other way when it came to Obama’s IRS criminality.”
On August 1, 2016, Judicial Watch released additional documents, which showed that the IRS targeting of conservative groups had been happening since 2010, and that it had lasted though the November 2012 election. Multiple IRS employees said that applications from conservatives groups had been automatically denied approval, and were placed in a special “inventory” while IRS employees awaited further instructions from IRS headquarters in Washington D.C. Multiple IRS agents said that these IRS policies guaranteed that these applications from conservative groups would not be approved before the November 2012 election.
On August 2, 2016, Judicial Watch released more documents, which showed that Justice Department attorney Barbara Bosserman, who had spent more than 1,500 hours “investigating” the IRS targeting of conservative groups, had donated a total of $6,750 to Obama’s campaigns and the DNC between 2004 and 2012, including 12 separate donations to Obama for America between 2008 and 2012. In addition, it was Attorney General Eric Holder who had assigned Bosserman to oversee this “investigation.” No charges were filed as a result of this “investigation.”
In August 2016, it was reported that the Albuquerque Tea Party was still waiting for approval from the IRS more than six years after it had filed its first application.
In September 2016, Judicial Watch reported:
A 2013 study by scholars from the American Enterprise Institute and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University found that, “had the Tea Party groups continued to grow at the pace seen in 2009 and 2010, and had their effect on the 2012 vote been similar to that seen in 2010, they would have brought the Republican Party as many as 5 – 8.5 million votes compared to Obama’s victory margin of 5 million.”
In November 2016, U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett said that the IRS was still targeting tea party groups because the IRS was still not processing applications that the tea party groups had submitted several years earlier. He ordered the IRS to process an application that the Texas Patriots Tea Party had submitted four years earlier. He also ordered the IRS to stop targeting tea party groups. Judge Barrett said:
“The evidence strongly suggests that the IRS initiated the delay because TPTP’s application was perceived at the screening stage to be a Tea Party case.”
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And here is still even more proof that the lockdown is a scam: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio does not understand math
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
May 21, 2020
Here’s another one that I’ll be adding the next time I update my list, which you can read here: Here are 70 reasons why I’m against the COVID-19 lockdowns
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio does not understand math.
According to the CDC, for children who contract COVID-19, the death rate is zero:
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-us-coronavirus-deaths-ages-65-older-cdc-report-2020-3
And here’s a recent news headline:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/risk-coronavirus-spreading-schools-extremely-194143983.html
Risk of coronavirus spreading in schools ‘extremely low’, study finds
Despite those two pieces of information, this is a recent tweet by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio:
https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1262509072051470340
The text of de Blasio’s tweet says: (the bolding is mine)
“Earlier today the NYPD shut down a Yeshiva conducting classes with as many as 70 children. I can’t stress how dangerous this is for our young people. We’re issuing a Cease and Desist Order and will make sure we keep our communities and our kids safe.”
Clearly, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio does not understand math.
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Totalitarian Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf just forced my dental hygienist to cancel my 6 month teeth cleaning!
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
May 18, 2020
I’m 49 years old. I’ve lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my entire life. I’ve been getting my teeth cleaned at the same dental practice ever since I was a little kid in the 1970s.
My 6 month teeth cleaning had been scheduled for tomorrow.
But they just called to tell me that it has been canceled, because they are “not allowed” to do teeth cleaning at this point in time.
There are really only four people who should have any role in the decision making for this: my dentist, the dental hygienist who cleans my teeth, the receptionist who answers the phone and schedules appointments, and myself.
I don’t even have or want dental insurance. I pay out of my own pocket, and I prefer it that way, because I don’t want an insurance company telling me what I can or can’t do wit my teeth, or deciding which dental practice I can or can’t go to.
This is the United States of America.
This is supposed to be a free country.
The government is not supposed to be deciding when I can or can’t get my teeth cleaned.
It’s my body and my teeth, and getting my teeth cleaned should be my own choice.
I’m a libertarian. I think abortion should be legal. (I know that a lot of my Republican readers will disagree with me on this issue, and that’s fine.)
Although I do think abortion should be legal, I am very, very glad that my own mother did not abort me.
Furthermore, I do not see how a healthy woman aborting a healthy baby constitutes “health care.”
Also, I think it’s extremely hypocritical that when Governor Wolf banned elective medical procedures, he gave an exemption to abortion.
Democrats who always say, “My body, my choice,” only make that claim when it comes to abortion.
Democrats think the rest of a person’s body should be controlled by the government.
These hypocrite Democrats won’t let me get my teeth cleaned.
But they will let me buy lottery tickets (which I never do, because I understand math).
And they will also let me buy cigarettes (which I also never do, because I think it’s gross and disgusting, and also because I don’t want to get lung cancer).
So these hypocrite Democrats will let me get my teeth all dirty and messed up with cigarettes, but they will not let me to go the dentist to have all that dirt and grime and filth removed from my teeth. What kind of logic is this?
Governor Wolf’s original lockdown order was for two weeks.
The alleged purpose of the lockdown was to flatten the curve, so that the hospitals would not be overwhelmed.
The curve has been flattened.
The hospitals have not been overwhelmed.
As of May 6, 2020, only 7% of Pennsylvania’s hospital beds were being used to treat COVID-19 patients.
However, Governor Wolf continues with the lockdown anyway.
This proves that the lockdown is a scam.
This lockdown has exposed who the true fascists are.
Members of Antifa are perfectly willing to prevent innocent, peaceful, law abiding conservatives from speaking on college campuses.
But when the real fascists (such as Governor Wolf, and Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer) come along, the Antifa protesters are nowhere to be found, heard, or seen.
If you want to read more examples of why the lockdown sucks, I encourage you to read this other blog post that I wrote: Here are 65 reasons why I’m against the COVID-19 lockdowns
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Totalitarian Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered a barber named Karl Manke to stop cutting hair. Then she rejected his claim for unemployment compensation. In order to pay for food, he continued cutting hair. Then she suspended his license, without so much as even a hearing or due process. And she won’t let him grow his own food. Apparently, she wants him to starve to death.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
May 13, 2020
Now, on with my comments about a recent event in Michigan.
Karl Manke is a barber in Michigan. He’s been running his own barbershop since 1961.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered barbershops to close. Her alleged reason was that we had to flatten the curve, so hospitals would not be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.
The curve has been flatted. The hospitals have not been overwhelmed.
Despite this, governor Whitmer will still not allow barbershops to open.
Manke applied for unemployment compensation, but was rejected.
In order to pay for food, Manke continues to operate his barbershop.
Governor Whitmer suspended Manke’s professional license and his license for his barbershop, without so much as even a hearing or due process.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer is a totalitarian who wants to force Karl Manke to starve to death.
Governor Whitmer’s intent to force Manke to starve to death is so strong that she won’t even let him grow his own food. She has ordered big box stores to prevent customers from having access to certain sections of the store, including gardening supplies.
Hers are the exact words of Governor Whitmer’s order from her official government website. The bolding is mine: (Original, archive)
“For stores of more than 50,000 square feet… Close areas of the store – by cordoning them off, placing signs in aisles, posting prominent signs, removing goods from shelves, or other appropriate means—that are dedicated to the following classes of goods: Carpet or flooring. Furniture. Garden centers and plant nurseries. Paint.”
Only a totalitarian would be in favor of such a government policy.
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LA Mayor Garcetti encourages residents to report violators of stay-at-home order: ‘Snitches get rewards’
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/la-mayor-garcetti-residents-report-violators-stay-at-home-order
LA Mayor Garcetti encourages residents to report violators of stay-at-home order: ‘Snitches get rewards’
By Brooke Singman
April 9, 2020
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said this week that “snitches” in his city will get “rewards” if they tattle on neighbors who could be violating the stay-at-home order put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Garcetti last month implemented the “Safer at Home” order, like many cities and states across the nation, closing non-essential businesses and urging people to stay at home.
“If any non-essential businesses continue to operate in violation of the stay at home order, we’re going to act to enforce the safer at home order and ensure their compliance,” Garcetti said, according to CBS Los Angeles.
The mayor’s office said that city officials, with officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, had visited more than 500 businesses that had not complied with his order. His office said four businesses have already been referred for misdemeanor filings.
“You know the old expression about snitches,” Garcetti said this week. “Well, in this case, snitches get rewards.”
He added: “We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe,” he said.
“Your decision to stay home may mean that there’s one less person who needs a ventilator we do not have,” Garcetti added.
As of Friday morning, California had the third-highest number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the country, behind New Jersey and New York—which has become the epicenter of the virus in the U.S.
California reported more than 11,100 positive cases of the novel coronavirus and more than 240 deaths.
Here are 175 reasons why I’m against the COVID-19 lockdowns
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
Note from Daniel Alman: I originally made this blog post on May 5, 2020. At the time, there were 34 things on the list. Since them, on multiple occasions, I have added other things to the list. The last time that I updated this list was on July 10, 2020.
Introduction
Please share the link to this list on Facebook, Twitter, email, message boards, etc. Thank you.
A lot of the people who support the COVID-19 lockdowns have said it’s because “lives are more important than money.”
But the lockdowns are actually killing far more people than they’re saving.
So instead of it being about “lives vs money,” it’s really about “fewer people dying vs more people dying.”
And yet, when I bring this up, lockdown supporters either ignore it, or they accuse me of not caring about people’s lives, or they say, “better safe than sorry.”
Before I get to my main list, here are some general facts about the lockdowns:
The COVIID-19 lockdowns will end up killing far more people than they save, in the form of increased suicides, increased drug and alcohol overdoses, and canceled and postponed medical procedures. For young and middle aged people who have healthy immune systems, being and poor and unemployed is more dangerous than having COVID-19.
The lockdowns are totalitarian.
The lockdowns are based on bogus computer models.
The real fatality rate of COVID-19 is far, far lower than the bogus, overinflated rate that was used to justify the lockdowns.
The alleged purpose of the lockdowns was to flatten the curve, and prevent the hospitals from being overwhelmed. But the hospitals were never even close to being overwhelmed. On the contrary, the U.S. health care system actually laid off more than a million health care workers during the lockdowns. And yet the lockdowns continue. This is proof that the lockdowns are a scam.
States with the toughest lockdowns forced nursing homes to admit patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. This is mass murder.
Many politicians and other high ranking government officials violated their own lockdowns.
Lockdown supporters want to destroy other people’s jobs, but not their own.
Previous pandemics did not destroy the economy, because there were no lockdowns.
Fresh air, sunshine, and exercise are good for your immune system, and actually reduce your chance of dying from COVID-19.
The government is falsely overstating the number of COVID-19 deaths by including people whose deaths were not actually caused by COVID-19.
And now, on with my list:
Here are 175 reasons why I’m against the COVID-19 lockdowns
1) Sweden did not have a lockdown. Experts predicted that it would have 40,000 COVID-19 deaths by May 1. The actual number was 2,769.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/05/sweden-suppressed-infection-rates-without-lockdown/
2) Nobel Prize-winning scientist: “the damage done by lockdown will exceed any saving of lives by a huge factor”
3) Keep parks open. The benefits of fresh air outweigh the risks of infection.
4) Dr. Deborah Birx admitted that the lockdown was based on a false, gross overstatement of the true fatality rate.
These are her exact words:
“I think we underestimated, very early on, the number of asymptomatic cases. And I think we’re really beginning to understand there are people that get infected — that those symptoms are so low-grade that they don’t even know that they’re infected”
https://www.theblaze.com/news/dr-birx-coronavirus-asymptomatic-cases
5) This is a scientific paper called “Full lockdown policies in Western Europe countries have no evident impacts on the COVID-19 epidemic.”
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20078717v1.full.pdf
6) WHO lauds lockdown-ignoring Sweden as a ‘model’ for countries going forward
https://nypost.com/2020/04/29/who-lauds-sweden-as-model-for-resisting-coronavirus-lockdown/
7) Do Lockdowns Save Many Lives? In Most Places, the Data Say No.
8) This is from a medical paper:
“The COVID-19 death risk in people <65 years old during the period of fatalities from the epidemic was equivalent to the death risk from driving between 9 miles per day (Germany) and 415 miles per day (New York City)”
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.05.20054361v1
Note from Daniel Alman: The above may be a good reason for a lockdown in the New York City metro area (which includes parts of New Jersey and Connecticut), but certainly not for the rest of the U.S. And certainly not for Germany.
9) A report by the United Nations cites the predicted harm that will happen to tens of millions of children in low income countries as a result of the COVID-19 global wide shutdown.
Examples of this harm to children include increases in malnutrition, loss of education, increased rates of teen pregnancy, reduced access to health care, reduced rates of vaccination, increased rates of infectious disease, increased rates of water borne illness, and increased rates of death:
https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/160420_Covid_Children_Policy_Brief.pdf
10) Here in Sweden we’re playing the long game, and listening to science not fear
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/sweden/articles/sweden-coronavirus-policy/
11) All across the country, huge numbers of hospitals have laid off huge numbers of health care workers. Here are some examples:
Coronavirus financial losses prompt Boston Medical Center to furlough 700 employees, 10% of hospital’s workforce
Kentucky hospital chain furloughs about 500 employees as coronavirus saps business
https://www.kentucky.com/news/coronavirus/article241565211.html
A mounting casualty crisis: Health care jobs
https://www.sungazette.com/news/top-news/2020/04/a-mounting-casualty-crisis-health-care-jobs/
Four West Virginia hospitals lay off hundreds because of coronavirus-related shrinking revenues
Thousands of US medical workers furloughed, laid off as routine patient visits drop during coronavirus pandemic
I Can’t Get My Hip Surgery Because Of Coronavirus Even Though Nobody Is In Our Hospital
MUSC Health lays off 900 due to COVID-19 financial strain
Oklahoma City hospital closed amid coronavirus spread
Even nation’s largest health systems laying off health care workers amid COVID pandemic
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/coronavirus-victim-americas-largest-health-systems/story?id=70317683
We’re destroying hospitals in the name of fighting the coronavirus
https://nypost.com/2020/04/27/were-destroying-hospitals-in-the-name-of-fighting-the-coronavirus/
Mayo Clinic to furlough or cut pay of 30,000 employees
https://www.foxnews.com/science/mayo-clinic-furlough-or-cut-pay-employees
Coronavirus testing company Quest Diagnostics furloughs workers
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-testing-company-quest-diagnostics-furloughs-workers/
12) U.S. medical testing, cancer screenings plunge during coronavirus outbreak – data firm analysis
13) New York Times: “Some medical experts fear more people are dying from untreated emergencies than from the coronavirus.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/health/coronavirus-heart-stroke.html
14) As of April 22, 2020, New York and New Jersey, combined, accounted for more than half of U.S. COVID-19 deaths. Both of these states require nursing homes to admit patients who have tested positive for COVID-19. In my opinion, this policy constitutes mass murder. Instead of shutting everything down, New York and New Jersey should stop committing mass murder.
As of the afternoon of April 22, 2020, the U.S. has had a total of 46,771 deaths from COVID-19.
20,167 were in New York.
5,063 were in New Jersey.
In other words, as of April 22, 2020, these two states, combined, accounted for more than half of all COVID-19 deaths in the entire country.
Here’s a link to my source, with a screenshot. The screenshot was taken on the afternoon of April 22, 2020:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
Both of these states require nursing homes to admit patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.
NPR recently reported:
New York and New Jersey both have ordered nursing homes to admit patients regardless of their COVID-19 status.
In my opinion, this policy constitutes mass murder.
Nursing home patients are elderly. And they have major health conditions. No one is more vulnerable to dying from COVID-19 than people in nursing homes.
Ordering nursing homes to admit patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 is an extremely mean, dumb, stupid, irrational, irresponsible, and insane thing to do.
This policy has already killed a huge numbers of people.
And who knows how many more will die as a result.
Instead of shutting everything down, New York and New Jersey should stop committing mass murder.
15) Cancer surgeries and organ transplants are being put off for coronavirus
16) How the COVID-19 lockdown will take its own toll on health
17) Higher rates of unemployment correlate very strongly with higher rates of suicide and drug overdoses
18) This five minute video from Bill Maher is my #1 favorite argument against the lockdowns
https://twitter.com/billmaher/status/1256425181960003585
I worry that the past two months of quarantine have given people the idea that the way for humans to win our million-year war with microbes is to avoid them completely, and I’m here to tell you: you can’t. pic.twitter.com/cMxefDdJ7S
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) May 2, 2020
19) Hypocrite New York Times writer Taylor Lorenz wants to shut down other people’s jobs, but not her own
This is a link to the internet archive of her tweet, and a screen capture of her tweet:
20) Here’s another hypocrite who wants to shut down other people’s jobs, but not her own
The woman in this article and video ratted out local businesses.
Then someone published her name on the internet.
Now the woman is worried that she might lose her own job:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYhvc_86HsI
21) Illinois Gov. Who Forced State Lockdown Busted Flying His Wife And Kids To Florida
22) Chicago Mayor Forced To Defend Getting A Haircut In Violation Of Her Own Stay-At-Home Order
23) Barack Obama Goes Golfing at Country Club the Day After Michelle Urged African Americans to Stay Home
24) Video: Wisconsin Deputies Threaten a Mother For Letting Her Daughter Play At a Neighbor’s Home During Shutdown
https://twitter.com/MediaRival/status/1255537595553112065
Caught On Video: A pair of Wisconsin police officers on a crazed power trip show up at a woman’s home because she “violated a state order” by allowing her daughter to play at a neighbor’s house pic.twitter.com/JTtogvoE1X
— Darrin McBreen (@MediaRival) April 29, 2020
25) Mississippi police issue $500 tickets to drive-in church service attendees
26) NYC Mayor Threatens to Shut Down Synagogues, Churches: But not Mosques
27) De Blasio Breaks Up Rabbi’s Funeral
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/nyregion/hasidic-funeral-coronavirus-de-blasio.html
28) The First Amendment protects freedom of religion
29) The First amendment protects freedom of assembly
30) Tucker Carlson: Totalitarianism doesn’t shock us any more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KACUbQjvrk
31) Shutting down the schools is reprehensible.
The harm that this will end up causing children will be very large, and very long lasting.
Not just academically, but also psychologically, socially, and professionally.
We are teaching children to be terrified of something that, in reality, is not even a statistical threat or risk to them.
COVID-19 death rate by age in the U.S.:
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-us-coronavirus-deaths-ages-65-older-cdc-report-2020-3
Perhaps for the time being, schools should only have teachers who are below a certain age – perhaps 50. Or maybe 60.
We should isolate people who are especially vulnerable.
And we should let children go to school, get infected, and build up herd immunity.
We shouldn’t let children near their grandparents until their infection has cleared, they have developed antibodies, and they are no longer contagious.
32) The 1968 flu killed approximately 100,000 people in the U.S. But we still kept the schools open. And the restaurants. And the movie theaters.
33) Should we keep everything closed until there are zero germs in the world? Good luck with that!
34) The entire justification for the lockdowns was a lie.
The alleged justification for the lockdowns was that we had to flatten the curve so the hospitals did not get overwhelmed.
The hospitals did not get overwhelmed.
On the contrary, all across the country, huge number of hospitals are laying off huge numbers of health care workers. (see #11 on this list for many examples.)
But the lockdowns are still going on.
Therefore, the entire justification for the lockdowns was a lie.
35) A study of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in New York showed that 66% of them were people who stayed home
36) Government scientist Neil Ferguson, who was responsible for creating the lockdown in the U.K., violated it when he invited his mistress to visit him
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/05/exclusive-government-scientist-neil-ferguson-resigns-breaking/
37) The governors in more than 30 states banned elective medical procedures, even though there was plenty of excess health care capacity available to perform these elective procedures.
The word “elective” refers to any medical procedure that is scheduled in advance.
Examples of elective medical procedures that were postponed or canceled include cancer treatment, organ transplants, and hip surgery.
There was no need to ban elective procedures, because there was still plenty of excess health care capacity available. All across the country, huge numbers of hospitals laid off huge numbers of health care workers. See #11 on this list for many examples.
38) Some of the governors who banned elective medical procedures were hypocrites, because they gave an exemption to abortion.
I’m not using this blog post to argue for, or against, the legality of abortion.
Instead, what I am criticizing here is the hypocrisy of these governors.
For example, Politico reported:
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was one of a handful of Democratic leaders to explicitly carve out an exception for “the full range of family planning services and procedures, including terminations of pregnancies” from his executive order that suspends elective surgeries.
As another example, the Lansing State Journal reported:
Reproductive health clinics in Michigan are still providing abortion services, citing an exemption for “pregnancy-related visits and procedures” in Gov. Whitmer’s executive order restricting non-essential medical services.
Likewise, the New Boston Post reported:
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has exempted elective abortions from the statewide ban on elective surgery during the coronavirus precautionary restrictions.
Furthermore, Virginia’s official government website reported:
Governor Ralph Northam and State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver, MD, MA today directed all hospitals to stop performing elective surgeries or procedures…
The public health emergency order does not apply to… family planning services
Also, the Washington Free Beacon reported:
Pennsylvania Allows Planned Parenthood to Perform Abortions Despite Elective Surgery Ban
39) They’re using COVID-19 as an excuse to release convicted criminals, and to jail the innocent
This article is called
“So Far, More Than 300 Prisoners Released Due To COVID-19 Under Mass. High Court’s Ruling.”
Meanwhile, this other article is called
“Dallas salon owner jailed for defying virus shutdown order.”
40) As of May 6, 2020, only 7% of Pennsylvania’s hospital beds were being used to treat COVID-19 patients. However, the state continues with its lockdown anyway. This proves that the lockdown is a scam.
The alleged purpose of the lockdown was to flatten the curve, so that hospital resources would not be overwhelmed.
As of May 6, 2020, only 7% of Pennsylvania’s hospital beds were being used to treat COVID-19 patients.
Despite this, the Pennsylvania lockdown continues.
This proves that the lockdown is a scam.
http://www.repturzai.com/Display/SiteFiles/333/OtherDocuments/2020/LettertoMembersHealthDataMay6.pdf
41) End all restrictions, they were unnecessary, Hebrew University researchers say
https://www.timesofisrael.com/end-all-restrictions-they-were-unnecessary-hebrew-university-researchers-say/
42) Years of life lost due to the psychosocial consequences of COVID19 mitigation strategies based on Swiss data
A scientific paper states:
Background: The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has forced governments to implement strict social mitigation strategies to reduce the morbidity and mortality from acute infections. These strategies however carry a significant risk for mental health which can lead to increased short-term and long-term mortality and is currently not included in modelling the impact of the pandemic. Methods: We used years of life lost (YLL) as the main outcome measure as applied to Switzerland as an exemplar. We focused on suicide, depression, alcohol use disorder, childhood trauma due to domestic violence, changes in marital status and social isolation as these are known to increase YLL in the context of imposed restriction in social contact and freedom of movement. We stipulated a minimum duration of mitigation of 3 months based on current public health plans. Results: The study projects that the average person would suffer 0.205 YLL due to psychosocial consequence of COVID-19 mitigation measures. However, this loss would be entirely borne by 2.1% of the population, who will suffer an average 9.79 YLL. Conclusions: The results presented here are likely to underestimate the true impact of the mitigation strategies on YLL. However, they highlight the need for public health models to expand their scope in order to provide better estimates of the risks and benefits of mitigation.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.17.20069716v3
43) Elon Musk said:
“Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259162367285317633
Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-says-tesla-immediately-173400044.html
44) Health care industry decimated by coronavirus, loses 1.4 million jobs
45) LA Mayor Garcetti encourages residents to report violators of stay-at-home order: ‘Snitches get rewards’
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/la-mayor-garcetti-residents-report-violators-stay-at-home-order
46) Take the Shutdown Skeptics Seriously
The Atlantic wrote:
Take the Shutdown Skeptics Seriously
Americans should carefully consider the potential costs of prolonged shutdowns lest they cause more deaths or harm to the vulnerable than they spare…
… minimizing the number of COVID-19 deaths today or a month from now or six months from now may or may not minimize the human costs of the pandemic when the full spectrum of human consequences is considered…
… the warnings of thoughtful shutdown skeptics warrant careful study…
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/take-shutdown-skeptics-seriously/611419/
47) Anxiety from reactions to Covid-19 will destroy at least seven times more years of life than can be saved by lockdowns
https://www.justfacts.com/news_covid-19_anxiety_lockdowns_life_destroyed_saved
Anxiety From Reactions to Covid-19 Will Destroy At Least Seven Times More Years of Life Than Can Be Saved by Lockdowns
By Andrew Glen, Ph.D. and James D. Agresti
Medical studies show that excessive stress and anxiety are among the most debilitating and deadly of all health hazards in the world. Beyond their obvious effects like suicide and substance abuse—these mental stressors are strongly related to and may trigger and inflame a host of ailments like high blood pressure, digestive disorders, heart conditions, infectious diseases, cancer, and pregnancy complications.
Based on a broad array of scientific data, Just Facts has computed that the anxiety created by reactions to Covid-19—such as stay-at-home orders, business shutdowns, media exaggerations, and legitimate concerns about the virus—will destroy at least seven times more years of human life than can possibly be saved by lockdowns to control the spread of the disease. This figure is a bare minimum, and the actual one is likely more than 90 times greater.
This study was reviewed by Joseph P. Damore, Jr., M.D., who concluded: “This research is engaging and thoroughly answers the question about the cure being worse than the disease.” Dr. Damore is a certified diplomate with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, an assistant attending psychiatrist at New York Presbyterian Hospital, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy.
48) Politicians Lied About the Lockdowns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsipYnIOJEM
49) Video allegedly shows that once the cameras are off reporters remove their masks and don’t follow social distancing rules
https://twitter.com/Z_Eats_Bacon/status/1260091180190240768
Explain to me why the media takes their masks off when they think the cameras are off? Is it all for show? #fakenews #LamestreamMedia looks like the rules only apply to us peasants. #obamagate #qanon pic.twitter.com/rlET581ytJ
— Big Z 🇺🇸🇵🇱 (@Z_Eats_Bacon) May 12, 2020
50) Hypocrite Beaumont, Texas mayor Becky Ames thinks everyone except herself should be banned from going to nail salons
Becky Ames is the mayor of Beaumont, Texas.
She ordered all the nail salons in her city to lockdown.
However, she violated her own lockdown by allowing one specific nail salon to be open just so she herself could go there to get her nails done.
NBC News reported: (the bolding is mine)
The mayor of a southern Texas city apologized for violating her own stay-at-home order after a photo surfaced on social media of her at a nail salon.
The trip Tuesday by Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames to the closed salon has sparked an investigation by the district attorney.
In the image, the mayor is seen wearing a face mask as she’s seated at a table with her hands in a bowl of water. According to NBC affiliate KBMT in Beaumont, the photo was taken at The Nail Bar.
The NBC News article has a link to this picture of mayor Ames getting her nails done at the salon:
51) Small business used to define America’s economy. The pandemic could change that forever.
52) PA Health Secretary moved mother out of personal care home after ordering nursing homes to accept COVID patients
https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/13/coronavirus-pennsylvania-rachel-levine-mother-nursing-home/
53) Boy Scouts banned from planting American flags on veterans’ graves for Memorial Day due to coronavirus
https://www.foxnews.com/us/boy-scouts-banned-memorial-day-coronavirus-veterans
54) Sheriff rejects call by Virginia governor to enforce lockdown, cites Constitution
55) Totalitarian Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered a barber named Karl Manke to stop cutting hair. Then she rejected his claim for unemployment compensation. In order to pay for food, he continued cutting hair. Then she suspended his license, without so much as even a hearing or due process. And she won’t let him grow his own food. Apparently, she wants him to starve to death.
Karl Manke is a barber in Michigan. He’s been running his own barbershop since 1961.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered barbershops to close. Her alleged reason was that we had to flatten the curve, so hospitals would not be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.
The curve has been flatted. The hospitals have not been overwhelmed.
Despite this, governor Whitmer will still not allow barbershops to open.
Manke applied for unemployment compensation, but was rejected.
In order to pay for food, Manke continues to operate his barbershop.
Governor Whitmer suspended Manke’s professional license and his license for his barbershop, without so much as even a hearing or due process.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer is a totalitarian who wants to force Karl Manke to starve to death.
Governor Whitmer’s intent to force Manke to starve to death is so strong that she won’t even let him grow his own food. She has ordered big box stores to prevent customers from having access to certain sections of the store, including gardening supplies.
Hers are the exact words of Governor Whitmer’s order from her official government website. The bolding is mine: (Original, archive)
“For stores of more than 50,000 square feet… Close areas of the store – by cordoning them off, placing signs in aisles, posting prominent signs, removing goods from shelves, or other appropriate means—that are dedicated to the following classes of goods: Carpet or flooring. Furniture. Garden centers and plant nurseries. Paint.”
Only a totalitarian would be in favor of such a government policy.
56) Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down stay-at-home order
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/us/coronavirus-wisconsin-supreme-court.html
57) Cyril H. Wecht, one of the country’s most well regarded doctors, made an excellent argument against the lockdown
58) Remy: Surfin’ USA (Beach Boys Lockdown Parody)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r-6s6cRGgA
59) Scott Adams: “Is every risk factor for #COVID19 a Vitamin D deficiency in disguise?”
Scott Adams wrote:
“Is every risk factor for #COVID19 a Vitamin D deficiency in disguise? Google it: old, overweight, black, diabetic, smog dwellers, nursing homes, prisons, shaded NYC streets, Chinese urban dwellers, covered body parts (Iran). All would have vitamin D issues.”
“Maybe we only think the heat and sunlight and humidity are what makes most viruses fade in summer. I believe science is not entirely sure why summer helps. All four variables seem promising, including Vitamin D. But the latter explains more observations.”
“Does the Vitamin D correlation work In reverse too? Who is doing unexpectedly well at keeping COVID19 at bay? Texas, Florida, other outdoorsy states. How about kids. Do your kids wear sunscreen every time they go in the backyard or street? Probably not.”
“Prisons are showing high infection rates but low deaths. Just learned that prison meals are engineered with vitamin D supplements. Makes sense.”
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1258559176512376832
Is every risk factor for #COVID19 a Vitamin D deficiency in disguise? Google it: old, overweight, black, diabetic, smog dwellers, nursing homes, prisons, shaded NYC streets, Chinese urban dwellers, covered body parts (Iran). All would have vitamin D issues.
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1258559177279987712
Maybe we only think the heat and sunlight and humidity are what makes most viruses fade in summer. I believe science is not entirely sure why summer helps. All four variables seem promising, including Vitamin D. But the latter explains more observations.
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1258559178102018048
Does the Vitamin D correlation work In reverse too? Who is doing unexpectedly well at keeping COVID19 at bay? Texas, Florida, other outdoorsy states. How about kids. Do your kids wear sunscreen every time they go in the backyard or street? Probably not.
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1258730616759046144
Update: Prisons are showing high infection rates but low deaths. Just learned that prison meals are engineered with vitamin D supplements. Makes sense.
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 8, 2020
60) This COVID-19 meme quote from Handmaid’s Tale is spot-on accurate. And the person is even wearing a mask over her mouth!
I found this meme at this link: https://i.redd.it/pdhed3wxszy41.png
61) ‘The curve has been flattened’: Michigan doctors sue Gov Whitmer over shutdown order
62) I created this meme
Click this link to see a bigger version: https://danfromsquirrelhill.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/woodstock-meme.jpg
63) Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of Illinois Department of Public Health,
admitted that the government is falsely overstating the number of people who died from COVID-19.
She said:
“… if you died of clear alternative cause, but you had COVID at the same time, it’s still listed as a COVID death…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljpHugKNcoI
64) New York and New Jersey both required nursing homes to admit patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, Florida prohibited nursing homes from admitting such patients. The different results of these different policies are exactly what you would expect.
New York and New Jersey both required nursing homes to admit patients who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Florida did the opposite. It prohibited patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 from being put in nursing homes.
The different results of these different policies are exactly what you would expect.
The Palm Beach Post reported the following rates of elder-care resident deaths per 100,000 people:
Florida: 3.5
New York: nearly 27
New Jersey: 51
65) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez apparently blames Trump for the fact that New York and New Jersey forced nursing homes to admit patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. And she apparently doesn’t know that Florida’s sunshine is good for your immune system. And she apparently thinks Florida’s death rate is higher than New York’s and New Jersey’s.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets so many different things wrong in the video below.
New York and New Jersey both required nursing homes to admit patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. This caused the disease to spread, and infect, and kill, a huge number of people who lived in these nursing homes.
But instead of blaming these deaths on New York and New Jersey, Ocasio-Cortez apparently blames them on Trump.
Meanwhile, Florida banned nursing homes from admitting patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. This saved a huge number of lives.
But instead of praising Florida’s actions, Ocasio-Cortez criticizes the state.
Ocasio-Cortez also apparently doesn’t understand that the sunshine at Florida’s beaches helps people’s bodies to generate vitamin D, and that this helps to protect them from COVID-19.
Also, Ocasio-Cortez apparently doesn’t seem to understand that just about every single mass outbreak of COVID-19 that has been documented, happened inside.
And Ocasio-Cortez apparently thinks that Florida’s death rate is higher than New York’s and New Jersey’s.
But here are the real numbers. COVID-19 deaths per 1 million population, as of May 17, 2020. Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
New York: 1,446
New Jersey: 1,155
Florida: 92
https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1245651038977179653
Ocasio-Cortez blames only Trump and Republicans for the deaths of every American who dies from the coronavirus
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 2, 2020
Everything she says in this video is either misleading or an outright lie pic.twitter.com/csX7ybFaON
66) Risk of coronavirus spreading in schools is ‘extremely low’ study finds
https://www.yahoo.com/news/risk-coronavirus-spreading-schools-extremely-194143983.html
67) Stanford University doctor: ‘You are mistaken’ if you think coronavirus lockdowns provide safety
https://www.theblaze.com/news/stanford-university-doctor-mistaken-coronavirus-lockdowns
68) CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins caught removing face mask when she thought camera was off
https://twitter.com/realPowerTie/status/1261445611594723330
The mask is for show? pic.twitter.com/XnRLiEJ1L5
— Power Tie (@realPowerTie) May 15, 2020
69) Totalitarian Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf just forced my dental hygienist to cancel my 6 month teeth cleaning
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
May 18, 2020
I’m 49 years old. I’ve lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my entire life. I’ve been getting my teeth cleaned at the same dental practice ever since I was a little kid in the 1970s.
My 6 month teeth cleaning had been scheduled for tomorrow.
But they just called to tell me that it has been canceled, because they are “not allowed” to do teeth cleaning at this point in time.
70) Relapses are through the roof, overdoses are through the roof: How the pandemic is upping substance abuse
… They can’t go to a 12-step based meeting…
… People are self-medicating due to the quarantine. And they’re drinking more, and abusing more, and relapses are through the roof right now.
71) Neil Ferguson’s Imperial model “could go down in history as the most devastating software mistake of all time, in terms of economic costs and lives lost”
72) Childhood vaccine rates plummet amid coronavirus pandemic, risking new health crisis
Childhood vaccine rates for preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough have fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic, raising the possibility of an additional health crisis.
In New York City… the number of vaccine doses administered from March 23 to May 9 fell 63 percent compared with the same period last year.
In children older than 2 years, it fell 91 percent…
… Doctors offices have been closed…
… The numbers in New York match a national trend…
… from mid-March to mid-April, doctors in the federally funded Vaccines for Children program for the uninsured ordered about 2.5 million fewer doses of all routine non-influenza vaccines and 250,000 fewer doses of measles-containing vaccines compared to the same period in 2019…
73) Rise in female genital mutilation in Somalia linked to coronavirus shutdown
Somali girls out of school and stuck at home have been subject to a “massive rise” in female genital mutilation…
“It’s a lifetime torture for girls. The pain continues … until the girl goes to the grave. It impacts her education, ambition … everything.”
… the UNFPA has warned that globally 2 million more girls could be cut over the next decade because of how the global pandemic has disrupted efforts to end the practice.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/19/coronavirus-update-us/
74) Who Are The REAL Fascists?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UQS9oUQ9I0
75) More than 500 doctors signed this letter:
https://www.scribd.com/document/462319362/A-Doctor-a-Day-Letter-Signed#fullscreen&from_embed
In medical terms, the shutdown was a mass casualty incident.
During a mass casualty incident, victims are immediately triaged to black, red, yellow, or green. The first group, triage level black, includes those who require too many resources to save during a mass crisis. The red group has severe injuries that are survivable with treatment, the yellow group has serious injuries that are not immediately life threatening, and the green group has minor injuries.
The red group receives highest priority. The next priority is to ensure that the other two groups do not deteriorate a level. Decades of research have shown that by strictly following this algorithm, we save the maximum number of lives.
Millions of Americans are already at triage level red. These include 150,000 Americans per month who would have had a new cancer detected through routine screening that hasn’t happened, millions who have missed routine dental care to fix problems strongly linked to heart disease/death, and preventable cases of stroke, heart attack, and child abuse. Suicide hotline phone calls have increased 600%.
Tens of millions are at triage level yellow. Liquor sales have increased 300-600%, cigarettes sales have increased, rent has gone unpaid, family relationships have become frayed, and millions of well-child check-ups have been missed.
Hundreds of millions are at triage level green. These are people who currently are solvent, but at risk should economic conditions worsen. Poverty and financial uncertainty is closely linked to poor health.
A continued shutdown means hundreds of millions of Americans will downgrade a level. The following are real examples from our practices.
Patient E.S. is a mother with two children whose office job was reduced to part-time and whose husband was furloughed. The father is drinking more, the mother is depressed and not managing her diabetes well, and the children are barely doing any schoolwork.
Patient A.F. has chronic but previously stable health conditions. Her elective hip replacement was delayed, which caused her to become nearly sedentary, resulting in a pulmonary embolism in April.
Patient R.T. is an elderly nursing home patient, who had a small stroke in early March but was expected to make a nearly complete recovery. Since the shutdown, he has had no physical or speech therapy, and no visitors. He has lost weight, and is deteriorating rather than making progress.
Patient S.O. is a college freshman who cannot return to normal life, school, and friendships. He risks depression, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, trauma, and future financial uncertainty.
We are alarmed at what appears to be the lack of consideration for the future health of our patients. The downstream health effects of deteriorating a level are being massively under-estimated and under-reported. This is an order of magnitude error.
It is impossible to overstate the short, medium, and long-term harm to people’s health with a continued shutdown. Losing a job is one of life’s most stressful events, and the effect on a person’s health is not lessened because it also has happened to 30 million other people. Keeping schools and universities closed is incalculably detrimental for children, teenagers, and young adults for decades to come.
The millions of casualties of a continued shutdown will be hiding in plain sight, but they will be called alcoholism, homelessness, suicide, heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. In youths it will be called financial instability, unemployment, despair, drug addiction, unplanned pregnancies, poverty, and abuse.
Because the harm is diffuse, there are those who hold that it does not exist. We, the undersigned, know otherwise.
76) Ohio judge deems the state’s COVID-19 lockdown ‘Arbitrary, unreasonable, and oppressive’
77) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio does not understand math
According to the CDC, for children who contract COVID-19, the death rate is zero:
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-us-coronavirus-deaths-ages-65-older-cdc-report-2020-3
And here’s a recent news headline:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/risk-coronavirus-spreading-schools-extremely-194143983.html
Risk of coronavirus spreading in schools ‘extremely low’, study finds
Despite those two pieces of information, this is a recent tweet by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio:
https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1262509072051470340
Earlier today the NYPD shut down a Yeshiva conducting classes with as many as 70 children. I can’t stress how dangerous this is for our young people. We’re issuing a Cease and Desist Order and will make sure we keep our communities and our kids safe.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) May 18, 2020
The text of de Blasio’s tweet says: (the bolding is mine)
“Earlier today the NYPD shut down a Yeshiva conducting classes with as many as 70 children. I can’t stress how dangerous this is for our young people. We’re issuing a Cease and Desist Order and will make sure we keep our communities and our kids safe.”
Clearly, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio does not understand math.
78) Dr. Mike deBoisblanc, head of the trauma department at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, California, said, “… we’ve seen a year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks…”
https://abc7news.com/suicide-covid-19-coronavirus-rates-during-pandemic-death-by/6201962/
79) “rampant unemployment, isolation and an uncertain future – could lead to 75,000 deaths from drug or alcohol abuse and suicide”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-deaths-suicides-drugs-alcohol-pandemic-75000/
80) More people died of suicide than coronavirus in Tennessee last week
81) In Washington state, people who were killed by gunshots were falsely counted as being killed by COVID-19
82) Barber who defied Michigan coronavirus lockdown can continue, says court
83) De Blasio shredded for encouraging New Yorkers to rat out social distancing violators. “Urging citizens to film non-compliant individuals reminds me of one of the tactics utilized in the country where he spent his honeymoon, Cuba.”
84) Poll: Democrats much more likely than Republicans to snitch on neighbors for ‘lockdown’ violations
85) Downstate judge blasts Pritzker’s stay-at-home-order: ‘Americans don’t get ruled’
86) New Zealand health minister demoted after beach visit broke lockdown rules
87) Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick visited his parents during Covid-19 lockdown
88) Scotland’s chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood steps down after visiting second home twice despite advice to stay in
89) Pressure on Dominic Cummings (Boris Johnson’s key adviser) to quit over lockdown breach
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/22/dominic-cummings-durham-trip-coronavirus-lockdown
90) AP count: Over 4,500 virus patients sent to NY nursing homes
91) Dr. Anthony Fauci says staying closed for too long could cause ‘irreparable damage’
92) Indonesian researchers, Prabowo Raharusuna, MD, and colleagues, studied 780 confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 380 died and 400 survived… Vitamin D as a Risk Factor: When adjusted for confounds — i.e., age, sex, and comorbidity — those with vitamin D insufficiency were still “approx. 7.63 times more likely to die,” and those with vitamin D deficiency were sill “approx. 10.12 times more likely to die,”
93) Minnesota nursing homes, already the site of 81% of COVID-19 deaths, continue taking in infected patients
94) In the U.S., the first nine weeks of the lockdown caused 38 million people to lose their jobs
95) While Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer forced barbershops to close for being “dangerous,” she allowed a gay swinger’s club with “glory holes” and anonymous, unprotected sex to remain open
Note from Daniel Alman: I’m a libertarian. I’m against the government shutting down either one of these things. I don’t care what consenting adults do in private. My objection is not to the sex club. Instead, my objection is to Whitmer’s hypocrisy.
96) Minnesota governor Tim Walz tried to give churches a longer lockdown than shopping malls, casinos, tattoo parlors, liquor stores, and salons
97) Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer’s husband sought boat launching during state of emergency. Boating had been banned during the state of emergency.
98) Why didn’t the 1958 and 1918 pandemics destroy the economy? Hint: it’s the lockdowns
https://mises.org/wire/why-didnt-1958-and-1918-pandemics-destroy-economy-hint-its-lockdowns
99) Virginia governor Ralph Northam wants to force everyone, except himself, to wear a mask
https://twitter.com/DRCUSALiberty/status/1264357580341686273
— David Carter (@DRCUSALiberty) May 24, 2020
100) LA County sheriff’s deputies arrested a paddle boarder for violating the state’s stay-at-home order
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcjyQm2KRnE
101) Mask hypocrisy at MSNBC
https://twitter.com/EddieZipperer/status/1265374806662397953
INSTANT CLASSIC FROM @MSNBC:
— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) May 26, 2020
ANCHOR: “Are the people there just not worried about it? Are they not worried about their personal safety?”
REPORTER: “I haven’t met anybody who is… you can see here, nobody’s wearing them [masks].”
GUY ON STREET: “Including the Cameraman.” pic.twitter.com/h9HbbIqNVh
102) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio violates his own government’s recommendations and hits the gym in Brooklyn amid the coronavirus shutdown
https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-mayor-bill-de-blasio-goes-ymca-announcing-closure-gyms-2020-3
103) New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham violated her own lockdown so she could buy jewelry
104) CNN interviews Alabama beachgoers not wearing masks, gets owned after photos surface of maskless reporter
https://twitter.com/SteveKrak/status/1265457232843624451
A @FourthWatch reader sent me these images of CNN’s @GaryTuchmanCNN filming this report from Alabama yesterday – wearing a mask while walking the beach and interviewing people – but removing his mask when the cameras were off.https://t.co/7bW6Wz3bGm pic.twitter.com/qikHrsOekZ
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) May 27, 2020
105) The fatality rate of COVID-19 “would probably be 0.13 percent for people outside nursing homes”
106) A scientific study said, “Home outbreaks were the dominant category (254 of 318 outbreaks; 79.9%)”
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.04.20053058v1.full.pdf
107) NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo admits that all the COVID-19 projections ‘were all wrong’
https://www.theblaze.com/news/cuomo-projections-wrong
108) Chicago pastor claims the mayor sent armed police in unmarked cars to bang on the church doors Sunday: It was ‘like the Soviet-styled KGB’
https://www.theblaze.com/news/chicago-pastor-mayor-armed-police
109) Minnesota Governor Tim Walz: Restrictions will stay In place “until we get a vaccine”
https://twitter.com/KyleHooten2/status/1264694781101432833
“Flatten the curve” has turned into keeping restrictions in place “until we get a vaccine,” per Minnesota Gov. Walz. pic.twitter.com/GQrat6fZok
— Kyle Hooten (@KyleHooten2) May 24, 2020
110) Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer “signed an order mandating that nursing homes and other long-term care facilities accept COVID-19 patients”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/gretchen-whitmers-most-devastating-coronavirus-mistake
111) Minnesota nursing homes have 81% of COVID-19 deaths, still taking positive patients
https://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/Data-shows-81-of–570708611.html
112) States with the toughest lockdowns forced nursing homes to admit patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. This caused the U.S. death rate to be far, far higher than it otherwise would have been.
New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and California all forced nursing homes to admit patients who had tested positive for COVID-19.
NPR reported:
New York and New Jersey both have ordered nursing homes to admit patients regardless of their COVID-19 status. California had a similar directive.
The Washington Examiner reported:
Whitmer signed an order mandating that nursing homes and other long-term care facilities accept COVID-19 patients
Valley News Live reported:
Many states, including New York, came under fire for a policy requiring nursing homes to admit COVID-19 positive patients…
Minnesota’s Department of Health did so…
The Daily Caller reported:
PA Health Secretary Moved Mother Out Of Personal Care Home After Ordering Nursing Homes To Accept COVID Patients
These are the very same states that had the toughest lockdowns.
If the real purpose of the lockdowns was to protect people from COVID-19, then why did the states with the toughest lockdowns force nursing homes to admit people who had tested positive for COVID-19?
113) Minnesota mayor gives masks to crowding rioters after warning in-person worship would be ‘public health disaster’
114) New England Journal of Medicine: “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection”
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372
115) In Colorado, “a CBS4 Investigation revealed the state health department reclassified three deaths at a Centennial nursing home as COVID-19 deaths, despite the fact attending physicians ruled all three were not related to coronavirus”
116) In Michigan, someone who committed suicide was listed as having died from COVID-19
117) Dr. Deborah Birx: “if someone dies with COVID-19 we are counting that as a COVID-19 death”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blZpgra3XbU
118) According to Elie Mystal, a writer for the Nation, people who protest against the lockdown “aren’t freedom fighters – they’re virus-spreading sociopaths,” while people who protest against the murder of George Floyd have “incredible strength”
Elie Mystal is a writer for The Nation.
According to Mystal, people who protest against the lockdown
“aren’t freedom fighters – they’re virus-spreading sociopaths”
while people who protest against the murder of George Floyd have
“incredible strength”
Make up your mind. Either the virus is too dangerous for people to be protesting in public, or it’s not. You can’t have it be safe for protesters that you agree with, but dangerous for protestors that you disagree with. Viruses don’t work that way. The virus doesn’t know or care why a person is protesting.
119) Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf violated his own lockdown to participate in a Black Lives Matter protest
120) The ACLU supported the lockdown for law abiding business owners, but opposed the lockdown for criminals who looted, vandalized, and burned those very same businesses
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/06/the-aclus-new-curfew-position-unmasks-their-hypocrisy/
121) Knut Wittkowski, former head of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at The Rockefeller University’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science, said the lockdown “most likely made the situation worse”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/05/15/we-could-open-up-again-and-forget-the-whole-thing/
122) A Jewish children’s gathering turned into a George Floyd protest so New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio wouldn’t shut it down
This is one of the most absurd examples of the lockdown’s double standards.
A Jewish children’s gathering turned into a George Floyd protest so New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio wouldn’t shut it down.
Here’s a photograph of it. Note the sign on the left that says, “Justice for George Floyd.”
You can see a bigger version of the photograph at this link: https://danfromsquirrelhill.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/jewish-children-justice-for-george-floyd.jpg
The photograph is from this tweet:
https://twitter.com/JakeTurx/status/1268970681351405575
These clever Hasidic kids decided to turn their carnival into a “Justice for George Floyd” rally and now the NYPD cannot break it up.
— Dr. Jake K. Turx, NhD (not an actual doctor) (@JakeTurx) June 5, 2020
Tonight’s Justice for George Floyd Shabbat Services are sure to be interesting as well.
H/t @kippahunited pic.twitter.com/pN1JvII0wx
Here’s an article about it:
123) Over 1,000 ‘health experts’ sign letter of support for Black Lives Matter mob but conservative protesters are racist and must stay at home due to COVID-19
124) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that he still supported quarantine measures that limited attendance at houses of worship to 10, even as he supported mass protests in the city against police brutality
https://forward.com/fast-forward/447916/de-blasio-coronavirus-jewish-protest/
125) Michigan Supreme Court unanimously sides with 77-year-old barber over governor Gretchen Whitmer
126) Black pro-lifers arrested for praying at Planned Parenthood while hundreds of rioters go free
127) PA Health Secretary twists herself into a pretzel trying to justify limitless BLM protests while standing by COVID-19 restrictions for small businesses
https://twitter.com/David_LaTorre/status/1268280669014237186
This is why you have reporters at press conferences. Levine is asked about @GovernorTomWolf calling officials coward and then marching today in Harrisburg. Wait for the end. pic.twitter.com/6VkaYyMpwr
— Real_Dave_La_Torre 🍿 (@David_LaTorre) June 3, 2020
128) New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio broke up a Jewish funeral, but allowed a funeral for George Floyd
129) Michigan governor Gretchen ‘Lockdown’ Whitmer leads group of marchers chanting, ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’
130) Claire McCaskill was the State Auditor of Missouri, as well as a U.S. Senator from Missouri. She criticized people who went swimming, but defended Black Lives Matter protestors.
https://twitter.com/clairecmc/status/1264571117546725377
Embarrassing for my state. Hope none of them have parents fighting cancer, grandparents with diabetes, aunts and uncles with serious heart conditions. Because clearly they could care less. https://t.co/2e8XXur3iN
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) May 24, 2020
https://twitter.com/clairecmc/status/1268367586699415553
Oh come on. Missourians please. Why? Why? Other than to waste their time and your money groveling at the ankles of Donald Trump. Disgusting. Get mad. https://t.co/7aLIEBRzW2
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) June 4, 2020
131) U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi said she supported extending the lockdown for three more months. Less than one month later, she participated in a Black Lives Matter protest.
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1268262028205936641
Nancy Pelosi walking through the protests without needing the police to gas protesters pic.twitter.com/wKwb3RwEDf
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 3, 2020
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/13/nancy-pelosi-of-course-supports-los-angeles-lockdo/
132) Let this sink In: Churches are shuttered over COVID-19 fears, but violent anarchists are allowed to congregate with impunity
133) New York governor Andrew Cuomo criticized anti-lockdown protestors, but defended Black Lives Matter protestors who violated the lockdown
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/george-floyd-unrest-big-city-mayors-coronavirus-lockdowns
134) Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti threatened to turn off the water and electricity to businesses that violated the lockdown, but he defended Black Lives Matter protestors who violated the lockdown
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/george-floyd-unrest-big-city-mayors-coronavirus-lockdowns
135) Denmark, Finland say they saw no increase in coronavirus after schools re-opened
136) Kanchan Soni, who lived in India, died because the lockdown prevented her from getting dialysis
137) Chewing gum, wire-cutters, and superglue: the alarming rise of DIY Dentistry under coronavirus
138) A scientific paper on the lockdown states, “In high burden settings, HIV, TB and malaria related deaths over 5 years may be increased by up to 10%, 20% and 36%, respectively”
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/mrc-gida/2020-05-01-COVID19-Report-19.pdf
139) Polio and measles could surge after disruption of vaccine programs. A new study of 129 countries found that the interruption of inoculation efforts could put 80 million babies at risk of getting deadly, preventable diseases.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/health/coronavirus-polio-measles-immunizations.html
140) Why most Covid-19 deaths won’t be from the virus
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200528-why-most-covid-19-deaths-wont-be-from-the-virus
141) Two hairstylists who had coronavirus saw 140 clients. No new infections have been linked to the salon, officials say.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/us/missouri-hairstylists-coronavirus-clients-trnd/index.html
142) Democrats cheering ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests now say Trump rallies pose coronavirus risk
143) New Jersey governor Phil Murphy violated his own lockdown to participate in two Black Lives Matter protests
https://whyy.org/articles/gop-assemblyman-n-j-gov-murphy-broke-own-order-marching-in-protests/
144) Over half of Minnesota coronavirus death certificates list something else as primary cause of death
145) In the real world, George Floyd was killed by a police officer. But in the fantasy world of bogus COVID-19 statistics, he died from COVID-19.
In the real world, George Floyd was killed by a police officer.
This CNN article is titled, “George Floyd tested positive for coronavirus, but it had nothing to do with his death, autopsy shows.”
So although Floyd tested positive for COVID-19, it was not the cause of his death.
However, Dr. Deborah Birx had previously stated:
“if someone dies with COVID-19 we are counting that as a COVID-19 death”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blZpgra3XbU
In the real world, George Floyd was killed by a police officer.
But in the fantasy world of bogus COVID-19 statistics, he died from COVID-19.
146) U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders praised Black Lives Matter protestors, but said Trump’s proposed GOP convention was dangerous
On June 5, 2020, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said the following of Black Lives Matter protestors:
“I’m very proud of the people standing up for justice and taking to the streets. When we study history we look at pivotal moments — the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II. People will look back on this time as one of those moments.”
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1268992801963982853
I’m very proud of the people standing up for justice and taking to the streets. When we study history we look at pivotal moments — the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II. People will look back on this time as one of those moments. pic.twitter.com/WzpH7i3fyD
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 5, 2020
However, on June 11, 2020, Sanders said the following of President Trump’s proposed GOP convention:
“Trump wants 15,000 delegates cheering him at his GOP convention in Florida. No social distancing. His rejection of medical advice endangers not only those there but those they come in contact with. Trump’s a threat to the health and well-being of the country. He must be defeated.”
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1271137203318595584
Trump wants 15,000 delegates cheering him at his GOP convention in Florida. No social distancing. His rejection of medical advice endangers not only those there but those they come in contact with. Trump’s a threat to the health and well-being of the country. He must be defeated.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 11, 2020
Make up your mind, Senator Sanders. Either the virus is too dangerous for people to be gathering in large groups, or it’s not. You can’t have it be safe for people that you agree with, but dangerous for people that you disagree with. Viruses don’t work that way. The virus doesn’t know or care why people are gathering together in large groups.
147) Feds classifying all coronavirus patient deaths as ‘COVID-19’ deaths, regardless of cause. The federal government is classifying the deaths of patients infected with the coronavirus as COVID-19 deaths, regardless of any underlying health issues that could have contributed to the loss of someone’s life.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/feds-classify-all-coronavirus-patient-deaths-as-covid-19-deaths/
148) World Health Organization: “If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19”
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/cdc-offer-conflicting-advice-masks-expert-tells-us/story?id=70958380
149) Reopening schools in Denmark did not worsen outbreak, data shows
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-denmark-reopening-idUSKBN2341N7
150) One month later: top Israeli mathematician predicted COVID-19 peaks after 40 days with or without economic lockdowns – and he was right!
151) Baltimore fines church for holding services while thousands protest in the streets
152) Argentina pastor turns church into bar in protest at uneven coronavirus restrictions
153) More than 60 percent of both nursing home deaths and total COVID-19 deaths occurred in just seven blue states with about 20 percent of the U.S. population: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Michigan. The governors in each of these states ignored federal guidelines and pursued some version of the policy of admitting infectious patients to nursing homes as soon as they were clinically stable.
https://townhall.com/columnists/philkerpen/2020/06/24/covid19-the-nursing-home-disease-n2571160
154) MSNBC: Trump Fans ‘Super-Spreaders’ But BLM Protesters Show ‘Extraordinary Courage’
155) Water, power cut off and locks changed at Oxford gym that defied Massachusetts shutdown
156) James Woods: “Democrats were literally arresting Americans for opening their businesses, but now are silent as protesters burn them down. You were fined for worshipping in your church, but now cheered for marching in screaming crowds.”
https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1268201526448685056
Democrats were literally arresting Americans for opening their businesses, but now are silent as protesters burn them down. You were fined for worshipping in your church, but now cheered for marching in screaming crowds.
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) June 3, 2020
157) Dr. Kelly Fradin: “I’m a pediatrician and I think we should reopen schools, even with the risk of coronavirus outbreaks”
https://www.insider.com/pediatrician-reopen-schools-even-if-it-leads-coronavirus-outbreaks-2020-6
158) Catholic priests, Orthodox Jews sue Cuomo, de Blasio over reopening plan: ‘Blatant double-standard’
https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-cuomo-de-blasio-coronavirus-discrimination-lawsuit
159) Pennsylvania sues to stop car show over crowd size even after Governor Tom Wolf marched in Black Lives Matter protest two weeks earlier
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pennsylvania-shut-down-car-show-coronvirus
160) An Ohio BBQ restaurant named Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf its “employee of the month” after business skyrocketed. Breakwall BBQ sits along Lake Erie near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border in a town called Conneaut. The BBQ joint tells Erie News Now they’ve had hundreds of customers cross the border to eat at their restaurant as Erie County remains in the yellow phase of the state’s reopening process.
161) Citing protests, federal judge strikes down Cuomo and de Blasio lockdown orders for churches
A federal judge on Friday struck down orders issued by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio that limit the size of church services.
The ruling, a preliminary injunction delivered by District Judge Gary Sharpe, notes that by endorsing protests for racial justice while simultaneously discouraging large gatherings in churches, both Cuomo and de Blasio undermined their claim that their lockdown orders were “generally applicable.”
“The State argues, in overly-simplistic fashion, that the challenged laws only incidentally impose a burden on religious exercise, and they are neutral and generally applicable, and therefore, only rational basis need be shown, which is self-evident: preventing the spread of COVID-19,” Sharpe wrote. “The State was silent with respect to the mass race protests.”
Sharpe added that de Blasio’s comments with regard to churches, as well as his attitude toward New York Jewish communities, made it difficult for the mayor to make a “legitimate” claim that he is not biased against people of faith while favoring protests.
“Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio could have just as easily discouraged protests, short of condemning their message, in the name of public health and exercised discretion to suspend enforcement for public safety reasons instead of encouraging what they knew was a flagrant disregard of the outdoor limits and social distancing rules,” Sharpe wrote. “They could have also been silent. But by acting as they did, Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio sent a clear message that mass protests are deserving of preferential treatment.”
De Blasio, in early June, said that allowing protests and allowing religious services were “not the same question.”
The ruling came after Catholic churches and Orthodox synagogues in upstate New York filed a suit earlier this month alleging that Cuomo’s executive orders violated their First Amendment rights.
Following Sharpe’s order, New York officials are no longer allowed to impose limits on indoor, in-person religious gatherings.
162) This video shows Dr. Anthony Fauci removing his mask when he thought he was no longer being filmed
https://twitter.com/CHIZMAGA/status/1278029614070153217
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsCamera off, mask off. pic.twitter.com/WQYIEeiVK3
— CHIZ 🇺🇸 (@CHIZMAGA) June 30, 2020
163) DC mayor tells residents to stay home for 4th of July, promotes Black Lives Matter gatherings
164) De Blasio, Cuomo are making children bear the worst of the lockdowns
Videos circulating on social media recently show New York City Parks employees welding shut a playground in the heart of Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We have seen footage of the New York Police Department and NYC Parks Police in Boro Park shepherding Hasidic children out of a park and locking it shut behind them.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands are allowed to protest in Brooklyn, while a maskless Mayor Bill de Blasio poses for photo-ops, ignoring the social-distancing guidelines his administration ruthlessly enforces against Jewish children and families.
The hypocrisy is stunning — and appalling.
Is it too much to ask for consistent leadership in the Big Apple? Is it too much to ask that our mayor enforce policies equally, across the board? Is it too much to ask that the mayor practice what he preaches or even set an example, instead of scurrying after the most popular position of the week, gung-ho about lockdowns two weeks ago — and gung-ho about mass protests today?
And why are our children becoming the victims of this whiplash-inducing virtue-signaling?
If it were only the mayor taking dumb stances, perhaps we could chalk it up to de Blasio being de Blasio. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn’t exactly the beacon of leadership that he projected at the outset of this crisis. On Friday, he took the confounding step of banning sleepaway camps in New York state this summer.
https://nypost.com/2020/06/16/de-blasio-cuomo-are-making-children-bear-worst-of-lockdowns/
165) Selective social-distancing rules are one of the great scams in American life. Massive crowds are wonderful and healthful, if they’re woke. Otherwise, they’re life-threatening… Their metric for reopening wasn’t the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines or any other public-health measure but the “wokeness” of the activity in question… Virtue-signaling is now an essential activity… To believe the leaders of Blue America, SARS-CoV-2 is the first virus in human history to have a social conscience – virulent enough in the ordinary course of events to justify the most restrictive social controls, but not such a big deal if it might get in the way of marches for social justice.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/coronavirus-selective-social-distancing-rules-scam/
166) Slowing the coronavirus is speeding the spread of other diseases. Many mass immunization efforts worldwide were halted this spring to prevent spread of the virus at crowded inoculation sites. The consequences have been alarming… cargo flights with vaccine supplies were halted… Now, diphtheria is appearing in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Cholera is in South Sudan, Cameroon, Mozambique, Yemen and Bangladesh. A mutated strain of poliovirus has been reported in more than 30 countries. And measles is flaring around the globe, including in Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Nigeria and Uzbekistan.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/health/coronavirus-vaccines-measles.html
167) Norway health chief: lockdown was not needed to tame Covid
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/norway-health-chief-lockdown-was-not-needed-to-tame-covid
168) NBC News “medical expert” Dr. Joseph Fair appeared on air nearly a dozen times to document his “struggle” with COVID-19. But later, he admitted that he never actually had COVID-19. From the very start, every single one of his COVID-19 tests was negative.
This is just too funny.
This is one of the biggest and best examples of the media bias that is being used to exaggerate the problem of COVID-19.
NBC News “medical expert” Dr. Joseph Fair appeared on air nearly a dozen times to document his “struggle” with COVID-19.
But later, he admitted that he never actually had COVID-19.
From the very start, every single one of his COVID-19 tests was negative.
Here’s a picture of Dr. Fair from one of his reports. I got this image from the following link, which also has a great article about how NBC pulled off their huge con:
Here are some of the videos of NBC’s con that aired on the network:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWRVXxTdgYs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjZbSHv6lws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of4RlbgUbEc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyizJh3–5o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_tupmKGy0c
169) California’s Gavin Newsom orders wineries shut, keeps his own open
170) Antibody tests point to lower death rate for the coronavirus than first thought
Mounting evidence suggests the coronavirus is more common and less deadly than it first appeared.
The evidence comes from tests that detect antibodies to the coronavirus in a person’s blood rather than the virus itself.
The tests are finding large numbers of people in the U.S. who were infected but never became seriously ill. And when these mild infections are included in coronavirus statistics, the virus appears less dangerous.
“The current best estimates for the infection fatality risk are between 0.5% and 1%,” says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
That’s in contrast with death rates of 5% or more based on calculations that included only people who got sick enough to be diagnosed with tests that detect the presence of virus in a person’s body.
171) Churches, which account for 0.02% of COVID-19 cases, are a “major source” of infection, the New York Times says. The paper’s claim reflects the same arbitrary distinction between religious and secular activities that churches are challenging in court.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/coronavirus-churches-outbreaks.html
172) NYC Black Lives Matter marches can continue despite large-event ban, de Blasio says
https://nypost.com/2020/07/09/nyc-allows-black-lives-matter-marches-despite-ban-on-large-events/
173) Coronavirus pandemic could push 122 million to brink of starvation: Oxfam
https://globalnews.ca/news/7155931/coronavirus-starvation-oxfam/
174) Dr. Dan Wohlgelernter said, “What we needed to do was not lock down all of society. Not shut down schools. Not shut down all businesses. You needed to protect the elderly. Particularly the elderly in the nursing homes. It’s a small segment of our population. We could have allowed the rest of the population to continue with their lives, take adequate precautions but not be completely shut down. The cost of the shut down in terms of the physical, emotional, and psychological health of people is enormous. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg of people who have been shut-in. Who’ve lost their businesses. Who are facing depression. Who are facing issues of mental health because of the consequences. This should never happen again. If we ever face this situation again we need to learn the lessons from the mistakes and policies that were implemented.”
175) Are protests dangerous? What experts say may depend on who’s protesting what. Public health experts decried the anti-lockdown protests as dangerous gatherings in a pandemic. Health experts seem less comfortable doing so now that the marches are against racism.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/us/Epidemiologists-coronavirus-protests-quarantine.html/
New York City, controlled by racist Democrats, is using COVID-19 as an excuse for the police to harass racial minorities
New York City is controlled by Democrats. It’s one of the bluest cities in the country. The mayor is a Democrat. Of the 51 members of the New York City Council, 48 are Democrats. In the 2016 election for U.S. president, 79% of the voters in New York City voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton. That makes New York City one of the bluest, most Democratic controlled cities in the country.
Democrats, as we know, are the party of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow, and school segregation.
After a Democratic U.S. Senator named Robert Byrd started his own chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and recruited 150 of his friends and family members to join it, Democrat Hillary Clinton referred to him as “my friend and mentor.” After Clinton praised the Ku Klux Klan leader, 79% of the voters in New York City voted for Clinton for U.S. President.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the racist, Democratic controlled city of New York is using COVID-19 as an excuse for police officers to harass racial minorities.
This recent article by NBC News it titled
Violent encounter in New York City prompts concerns about unequal policing of social distancing
The article’s first two paragraphs state:
A violent encounter between a New York City police officer and a bystander that police said began as an attempt to enforce social distancing rules has prompted concerns about unequal policing.
New York City’s public advocate Jumaane Williams posted pictures on Twitter on Sunday — one of swarms of white people sitting in parks and three images from what appeared to depict encounters between police and people of color.
This is the tweet that the article is referring to:
https://twitter.com/JumaaneWilliams/status/1256960047265067008
The same NBC News article also states:
Last week, de Blasio personally oversaw the dispersal of a crowd of mourners in the Williamsburg neighborhood at the funeral of a Hasidic rabbi, that he and the commissioner said drew thousands of people.
Clearly, the racist Democrats who control New York City don’t think the First Amendment’s protections of freedom of assembly and freedom of religion applies to minorities such as Jews.
It is very clear and obvious that New York City, controlled by racist Democrats, is using COVID-19 as an excuse to harass racial and religious minorities.
In St. Louis County, Missouri, this totalitarian woman reported the names of open businesses to the government. Then she hypocritically complained after her own name got published on the internet.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
May 4, 2020
The woman in this video says she has a medical condition that makes her vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus. I don’t blame her for having this medical condition. It’s not her fault that she has this medical condition.
What I do blame her for is reporting open businesses to the government. Apparently, she thinks that because she herself is sick, other people, who are healthy, should also be prevented from going to these businesses.
So, a really good, decent person published the name of this totalitarian on the internet.
And now the totalitarian who ratted out the open businesses is complaining that she herself has been ratted out. What a hypocrite!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYhvc_86HsI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYhvc_86HsI
Personal information from 900+ St. Louisan tipsters exposed on social media
Documents with the names of people who reported stay-at-home violations are being shared online. One tipster said she won’t count on the county’s help again.
April 24, 2020
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A spree of social media posts this week warn that St. Louis County released the information it got from people who reported businesses in violation of the stay-at-home order.
The document, released in response to a Sunshine Law request, included names and contact information of the people making the reports. In their messages, some asked for anonymity.
Posts and comments in response to the document invited retaliation against the people who utilized the county’s inbox for tips about non-essential businesses that stayed open.
The I-Team’s PJ Randhawa talked with a woman whose tip was among those released. Patricia asked that we not use her last name, because she fears what someone might do with the information in the document.
“We’re in a society where doing what’s right doesn’t always get rewarded,” she said.
Patricia has lupus. Two other people in her house have autoimmune issues.
“We have to be extra careful because we don’t have the strength to fight this,” she said. “I saw a lot of businesses that were non-essential that were open and had lines outside, parking lots filled as if the order didn’t matter to them. And that was kinda frustrating.”
Tips flood in after county asks for help
What Patricia did is exactly what St. Louis County intended when it established two ways for people to submit tips on non-compliant businesses. County government announced the creation of an online form and a dedicated email address for those tips in the last week of March.
In a little over a week, those channels received more than 900 tips from the public, the released documents show. Among the complaints are employees and their family members asking for anonymity because they feared backlash from employers.
The online form some of them used warned that the tips they submitted could become public records.
A disclaimer that form submitters had to acknowledge before sending says, “I have been advised that this form and any other communication may be considered an open record pursuant to the Sunshine Law, Chapter 610 RSMo. St. Louis County may be required to release this form as well as other communications as a matter of law upon request by any member of the public, including the media.”
Patricia said she never expected it to end up on Facebook, posted by someone whose motive seemed to be revenge.
Social media backlash
The Facebook post headline said, “Here ya go. The gallery of snitches, busybodies, and employees who rat out their own neighbors and employers over the Panic-demic.”
A person whose Facebook profile name is Jared Totsch told the I-Team that he posted the documents knowing that there might be consequences for the people named within.
“If they are worried about retaliation, they should have read the fine print which stated their tips would be open public record subject to a Sunshine request, and should not have submitted tips in that manner to begin with,” wrote Totsch. “I released the info in an attempt to discourage such behavior in the future.”
Totsch declined a phone or video interview. When asked how he felt about the possibility that someone who reported a business might lose their job, Totsch wrote, “I’d call it poetic justice, instant Karma, a dose of their own medicine. What goes around, comes around. They are now experiencing the same pain that they themselves helped to inflict on those they filed complaints against.”
That’s exactly the attitude that has Patricia concerned now.
“I’m not only worried about COVID, I’m worried about someone showing up at my door, showing up at my workplace or me getting fired for doing what is right,” she said.
How it got to your news feed
St. Louis County told the I-Team that it released the information to a “broadcast journalist” in response to a Sunshine Law request.
Jared Totsch wrote in his original Facebook post that he had filed a Sunshine Law request for the documents, but later stated that he re-posted them from a different group that published them first.
The Missouri Sunshine Law gives the public and media the right to request records made or received by any public agency, with some exceptions. Among those exceptions is a clause allowing tips to municipal hotlines about abuse and wrongdoing to be withheld. But the county’s review of the request found no reason to withhold information about who sent the tips.
The St. Louis County executive’s director of communications, Doug Moore, wrote, “In this particular instance, our county counselor’s office consulted with the [attorney general]’s office on releasing the list of those who had filed complaints against county businesses. We were told all the information was public and we should not redact (except for HIPAA information). Withholding information goes against what journalists push us to be – as transparent as possible.”
Moore also mentioned that the county is working to be more transparent following the consent order between the current county executive administration and the attorney general’s office regarding allegations of Sunshine Law violations in the previous administration.
The tips include claims against 29 of the businesses that were issued violation letters at the beginning of April.
Patricia believes there’s a reason to redact information like the senders’ names from messages like these. She also has a message for the people spreading the document around the internet.
“What did you get out of sharing the info on who did it?” she said. “It’s asinine and I have to question, whoever shared the list… what were your motives?”
In the end, she said, she’s learned a hard lesson.
“When there is something that happens next time, I’m not going to feel safe or protected enough to call the local authorities.”
Mississippi police issue $500 tickets to drive-in church service attendees
Mississippi police issue $500 tickets to drive-in church service attendees
April 12, 2020
GREENVILLE, Miss. (WJW) — Police in Mississippi issued $500 tickets to parishioners attending drive-in church services on Wednesday.
In wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Temple Baptist Church began running its services using radio frequencies that can only be heard within a one-block radius of the church, WLBT reports.
On Wednesday, their drive-in church service was shut down by local police.
“The police started coming up and we said, well, we think we’re in our rights. And they started issuing tickets, $500 tickets, it may have been 50 — I mean 20 to 30 tickets. Everybody got one, it wasn’t per car. Me and my wife was both in the car together and both of us got tickets,” longtime parishioner Lee Gordon told the news outlet.
Greenville Mayor Erick Simmons claims the drive-in church services pose health violations.
“You’re there for a 2-hour-period of time, folks want to use the bathroom, or go potty, and the little girls want to go use it. Now folks are in and out and they are facing this invisible giant called COVID-19,” Mayor Simmons reportedly said. “What we’ve been asking for in the state is bold leadership from our state, and partnership. If we have clear direction, we wouldn’t have issues that have evolved across the state.”
Another church in the area, who experienced a similar situation, has filed a lawsuit against the mayor saying his order is ” unconstitutional, illegal and must be withdrawn.”
Video: Wisconsin Deputies Threaten a Mother For Letting Her Daughter Play At a Neighbor’s Home During Shutdown
Video: Wisconsin Deputies Threaten a Mother For Letting Her Daughter Play At a Neighbor’s Home During Shutdown
April 30, 2020
Two Wisconsin police officers were caught on video verbally accosting a mother for letting her daughter play at a neighbor’s home during the states COVID-19 shutdown, accusing her of “violating an order” by the state.
The incident, caught on video by the mom’s cell phone, shows the officers immediately – and aggressively – demanding to know if she’s aware of the state’s stay-at-home order.
The footage shows the first officer, a male, repeatedly interrupting the woman and sarcastically responding to her answers.
“Why are you here?” the mother asked in the video.
“Because your daughter is going to play at other people’s homes and you’re allowing it to happen,” the officer responded.
“Stop having your kid go by other people’s homes,” he then demanded.
The female police officer then repeatedly demanded the woman give her middle initial and last name so she could put it in an official record, which the mother refused to do.
“That’ll be documented too, that you’re uncooperative,” the female cop adds.
https://twitter.com/MediaRival/status/1255537595553112065
Tucker Carlson: Totalitarianism doesn’t shock us any more
It’s Not About Your Health – What’s Really Going On with the Economic Lockdowns?
It’s Not About Your Health – What’s Really Going On with the Economic Lockdowns?
April 24, 2020
When the State tells you it’s safe to go to Home Depot to buy a sponge but dangerous to go and buy a flower, it’s not about your health.
When the State shuts down millions of private businesses but doesn’t lay off a single government employee, it’s not about your health.
When the State bans dentists because its unsafe, but deems an abortion visit is safe, it’s not about your health.
When the State prevents you from buying cucumber seeds because it’s dangerous, but allows personal lottery ticket sales, it’s not about your health.
When the State tells you it’s dangerous to go golf alone, fish alone or be in a motor boat alone, but the Governor can get his stage make-up done, and hair done for 5 TV appearances a week, it’s not about your health.
When the state puts you IN a jail cell for walking in a park with your child because it’s too dangerous but lets criminals OUT of jail cells for their health- It’s not about YOUR health!
When the state tells you it’s too dangerous to get treated by a doctor for chiropractic or physical therapy treatments yet deems a liquor store essential- It’s not about your health!
When the State lets you go to the grocery store or hardware store but is demanding mail-in voting, ITS NOT ABOUT YOUR HEALTH.
WAKE UP PEOPLE — If you think this is all about your health you’re mistaken! Please open your eyes! Stop being lead like blind sheep.
New Jersey Bans Looking At Flowers While Driving
New Jersey Bans Looking At Flowers While Driving
Viewing Flowers from Inside a Vehicle is a Subversive Activity
April 20, 2020
Comrades, let this serve as a warning to like-minded subversives who would attempt to defy the lock-down orders of Commissar Phil Murphy. If wrong-thoughts continue to be expressed, it may become necessary for the Ministry of Coronavirus Compliance to deduct 500 credits from your social compliance score. Please do not put the Ministry in the position of having to make such decisions. Compliance is in your best interest.
In the latest example of Blue State enforcement of unilateral decrees by a state governor, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy bans driving through Tulip farms. Yes, New Jersey, looking at flowers from inside your vehicle is a subversive activity against the interests of the state…. Non-compliance will not be tolerated.
Dalton Farms is a 99 acre family owned and run farm conveniently located in southern New Jersey just off of SR 322. The farm was allowing residents to drive through their tulip fields to see the spring colors as the flowers bloom. However, apparently fearing transmission of the Wuhan Virus from non-compliant vehicle operators; potentially permitting tire-to-tire transmission; the state has ordered the farm to shut down.
All rogue citizens must be controlled lest they put a compliant society at risk of infection. Flower viewers are some of the most dangerous elements within our new society. They may not just carry biologics they could possibly carry a more alarming virus of wrong-thought, potentially even perspectives on freedom, against the interests of the state.
During these stressful times thought, without regard for collective need, is an indication a citizen may be a subversive. Rogue citizens would be subversive to our new society and must be controlled.
The COVID Compliance Ministry appreciates good citizens who comply with the interests of the state. Good citizenship is rewarded with enhanced credits allowing access to a safe COVID Compliant Society. A safer society; where the odds will always be in your favor.
Michigan’s totalitarian governor Gretchen Whitmer orders big bog stores to “Close areas of the store – by cordoning them off, placing signs in aisles, posting prominent signs, removing goods from shelves, or other appropriate means—that are dedicated to the following classes of goods: Carpet or flooring. Furniture. Garden centers and plant nurseries. Paint.”
Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered big box stores to prevent customers from having access to certain sections of the store.
Hers are the exact words of her order from her official government website: (Original, archive)
“For stores of more than 50,000 square feet… Close areas of the store – by cordoning them off, placing signs in aisles, posting prominent signs, removing goods from shelves, or other appropriate means—that are dedicated to the following classes of goods: Carpet or flooring. Furniture. Garden centers and plant nurseries. Paint.”
Only a totalitarian would be in favor of such a government policy.
A Close Look At President Trump’s Assertion Of ‘Absolute’ Authority Over States
A Close Look At President Trump’s Assertion Of ‘Absolute’ Authority Over States
April 14, 2020
NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks with Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice about presidential emergency powers, and President Trump’s assertions of authority amid the coronavirus crisis.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The president has certain powers in a national emergency like this pandemic. Yesterday, President Trump falsely said that his power is total.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The federal government has absolute power. It has the power. As to whether or not I’ll use that power, we’ll see.
SHAPIRO: Today, he moderated his message saying he’ll work with governors to determine when the country should reopen. Elizabeth Goitein studies presidential power at the Brennan Center. And she’s here to explain where the line is between state and federal authority in moments like this. Good to have you back on the program.
ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Thanks very much for having me.
SHAPIRO: There is always this kind of push-pull between the federal government and the states. In a national emergency like this, does the president have certain powers that he doesn’t ordinarily have?
GOITEIN: He does. When the president declares a national emergency, it gives him access to more than 100 different statutory powers that Congress has granted over the decades. And those powers allow him to do some pretty remarkable things, some rather scary things I would argue. But none of them provides the authority to do what the president was threatening to do here. And that is to require the states to reopen businesses and to lift their stay-at-home orders. So the simple answer to that question is, no, a national emergency does not give him that authority.
SHAPIRO: But you’ve also written about secret emergency powers that the president has had for decades that we don’t actually know what’s in them. Can you explain what those are?
GOITEIN: Yeah. There’s something called a presidential emergency action document. And what that is is a draft order or executive proclamation that is prepared in advance in order to anticipate a wide variety of worst-case scenarios. And so these documents essentially take on hypothetical situations, very bad situations like, for example, the aftermath of a nuclear attack. And they try to anticipate what orders the president might need to order at that time. And those are kind of on standby. I mean, they are there in case the president feels that he needs them. And what’s extraordinary about these documents is their secrecy, their total secrecy. So even the most sensitive military operations or intelligence operations have to be reported to at least some members of Congress. But these documents apparently even Congress has never seen them. So you have to kind of wonder what’s in them.
SHAPIRO: That raises a whole bucket of questions. But I wonder just generally, you know, many people have compared the fight against this pandemic to a war. And legally, a president does get certain extraordinary powers in times of war. Does the analogy translate here? I mean, does he have those war powers in the fight against this disease?
GOITEIN: It’s a really interesting question. I mean, we have heard a lot of comparisons coming from the White House between the fight against COVID-19 and war. The president has said that he’s now a wartime president. But public health crises and war are not the same thing. Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to declare war and the president, as commander in chief, has the power to conduct military operations and to defend against attack. The Constitution doesn’t give either the president or Congress authority over public health. That is one of the powers that’s reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment. Now, Congress does have some ability to legislate on public health as a result of its – of other powers it has over taxing and spending and interstate commerce. So it does share some of these powers with the states, but that’s Congress. The president has no authority over public health beyond what Congress delegates to him. He is not commander in chief of the fight against COVID-19.
SHAPIRO: That’s really interesting. Just in our last minute, I wonder whether you find it odd to see, for the most part, liberals making a states’ rights argument here, which has traditionally been the more conservative position.
GOITEIN: It is really interesting. And I should mention that even though the states are doing the responsible thing here in a situation where the president is not, and so that’s something to be grateful for, there are some advantages to a coordinated response to a pandemic like this one. And ideally, the federal government, not just the CDC and the secretary of Health and Human Services, but the president would be providing the necessary leadership and could assist with interstate coordination. But what we’ve seen is that in the absence of this leadership, the states are doing this on their own. They’re entering into these agreements with one another, and that’s the next best thing.
SHAPIRO: Elizabeth Goitein is co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program.
Thank you for talking with us.
GOITEIN: My pleasure.
Trump says his ‘authority is total.’ Constitutional experts have ‘no idea’ where he got that.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/14/trump-power-constitution-coronavirus/
Trump says his ‘authority is total.’ Constitutional experts have ‘no idea’ where he got that.
April 14, 2020
When President Trump was asked during Monday’s news briefing what authority he has to reopen the country, he didn’t hesitate to answer. “I have the ultimate authority,” the president responded, cutting off the reporter who was speaking.
Trump later clarified his position further, telling reporters, “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total and that’s the way it’s got to be. … It’s total. The governors know that.”
The local leaders, Trump said, “can’t do anything without the approval of the president of the United States.”
Trump’s eyebrow-raising assertions about the reach of his office during national emergencies, which were also echoed by Vice President Pence at the briefing, came on the same day governors on both coasts announced their own plans to begin working toward reopening their states amid the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic.
While the president appears convinced he is the only one empowered to make the critical determination, his extraordinary assertions of authority over the states astounded legal scholars, leaving them wondering, as they have before about Trump’s broad claims, where on earth he got them.
“You won’t find that written in the Federalist Papers anywhere,” Robert Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Washington Post.
Not only does the power Trump asserted have no basis in reality, experts said, but it’s also completely antithetical to the Constitution, the concept of federalism and separation of powers — whether during a time of emergency or not.
“This isn’t ancient Rome where there’s a special law that says in the event of an emergency all the regular rules are thrown out the window and one person, whom they called the dictator, gets to make the rules for the duration of the emergency or for a period of time,” Chesney said. “We don’t have a system like that.”
On Twitter, Steve Vladeck, another professor at the University of Texas School of Law, rebutted Trump’s “authority is total” remark.
“Nope,” Vladeck wrote. “That would be the literal definition of a *totalitarian* government.”
Trump: “When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total.”
Nope.
https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1249835579153485825
https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1249835579153485825
Various Democrats and Republicans appeared to be in agreement on this basic democratic principle. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) tweeted the full text of the 10th Amendment, which says any powers not specifically delegated to the federal government in the Constitution are reserved to the states. The federal government, she said, “does not have absolute authority.”
Appearing on CNN, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) scoffed at that idea as well, telling host Erin Burnett, “You don’t become king because there’s a federal emergency.”
https://twitter.com/Liz_Cheney/status/1249845408127488000
https://twitter.com/Liz_Cheney/status/1249845408127488000
Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston, told The Post that if Trump were to call up Cuomo tomorrow and order him to send everyone back to work, Cuomo could easily tell Trump to “get lost, and that would be his prerogative.”
It’s the most basic tenet of federalism, he said: “The federal government can’t give orders to governors. That’s a very simple fact of life.”
At least one former governor took Trump’s side: Vice President Pence, who offered a forthcoming legal brief on the subject at the news conference Monday.
“Make no mistake about it, in the long history of this country, the authority of the president of the United States during national emergencies is unquestionably plenary,” Pence said.
https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1249874928159121409
https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1249874928159121409
Blackman said he had “no idea” what law or legal precedent Trump believed granted him such sweeping authority, because none do. He said there is a long history of presidents using “creative arguments” to assert executive authority during wartime or emergencies — but contrary to Pence’s assertion, there is not a long history of presidents getting away with nearly unfettered authority. There is no “emergency clause” in the Constitution for presidential power, he said.
Case in point: During the Korean War, President Harry Truman declared a national emergency and seized private steel mills to preempt a steelworkers’ strike, arguing that the mills were essential to the national defense. The Supreme Court, in a case called Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer that continues to guide the courts today, stopped Truman in his tracks.
That was before the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which did give presidents authority to declare a national emergency without the prior approval of Congress. Still, Vladeck stressed in an email to The Post that while presidents “do and should have broad powers to respond to crises, broad is not the same as ‘total.’ ”
In this case, he said, it’s critical to remember that Trump never issued any kind of national lockdown order like other countries did. Trump thus cannot reopen something he never shut down. Vladeck said he does not believe that Trump would have had the authority to do that anyway. At most, he said, Trump might have been able to ban interstate travel under the Public Health Service Act.
“But for better or worse, the president has left most of the big decisions to local and state authorities. That makes it only that much harder for him to try to override them,” Vladeck said.
Blackman and Chesney said the president is free to issue “guidelines” urging states to go back to work, but the states are also free to ignore them.
Trump, if he were to act on his impulses, would probably discover that states and local governments “don’t work for him,” Chesney said, but he stressed that Trump’s sweeping assertions need to be kept in check before he gets to that point.
The federal system created by the framers of the Constitution divided power between the national and state governments. While the Constitution’s supremacy clause means acts of Congress can override the laws of states, the same does not apply to the president acting unilaterally.
As a result, various police powers, as well as authority over functions such as zoning and regulation of business, belong to the states because the Constitution does not grant them to the federal government. The states, in turn, are constrained by the constitutional grant of the power to regulate interstate commerce, for example, and the Bill of Rights.
The federal government has exerted its greatest power over the states by withholding or threatening to withhold money from recalcitrant states, though even that authority has been limited by the Supreme Court.
Trump has made many extreme claims of power, previously declaring that Article II of the Constitution, which vests executive power in the president, gives him “the right to do whatever I want.”
“On the one hand, we shouldn’t freak out over every blustering claim of power he asserts, but on the other hand, there’s something very harmful in failing to rebut those claims every time they happen,” Chesney said Monday. “There are plenty of people who will credit what he says, and if he repeatedly asserts he has such powers perhaps, that will help him get away with asserting powers he should not have.”
Ultimately, Vladeck said, the real problem only begins if Trump’s claims to nearly boundless power are left unchallenged through the system of checks and balances by the courts or Congress.
“It’s not a crisis when a president claims powers unfettered by those constraints, and unconfined by written law and settled precedent,” he said. “It’s a crisis when those other institutions don’t push back.”
Here’s what the Constitution’s 10th Amendment says about Trump’s claim to have total authority over states
Here’s what the Constitution’s 10th Amendment says about Trump’s claim to have total authority over states
April 14, 2020
While discussing whether he or the nation’s governors have the power to lift restrictions states put in place to fight the spread of the coronavirus, President Donald Trump declared at a news briefing Monday, “When somebody’s president of the United States, the authority is total.”
The president’s unprecedented claim of total power met with immediate pushback from Democrats and Republicans, many of them arguing the U.S. Constitution explicitly refutes his claim to absolute authority.
“The federal government does not have absolute power,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who went on to quote the text of the 10th Amendment in a tweet that went viral.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said changes to the social-distancing orders should be made by the governors. Federal guidelines “will be very influential. But the Constitution & common sense dictates these decisions be made at the state level,” he tweeted.
Jonathan Turley – a law professor at George Washington University who argued against Trump’s impeachment before the House Judiciary Committee and a USA TODAY contributor – said the framers wrote the Constitution precisely to bar presidents from claiming the type of authority asserted by Trump.
“Our constitutional system was forged during a period of grave unease over executive authority. After all, the nation had just broken away from the control of a tyrant,” Turley said. And if there is “one overriding principle” in the Constitution, it is to avoid the concentration of power, and it does so “in myriad ways,” he said.
The 10th Amendment was one instrument written to help ensure that the federal government would not be able to impose the kind of absolute authority the framers feared.
https://twitter.com/JonathanTurley/status/1249837933038837760
https://twitter.com/JonathanTurley/status/1249837933038837760
What the 10th Amendment says
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
What it means
Turley said federalism, in which states are granted a large degree of autonomy, was one of the ways the framers sought to avoid authoritarianism. The other was to limit the possibility of “constitutional drift” – in which individual officials or branches of the federal government slowly expand their authority – by creating “clear structural limitations” on the powers of the federal government.
He described the 10th Amendment as an “insurance policy” against such constitutional “mission creep.”
“It basically mandates that the default position” in conflicts between the states and the federal government “rests with the states,” he said, “So, when federal push comes to states’ shove, the states are supposed to prevail.”
“There is nothing particularly ambiguous about that.”
Kathleen Bergin, a law professor at Cornell University, agreed.
“It’s so plain and obvious it’s not even debatable,” Begin said. “Trump has no authority to ease social distancing, or to open schools or private businesses. These are matters for states to decide under their power to promote public health and welfare, a power guaranteed by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution.”
How it applies to the coronavirus outbreak
“Federalism was not designed to combat a contagion, it was designed to combat tyranny,” Turley said. But according to the principles of federalism, it is the “primary responsibility of the states to prepare for and to deal with pandemics” such as this, he added.
Previously, Trump denied it was his responsibility to supply the states with the medicine and equipment needed to contain and treat the virus when asked about governors’ complaints that the federal government was not doing enough to help them. And when pressured to issue a nationwide stay-at-home order, Trump said he preferred to leave it up to each governor to impose such restrictions.
“What the president said directly contradicts his position of the last three weeks,” said Turley, who has written columns supporting Trump’s previous approach.
“One of his most unnerving statements was that governors imposed these orders simply because he let them do it and that he could have declared a national quarantine earlier,” Turley said. “That’s a direct contradiction of what he has previously stated, but, more importantly, what the Constitution states.”
Bergin said Trump was not “powerless,” however.
“He could lift international travel restrictions and issue directives to the military or federal agencies,” she said. “But he doesn’t get constitutional authority simply by claiming it. What he tries to do and what he’s authorized by the Constitution to do are two different things.”
No statutory power when it comes to social distancing
Charles Fried, who has taught at Harvard Law School since 1961, strongly disputed the idea that the 10th Amendment was relevant to Trump’s claim of total authority and said the real issue was that Congress had not passed any law granting Trump authority to order a national quarantine or stay-at-home directive.
Fried said the 10th Amendment was a “bogus concern” in this instance and anyone making that argument is “barking up the wrong tree” or is a “10th Amendment nut.”
“People like Cheney just want to bring federalism into everything, but it’s not a federalism problem,” Fried told USA TODAY.
Fried said the problem was really in the fact that Congress hadn’t given Trump the power that he claimed. But he said it theoretically could under its authority to regulate business as outlined in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.
“And that’s why I don’t like referring to the 10th Amendment. It’s not really a 10th Amendment issue. It’s a rule of law issue,” Fried said. “The president can’t just say, ‘I am the boss.'”
Fried pointed to the 1952 Supreme Court case of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer in which the court ruled President Harry Truman did not have the power to take control of the nation’s steel mills despite a labor strike that threatened production during the Korean War.
“The President’s power, if any, to issue the order must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself,” wrote Justice Hugo Black.
How would Trump enforce it?
David Cole, the national legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, told USA TODAY that even if Congress passed a law granting the president the authority to implement a national curfew, quarantine or stay-at-home order, and it survived constitutional challenges, Trump would not be able to compel the states to enforce it.
Under what is known at the “anti-commandeering principle” the courts have ruled that states don’t have to use their resources or law enforcement officials to enact federal programs.
For example, in the 1997 case Printz v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled a provision of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which required background checks for handgun sales, was unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment because it required local law enforcement officers to carry out the background checks.
“He could not direct the mayor of New York, or the governor of New York to carry out that program,” Cole said. Trump could ask the National Guard to carry it out, or the FBI, but not state or local officials, Cole said.
So, despite the president’s claims, his authority is far from total, Cole and other legal experts agreed.
“He can only execute laws that Congress has passed, and Congress can only pass laws that are authorized by the Constitution,” Cole said.
Fact check: Trump falsely claims the president has ‘total’ authority over coronavirus restrictions
Fact check: Trump falsely claims the president has ‘total’ authority over coronavirus restrictions
April 14, 2020
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump falsely claimed on Monday that, as President, he has “total” authority to decide to lift restrictions governors have imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“When somebody’s the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that’s the way it’s got to be,” Trump said at a bitter White House coronavirus briefing.
Trump then said: “The authority of the President of the United States having to do with the subject we’re talking about is total.” And after speaking about local governments, he said, “They can’t do anything without the approval of the President of the United States.”
It wasn’t clear if he was referring to state or local officials with that assertion. But he was wrong regardless.
Facts First: The President does not have “total” authority over coronavirus restrictions. Without seeking or requiring Trump’s permission, governors, mayors and school district officials imposed the restrictions that have kept citizens at home and shut down schools and businesses, and it’s those same officials who have the power to decide when to lift those restrictions. There is no legislation that explicitly gives the President the power to override states’ public health measures. In addition, Trump said last week that he prefers, because of the Constitution, to let governors make their own decisions on coronavirus restrictions.
We can’t say for sure that the courts would not side with Trump if he attempted to challenge state restrictions on some constitutional grounds he has not yet identified. However, many legal scholars believe Trump would lose.
James Hodge, a professor and director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy at Arizona State University, said Trump is “wrong” to claim he has the power to lift the states’ coronavirus restrictions.
“He can strongly encourage, advise, or even litigate whether states’ authorities to restrict public movements re: shelter in place or stay home orders are warranted, but cannot tell sovereign governors to lift these orders all at once just because the federal government determines it is high time to do so,” Hodge said in an email.
Trump’s Monday evening comments at the briefing echoed tweets from earlier in the day in which he asserted that “it is the decision of the President,” not governors, on when to “open up the states.”
“This tweet is just false. The President has no formal legal authority to categorically override local or state shelter-in-place orders or to reopen schools and small businesses. No statute delegates to him such power; no constitutional provision invests him with such authority,” Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor and CNN legal analyst, said on Twitter on Monday.
Trump did not personally shut down the economy. Rather, he issued non-binding guidelines on how people should keep their distance from each other. The guidelines begin as follows: “Listen to and follow the directions of your STATE AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES.”
No legislation says the President has the power to overturn the public health decisions of these authorities, Vladeck and other legal scholars say.
Trump did not explain why he believes he has this power. When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked him who told him he has “total” authority, he did not answer directly, instead saying, “We’re going to write up papers on this.”
When another reporter explained that the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution grants to states the powers not delegated to the federal government, Trump did not contest this interpretation — and instead sidestepped the question, saying he did not believe a state official who refused to reopen the economy could win reelection.
Trump-friendly website Breitbart broached the possibility that Trump could try to use the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce, to try to lift commercial restrictions.
Robert Barnes, a lawyer who supports Trump, argued to CNN on Monday that, “in the emergency context,” the President possesses these commerce powers the Constitution assigns to Congress.
Vladeck said Barnes’ claim is unfounded. While Vladeck said Congress might be able to pass a law authorizing the President to override some state and local restrictions — he emphasized the “might” — he said Trump does not have the power to override the restrictions on his own.
“Congress has delegated the President a bunch of powers for emergencies, but this isn’t among them,” Vladeck told CNN.
Hodge said states have a long-established authority to restrict some commerce for the protection of public health. And it is widely understood that state governments have the power to address public health emergencies within their states.
In a 2014 report, the Congressional Research Service, which provides nonpartisan research and analysis to Congress, looked at federal and state powers over quarantine and isolation. The report did not specifically address the question of a president wanting to override state public health measures, but it noted: “In general, courts appear to have declined to interfere with a state’s exercise of police powers with regard to public health matters ‘except where the regulations adopted for the protection of the public health are arbitrary, oppressive and unreasonable.'”
While both the Congressional Research Service report and the National Conference of State Legislatures say that the federal government can “take over” the management of a public health incident within a state “if the federal government determines local efforts are inadequate,” they do not specifically address a situation in which the federal government wants to take over because it believes the state is being too strict in trying to address the emergency.
Trump has some power
Trump himself has spoken as recently as last week about states’ constitutional powers during the pandemic, though he has asserted that he too has powers.
After he was asked on April 10 about the possibility of Florida’s governor opening up schools in May, the President said: “I like to allow governors to make decisions without overruling them, because from a constitutional standpoint, that’s the way it should be done. If I disagreed, I would overrule a governor, and I have that right to do it. But I’d rather have them — you can call it ‘federalist,’ you can call it ‘the Constitution,’ but I call it ‘the Constitution.’ I would rather have them make their decisions.”
Trump does have some clear, though limited, direct power. For example, he can order federal employees to return to their offices and reopen national parks and other federal property.
And he can, obviously, use his influence to try to persuade governors — and citizens — to do as he wishes.
It is also possible that Trump could try to leverage the “major disaster declaration” he has issued for each state — for example, attempting to require governors to take certain steps in exchange for federal assistance. Hodge, though, said it “could be unconstitutional” to try to impose new conditions for the receipt of federal funding after having already authorized the disaster declarations without such conditions.
Trump also asserted at the briefing that even Democratic governors would agree with his claim to total authority. New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, speaking shortly after the briefing to CNN’s Erin Burnett, said he disagreed: “We have a Constitution. We don’t have a king.”
Trump’s Claim of Total Authority in Crisis Is Rejected Across Ideological Lines
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/us/politics/trump-total-authority-claim.html
Trump’s Claim of Total Authority in Crisis Is Rejected Across Ideological Lines
Trading barbs with governors about their powers over when to ease restrictions on society, the president made an assertion that lacks a basis in the Constitution or federal law.
By Charlie Savage
April 14, 2020
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s claim that he wielded “total” authority in the pandemic crisis prompted rebellion not just from governors. Legal scholars across the ideological spectrum on Tuesday rejected his declaration that ultimately he, not state leaders, will decide when to risk lifting social distancing limits in order to reopen businesses.
“When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total,” Mr. Trump asserted at a raucous press briefing on Monday evening. “And that’s the way it’s got to be.”
But neither the Constitution nor any federal law bestows that power upon Mr. Trump, a range of legal scholars and government officials said.
“We don’t have a king in this country,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Tuesday, adding, “There are laws and facts — even in this wild political environment.” He rebutted Mr. Trump’s claim by citing a line from Alexander Hamilton, observing that presidential encroachment on powers that the Constitution reserved to the states would be “repugnant to every rule of political calculation.”
Mr. Cuomo is a Democrat, but even some of the most outspoken Republican supporters of a generally sweeping vision of presidential power agreed that Mr. Trump’s claim was empty.
John Yoo, a University of California, Berkeley, law professor known for writing much-disputed Justice Department memos after the Sept. 11 attacks claiming that President George W. Bush, as commander in chief, had the power to override legal limits on torture and surveillance for the war against Al Qaeda, said Mr. Trump could not force states to reopen.
“Only the states can impose quarantines, close institutions and businesses, and limit intrastate travel,” Mr. Yoo wrote in The National Review. “Democratic governors Gavin Newsom in California, Andrew Cuomo in New York, and J.B. Pritzker Illinois imposed their states’ lockdowns, and only they will decide when the draconian policies will end.”
Vice President Mike Pence — who styled himself as a strong proponent of states’ rights when Barack Obama was president — was a lonely voice backing Mr. Trump. “In the long history of this country,” he said on Monday, “the authority of the president of the United States during national emergencies is unquestionably plenary.”
The Constitution bestows specific powers on the federal government while reserving the rest to sovereign state governments. None of the enumerated powers given to the federal government directly address control over public health measures, although the Constitution does let Congress regulate interstate commerce.
Both a pandemic and social distancing measures that require the closure of businesses, to be sure, affect interstate commerce. But even if the federal government in theory could have more power in this area, it would take an act of Congress to bestow it on the presidency.
Lawmakers have created some executive powers relevant to the crisis — including enabling an administration to take steps to keep illness from spreading across state lines and to mobilize industry to ramp up production of needed goods in a public health crisis. But they have passed no statute purporting to give the presidency pre-eminence over governors on rescinding public health limits inside states.
Similarly, while Mr. Trump declared a national emergency over the pandemic, that did not mean he was tapping into some reservoir of limitless constitutional power. Rather, he was activating specific statutes that Congress has enacted creating particular standby powers, none of which include letting a president overturn state-imposed public health safety measures.
In a 1952 case involving President Harry S. Truman’s seizure of steel mills to avert a strike during the Korean War, the Supreme Court rejected his effort to invoke purported “inherent” constitutional power to resolve the crisis using different tools than Congress had provided.
And even if Congress were to now enact a law giving Mr. Trump that power — which is unlikely, with the House in the hands of Democrats — there would still be legal obstacles. The Supreme Court over the last generation has pushed back when Congress has enacted laws that the court sees as federal commandeering of states’ authority.
“The federal government may neither issue directives requiring the states to address particular problems, nor command the states’ officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a 1997 Supreme Court ruling.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump appeared to seek a face-saving way out, saying he was “authorizing” governors to decide for themselves when to reopen their states. He offered no explanation for the implication that his permission was necessary before they could lift their own orders.
For Mr. Trump, the legal emptiness of his assertion fits with a larger pattern in his handling of the pandemic and more. Where President Theodore Roosevelt liked to invoke an African proverb to describe his approach to wielding executive power — “speak softly and carry a big stick” — Mr. Trump sometimes talks as if he has a big stick but with little to back it up.
Despite his “extreme, proud rhetoric about how he can do whatever he wants,” said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and senior Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration, the story of the Trump presidency has been, with few exceptions, “talking a big game, but not in fact exercising executive power successfully.”
Mr. Trump has made greater use of a softer power of the presidency: using his pre-eminent position and the attention he commands for public persuasion, which Roosevelt called the bully pulpit. But Mr. Trump used it at first to play down the crisis, rather than issuing a call to action to galvanize the country to more swiftly take steps like ramping up testing capacity and consider imposing social distancing measures.
Some legal experts theorized that Mr. Trump could try to use the federal government’s control over disaster relief funds and equipment to punish states whose governors reject a hypothetical future White House declaration that it is time to open up.
He could, for example, try to allocate more equipment to states whose governors acquiesce to his desires, which would inevitably lead to litigation. Even so, as Mr. Yoo wrote, such punitive measures are politically unlikely to move Democratic governors in hard-hit areas to reopen their economies before public health experts say it is safe.
Mr. Trump demurred when pressed to say who told him he wielded “total” authority, and his administration has put forward no legal theory.
Some White House officials expressed uncertainty about what the president was relying on. But others pointed to Article II of the Constitution, which creates the presidency and which Mr. Trump has often invoked, and several statutes creating certain public health powers. None of those statutes they cited say a president has total authority to force governors to lift pandemic restrictions.
Indeed, numerous legal scholars rejected Mr. Trump’s claim as baseless, including Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor who testified in the president’s favor during the impeachment inquiry.
“The Constitution was written precisely the deny that particular claim,” Mr. Turley wrote on Twitter.
Complicating the task of parsing the president’s intentions, he often appears to float striking and self-aggrandizing ideas off the cuff, causing consternation before he drops them.
On March 28, for example, he abruptly suggested that he might impose a federal quarantine on the New York City area before reversing course hours later.
It was never clear what he was talking about. While Congress has granted the federal government some power to take steps to prevent the transmission of illness into the country or between states, the virus was already everywhere by then, so sealing state borders would not have kept it contained. And a quarantine that would confine large populations to their homes within a state is widely understood to be a state-level decision.
Yet despite punctuating his performance with claims of his own might, Mr. Trump has repeatedly made less-than-aggressive use of undisputed authorities at his disposal to combat the pandemic.
For example, he has repeatedly boasted about shutting down travel from China in February, using the power that Congress granted to the presidency to control the international border in a public health emergency.
But despite Mr. Trump’s claims that he was the first to take that action, 38 other countries had already put in place such a travel ban. And the American version was limited and porous.
And as it became clear in March that hospitals were hindered by shortages of masks and other equipment, Mr. Trump resisted growing calls to make use of another power Congress gave the presidency for use in a national emergency: to coerce factory owners to change what they are manufacturing under the Defense Production Act.
In late March, Mr. Trump finally declared that he was invoking the law — but he had merely delegated to Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, the ability to invoke that law in theory. No company had been ordered to do anything.
As criticism over Mr. Trump’s inaction swelled, he signed an order telling Mr. Azar to use the law to push General Motors to make ventilators. But G.M. said it had already decided by then to make ventilators in partnership with Ventec, developed plans to source the necessary parts and started preparing a factory in Kokomo, Ind., for production.
Mr. Trump has a history of making head-turning claims about his powers in other contexts. During the Russia investigation, for example, his lawyers argued that he could not be guilty of obstruction of justice because his power over the Justice Department was absolute, and Mr. Trump repeatedly claimed he could fire the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, if he wanted — even directly.
“Article II allows me to do whatever I want,” he said.
Yet as the eventual report by Mr. Mueller showed, in practice Mr. Trump’s power was weak. He pushed subordinates to oust the special counsel, but they would not go along.
Mr. Goldsmith said that Mr. Trump’s approach to the pandemic crisis and more had reflected a general pattern of loud words but incompetently executed action on policies that were more complex than basic tasks like issuing pardons and firing people, bogging down his efforts in court battles and dysfunction rather than clear accomplishment.
“Trump wants it to seem like he is this really powerful guy being really aggressive with executive power, but he’s not,” Mr. Goldsmith said. “There has been a huge mismatch between his rhetoric and his actions. He clearly seems to enjoy how people’s heads explode when he says this stuff, even though it’s not matched by reality.”
The state that sent Bernie Sanders to the U.S. Senate has ordered Target, Wal-Mart, and other stores to stop selling “non-essential” vegetable seeds because “the ability to browse for seeds and purchase them in person doesn’t outweigh the risk of spreading the virus”
Vermont is the state that sent Bernie Sanders to the U.S. Senate.
Sanders once said that it was a “good thing” when people have to wait in line for food.
These are Sanders’s exact words:
“It’s funny, sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is, cause people are lining up for food. That’s a good thing! In other countries people don’t line up for food: the rich get the food and the poor starve to death.”
You can see and hear Sanders saying those words in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJBjjP8WSbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJBjjP8WSbc
Sanders also once said the following:
“You don’t necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers”
Now, allegedly in response to COVID-19, Vermont has ordered Target, Wal-Mart, and other stores to stop selling “non-essential” items.
And Vermont considers vegetable seeds to be among these “non-essential” items.
The website from the government of Vermont states: (original link, archived link)
“the ability to browse for seeds and purchase them in person doesn’t outweigh the risk of spreading the virus”
So the same state that elected a U.S. Senator who said that it’s a “good thing” when people have to wait in line for food, is now ordering stores to stop selling vegetable seeds because they are “non-essential.”
In addition, Vermont has also declared clothing to be “non-essential,” and has ordered Target, Wal-Mart, and other stores to stop selling it.
So the same state that elected a U.S. Senator who said that Americans have too many choices when it comes to shoes, has also banned the sale of all types of clothing.
A Pennsylvania school called police after a 6-year-old girl with Down Syndrome pointed her finger like a gun, her mother says
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pennsylvania-school-called-police-6-025708501.html
A Pennsylvania school called police after a 6-year-old girl with Down Syndrome pointed her finger like a gun, her mother says
February 11, 2020
* A 6-year-old with Down Syndrome pointed her fingers like a gun at her teacher, prompting officials to call the police, her mother said.
* Maggie Gaines said in a statement to the school board that the call was unnecessary, as her daughter clearly did not understand the gesture and was not a threat.
* The school district said in a statement it had agreed to review its policy requiring school officials to call police in such situations.
A Pennsylvania family is pleading with their school board to reconsider its policy on “threat assessments” for students, after their 6-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome was reported to police for pointing her finger like a gun.
Margot Gaines, a kindergartener at the Valley Forge Elementary School in Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, made the gesture in November and told her teacher, “I shoot you,” according to her mother, Maggie.
Maggie said her daughter made the comment when her teacher asked her to do something she didn’t want to do, but had no idea what the words or the gesture meant.
“I imagine the utterance was not unlike the instances when I’ve told her it’s time for bed and she says, ‘I hate bed. I hate mommy,'” Maggie said in a statement last month to the school district.
Maggie said the teacher perceived the response as a “threat” and brought Margot to the principal, who realized that Margot was no danger to the teacher or her classmates.
But instead of dropping the incident, the principal followed a school district policy requiring a “threat assessment” team to be convened and decide whether disciplinary action was warranted.
Maggie said in her statement she was fine with that process, which concluded that Margot didn’t intend to harm anyone. But then the school called the police.
“I think most people would agree that this is where the issue should have ended. And yet it did not,” she said.
Maggie said school officials called the police department and provided authorities with the Gaines’ personal information, as well as information on the incident. Maggie said in her statement that an officer told her the information would be entered into the department’s database and would be publicly available.
“Because the school staff and administration chose to blindly follow this policy, an incident that resulted in no disciplinary action … is part of her permanent school record,” she said. “What’s more, her personal information has also been recorded at our local police department, where it is noted, without any context to the situation or her disability that she ‘threatened’ her teacher. How or if this information will be used against her in the future, I can’t say for certain.”
The Tredyffrin Police Department told the website SAVVY Main Line that an incident report was filed containing Margot’s name, address, age, and disability, but that it is “not releasable” and not a criminal record.
The Tredyffrin-Easttown School District told CBS Philly in a statement it would review its policy in the wake of the Gaines’ complaint.
“When developing the current practice, the District worked collaboratively with parents, law enforcement and private safety/mental health agencies and legal consultants to ensure our safety measures reflected considerable input from both our local community and experts in the field of school safety,” the statement said.
2 white UConn students arrested after video showed them shouting racial slurs
2 white UConn students arrested after video showed them shouting racial slurs
Students on campus demanded action after video of the incident surfaced, saying it is indicative of broader issues of racism at the school.
October 22, 2019
Two white students at the University of Connecticut were arrested Monday after video that showed them shouting racial slurs prompted campus protests, university police told NBC News.
Jarred Mitchell Karal, 21, and Ryan Gilman Mucaj, 21, face charges of ridicule on account of race, color, or creed. They were released with a court date set for Oct. 30 at Rockville Superior Court in Vernon, Connecticut.
Karal and Mucaj’s charges could result in a $50 fine or up to 30 days in jail.
NBC sent emails to the two men Tuesday morning requesting comment but did not immediately hear back.
Campus police learned of the incident from social media footage showing Karal and Mucaj shouting epithets in an apartment complex parking lot, a university spokesperson told NBC News. The men were playing a game that involved yelling vulgar words, university police said, and then started shouting epithets. Karal and Mucaj were walking with a third man, whom police said did not shout epithets and was not charged.
The Oct. 11 incident sparked an outcry on campus, particularly from some black students who said it was indicative of broader issues of racism at the university.
“To just experience that on a daily basis and then having something that gets out to the public that everybody can see and understand, it’s really impactful for the rest of us,” freshman Mason Holland told NBC Connecticut.
The university last week organized a meeting at the apartment complex where the slurs were heard to discuss the incident.
On campus Monday, students marched to demand further action from the university, and they met at a gathering hosted by the campus NAACP chapter to discuss the climate for students of color on campus.
In a letter published in the student paper Monday, the NAACP also demanded that the university take action after the parking lot incident and another that allegedly occurred at a fraternity.
“If the university does not adequately address and handle these occurrences of racism appropriately, it will create a culture in which racism is tolerated and normalized,” the organization wrote, adding a list of demands aimed at making the campus safer and more welcoming to black students.
In a statement, University President Thomas C. Katsouleas said it was important to hold Karal and Mucaj accountable for their actions.
“It is supportive of our core values to pursue accountability, through due process, for an egregious assault on our community that has caused considerable harm,” he said. “I’m grateful for the university’s collective effort in responding to this incident, especially the hard work of the UConn Police Department, which has been investigating the case since it was reported.”
