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US State Department Personnel in China Ask Permission to Leave Over COVID

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In Biden Administration internecine warfare news, China-stationed State Department personnel have asked permission to leave the country based on fear of family separation due to China’s draconian COVID regulations. From CNN:

The request has not yet been approved by the State Department, according to the sources, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity.

Apparently, State Department transparency extends only as far as an outsider’s ability to see right through said department’s duplicity. But I digress.

China, where human rights are marked solely by the total absence thereof, has responded to the Pandora’s box it opened — you know, the one stamped MADE IN WUHAN? — with measures so egregious they’ve made Gretchen Whitmer look like Ron DeSantis on a Red Bull bender. Locking people inside their homes and businesses, stuff like that. It is, of course, perfectly understandable why, in fighting COVID’s spread, China is going for the immediate overkill shot in lieu of the medicinal shot, which has proven less effective than a shot in the dark with a starter’s pistol in slowing the spread. Might be a tad embarrassing to have the virus you created continuing to go viral, what with the Olympics coming to town next month.

Snark aside, it is understandable why anxious State Department personnel want the option to get out of Dodge, or Dongguan as the case may be. For some unfathomable reason, most parents prefer the notion of getting away from the children translating into the littles spending a week or two at Kidz Kamp somewhere in Missouri, not a week or two spent spending bribery money to get the kids out of a fiercely guarded foreign isolation ward.

For its part, China is not amused.

“Dirty trick again!” screamed a headline in the Global Times, a state-run nationalist tabloid on Wednesday. “Its purpose is not about concerns over coronavirus but more about making public panic, smear China’s achievements in fighting the pandemic, and disturb the Beijing Winter Olympic Games,” the report said.

Gee, you’d think we’d complained about military provocation of Taiwan or something.

The matter brings up an inconvenient hypocrisy. Since day one of China channeling the late Doug Fieger of The Knack by releasing “My Corona,” governmental overreach in the name of slowing the spread has been standard operational procedure. Now, when there is a threatened table turn, bureaucrats are yelling bloody murder. Those who over the past two years have had being with their loved ones denied, knowing family and friends were suffering and dying alone, probably are not full of sympathy for China-stationed State Department personnel. Can’t say I blame ‘em.

Liberalism’s Diseased Self-Destruction Dance

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Some months ago, yours truly stepped out from behind the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState and penned this.

At its core, the Ghost Dance was an exercise in extreme wishful thinking, a falsely-placed belief in ceremony and ritual somehow bringing about a supernatural transformation of both the earth and history. It professed that if unrelated, and as it turned out utterly irrelevant, actions and words were performed regarding the bitter truth on hand, a magic utopian state of being would come forth. It didn’t work. It could never work. No such scenario will ever work.

So why is the Biden Administration performing its own Ghost Dance?

Regrettably, the dance continues at a St. Vitus pace for the nation and the world. It is not reserved solely for the Biden Administration. The madness has infected most all liberals save perhaps Kyrsten Sinema. While her core philosophies are unmistakably leftist, Sinema retains functioning sanity threads such as realizing eliminating the filibuster does not equal guaranteeing voting rights that aren’t being threatened in the first place.

The modern St. Vitus dance permeates multiple levels. It causes nominally intelligent people to state the economy is going great guns when it is anything but. It recommends kickboxing classes to alleviate the growing mental health crisis over futile COVID lockdowns mandated by wannabe feudal overlords. It reacts to murders by criminally insane or simply evil-drenched homeless by complaining about people calling someone an “offensive” name. It blames private companies for publicly committed crimes. The grotesque inanity dance shuts its eyes to reality, utterly convinced it alone has the answers to all that ails humanity while shutting out all facts declaring none of its proposed solutions work. It is Theranos LARPing as Thanos, destined for the same fitting end while equally determined to destroy everyone and everything else unsubscribed to its satanic utopian delusion.

The great man Ronald Reagan once quipped, “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant. It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” Liberalism specializes in pseudoknowledge. It screams, “Trust the science,” yet refuses to remember the science can’t tell the same story twice. It preaches the gospel of masks that don’t work and vaccines that don’t appear to work no matter how many times one does the jab jump ‘n jive. It extols its virtuous nature of helping people, while reality shows the only help provided is helping itself to taxpayer dollars. The homeless and junkies are left to rot in their own waste, while politicos shout they need even more money to waste.

We are now on the cusp of seeing this failure play out on an international scale, complete with live ammunition being purposefully thrown back and forth. A Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent. China attacking Taiwan is now a matter of when, not if. Our emasculated PC-obsessed military is in no position to assist our allies. NATO is a clown show. As a song once said, we are all like foolish puppets who, desiring to be kings, now lie pitifully crippled after cutting our own strings. But hey, no more mean tweets, right NeverTrumpets?

Liberalism must be counteracted, not with cultural withdrawal but rather educated engagement. The apostle Paul once commented that it was no trouble for him to write the same things to a church via epistle, and it was a safeguard to the church. Act, don’t react. Read Hayek, Hazlitt, and Adam Smith. Familiarize yourself with the Federalist Papers. Ignore soundbytes and dig into substance. Throw out the hot takes; work your way into and through the source. Find those whose body of work proves them to be a source you can trust to analyze correctly. Interact with people outside your political sphere. Again referencing the apostle Paul, let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Contemporary liberalism is fiercely determined to destroy all in its path, all the while proclaiming itself to be the savior. It’s not. There is only one Savior. Respond, and live, accordingly.

A Win for the Second Amendment in California as a Federal Appeals Court Rules Pandemic Gun Store Closures Unconstitutional

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The wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly, but when it is a just outcome, it’s often more satisfying.

From Fox11:

An order closing gun stores in Los Angeles County in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago was unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that both Los Angeles and Ventura counties had violated the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms when they shut down gun and ammunition shops in March 2020 as nonessential businesses during the beginnings of the coronavirus pandemic.

At that time, the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups filed suit in Los Angeles federal court against Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and other officials, alleging both state and local policies and enforcement practices violated citizens’ rights.

The original lawsuit was filed in late March of 2020, soon after Governor Hair Gel decided to be first in shutting down businesses and imposing the COVID lockdowns. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva was attempting to use his deputies to enforce the closure of these gun stores. We now know for a fact that part of the elitists, unelected bureaucrats, and corrupt politicians intent was to use the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns to instill fear in people, and it worked. What they didn’t bargain for was people’s response to that fear would be to go out and buy guns.

As Shakespeare’s Puck opined, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

It was basically an attempt by His Hairfulness and Villanueva to shut the barn door when the horses had already bolted. The gun owners were having none of that, so with the help of The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), the California Gun Rights Foundation (CGF), the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), and the California National Rifle Association (CA-NRA), they challenged Newsom’s diktats and Sheriff Villanueva’s actions. The lower courts ruled in favor of Newsom and Villanueva, even though by that time Villanueva had suspended enforcement of gun store closures under much criticism and pressure.

Imagine if we had done this earlier for every other business deemed “non-essential” in the midst of the pandemic. Hindsight is 20-20.

Our sister site Townhall and our Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar reported on Sheriff Villanueva’s actions during the early days of the pandemic, and his quick reversal. It was a stupid move on Villanueva’s part, and cost him much trust and credibility at that time. The Sheriff has since regained that trust and credibility in spades with his stance against mask and vaccine mandates, the homelessness crisis, and the rampant crime that now plagues Los Angeles County and the state.

This federal appeals court ruling is a huge win for Second Amendment rights in California, and frankly for the rest of the nation. The Second Amendment Foundation and many of the other gun rights advocacy organizations have numerous challenges going in Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, and other gun restrictive states, to overturn unconstitutional pandemic actions, as well as unconstitutional and draconian gun laws.

Fox 11 referenced some of the language in the court’s decision in support of Second Amendment rights.

In rejecting those decisions, Judge Lawrence Van Dyke wrote for the appellate panel — meeting in Pasadena — that the Second Amendment “means nothing if the government can prohibit all persons from acquiring any firearm or ammunition. But that’s what happened in this case.”

We will see if Newsom tries to take this to the United States Supreme Court. Since his track record has been abysmal with the highest court in the land over the challenges to his pandemic overreach, that might not be the best move.

Newsom thinks California governance should be a model for the nation. If that’s the case, then this ruling would do much to blow more holes in the Biden administration’s already Swiss Cheese agenda.

Starbucks and Carhartt Respond Differently to SCOTUS' Unraveling of the Vaccines Mandates

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As RedState reported last week, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a stay to Biden’s OSHA mandate affecting corporations and businesses with over 100 employees, but upheld Dementia Joe’s CMS Mandate affecting healthcare workers.

After the SCOTUS decision, the clock was reset and is now ticking down on which corporations will ditch their company-wide vaccination mandates, and which ones will continue on with this destructive policy.

It didn’t take Starbucks long to say, Hasta la vista, bay-be! to their corporate mandate, as Fox LA reported:

Starbucks is no longer requiring its U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a policy it announced earlier this month.

In a memo sent Tuesday to employees, the Seattle coffee giant said it was responding to last week’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 6-3 vote, the court rejected the Biden administration’s plan to require vaccines or regular COVID testing at companies with more than 100 workers.

“We respect the court’s ruling and will comply,” Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver wrote in the memo.

Starbucks’ reversal is among the most high-profile corporate actions in response to the Supreme Court ruling. Many other big companies, including Target, have been mum on their plans.

Target, and probably other high-profile retailers, is looking at its staffing and sales revenue, and consulting with their lawyers. Their finger is in the wind, seeing which way the gale blows.

On Jan. 3, Starbucks said it would require all employees to be vaccinated by Feb. 9 or face a weekly COVID test requirement. At the time, Culver said it was the responsibility of Starbucks’ leadership “to do whatever we can to help keep you safe and create the safest work environment possible.”

In Tuesday’s memo, Culver said the company continues to strongly encourage vaccinations and booster shots.

Starbucks required workers to reveal their vaccination status by Jan. 10. The company said Wednesday that 90% have reported and the “vast majority” are fully vaccinated. Starbucks wouldn’t say what percent of workers are not fully vaccinated.

Starbucks saw the handwriting on the wall, despite the fact that it claims 90 percent of its 202,000 employees are fully vaccinated—and that definition keeps shifting with every new variant. The Omicron variant is still working its way through the American population, and coffee shops less prolific than Starbucks have been experiencing staff shortages, so I suspect Starbucks has also not been immune.

Starbucks looked at its bottom line and decided having working employees was better than virtue signaling and Covidian adherence.

No so, with clothing manufacturer Carhartt.

In a January 14, 2022 email written to “Carhartt Associates,” that someone leaked to conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair and others, Carhartt CEO Mark Valade reaffirmed that its corporate vaccine mandate would stay in place.

“Many of you have asked how the recent Supreme Court decision on the OSHA mandate for large employers will impact our associates so we want to provide some clarity. The ruling does not change Carhartt’s mandatory vaccination program, which went into effect on January 4th. As you know, we have extended the vaccination deadline for both RCV and Madisonville associates to February 15th. This date also remains in effect.”

Interesting that they offered yet another extension to a certain sector of employees—almost as if they are still waiting for shoes to drop.

And mark my words, they will.

“We put workplace safety at the very top of our priority list and the Supreme Court’s recent ruling doesn’t impact that core value. We, and the medical community, continue to believe vaccines are necessary to ensure a safe working environment for every associate and even perhaps their households. While we appreciate that there may be differing views, workplace safety is an area where we and the union that represents our associates cannot compromise. An unvaccinated workforce is both a people and business risk that our company is unwilling to take.”

Shorter: Their books are juiced with government contracts that they are afraid to lose. Different bottom line than Starbucks, but a bottom line, nonetheless.

Siemens has been a shining example and litmus test on the damage and overreach of these vaccine mandates. As I have reported, employees were resisting, and lawsuits were being mounted.

Apparently, Siemens also looked at their bottom line, and decided that SCOTUS, and not Joe Biden, was the arbiter of wisdom. The Siemens engineer “Frankie” updated me with the email sent to all Siemens USA employees:

Top of the morning, Jennifer!

Well, Siemens US DI FA blinked first it appears. No vaccine mandate and no testing requirements.

Things might change but as I told my manager, they could have avoided all of the angst, turmoil and ill will had they just came out and not been asses about this back in September.

For now… We’re good.

But those poor Healthineers folks. I think that many of them have Siemens over a very big legal barrel and I hope that they stick it to them in a big way.

The Siemens email from Mike Bokina, Vice President and Head of People & Organization, read, in part:

“Given the latest ruling, the current Siemens’ vaccine policy continues to be on hold and will not be enforced. We still encourage vaccinations and require employees to update their status in TrueNorth. Any employee who has not yet entered their vaccination status by the end of this week, Jan. 21, will be considered unvaccinated. The data collected via TrueNorth is needed to help preserve business continuity. No adverse employee actions will be taken based on vaccination status unless necessary to ensure for business continuity and/or to comply with customer requirements, in accordance with applicable law.”

I suspect that any Siemens employee who was considering getting vaccinated or boosted have now modified their plans. That TrueNorth application will hopefully go the way of WordPerfect.

As Frankie discussed in his email, Siemens Healthineers, a separate corporate entity from Siemens USA, has chosen to keep their corporate vaccine mandate, and several of its employees have already been terminated for non-compliance. However, once the lawsuits from those former and current employees start mounting and drawing blood, that story could well change.

My prediction: by Spring, the majority of corporate businesses will have lost market share, bled employees, and lost more revenue than expected. That is when they will be start saying, “Vaccination mandates? What are those?” and drop them like a hot rock.

Stay tuned.

Democrats Begin Pushing a Major Elections Lie

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No more hypocritical of an institution will you find than politics. The shamelessness with which many in the arena will decry the actions of their opponents only to pursue those same actions themselves ranges somewhere between jarring and disturbing. It’s so detached from the way normal people interact across the vast expanse of the United States.

How does Rep. Adam Schiff spend half a decade bleating about Russian collusion only to doctor evidence multiple times in his quest to bring down Donald Trump? How does CNN’s Jake Tapper ban anyone who even tacitly questioned the 2020 election from his show while he himself spreads baseless election conspiracy theories?

That’s where we are, though. Schiff is welcome on Tapper’s show anytime despite the litany of documented lies the congressman has told. Meanwhile, after spending the last year appropriating Joseph Goebbel’s language about the “Big Lie,” Tapper is now pushing his own version of it.

Tapper isn’t alone, of course. The president himself, following the epic defeat of his so-called “voting rights” bill (which is really a federal attempt to rig the 2022 election) last week, went before the press ranting and raving about “who gets to count the votes.” Aside from the obvious senility-driven anger at play in such a reaction from Joe Biden, one is left asking what the heck he’s talking about?

So what are Biden, Tapper, and others talking about with these unsubstantiated assertions regarding vote counting? Well, the technical answer is that they aren’t talking about anything. At least not anything that actually exists. Despite the wild rantings of these leftwing ideologues, the votes of the next election and all those after will be counted just as they’ve always been counted, i.e. by local election officials at the county level. That’s been a hallmark of our decentralized elections system since this nation’s founding. That Democrats want to federalize and centralize so much now, wiping away common-sense state guidelines and procedures, should be a dead giveaway as to what their real goal is.

Tapper feigns moral superiority as he implores us to “pay attention to who they’re lining up to count the votes,” providing no evidence of his vague claim. That’s not by accident, though. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

The goal here is to sow doubt in the next election by convincing people that not only will voters be suppressed (false), but also that those who do vote won’t even have their vote counted. Now, doesn’t that sound an awful lot like the kind of rhetoric Tapper spent the last year decrying as “delegitimizing our elections?” You see, questioning our elections is good again because it’s Democrats who are lined up to get waxed in November.

The same people who can’t stop talking about January 6th and clutch their pearls anytime a Republican mentions voter fraud are suddenly very interesting in pretending that our elections are not, in fact, free and fair. How very convenient, right? And if you ask them about their hypocrisy, they’ll insist that when they do it, it’s different. Because, unlike voter fraud, which absolutely, unequivocally doesn’t exist by their telling, mythical voter suppression is everywhere. They make that claim with a straight face despite the fact that black Americans vote as a percentage on par with white Americans.

Nothing Tapper and the rest are saying makes sense because it’s not supposed to make sense. The end game here is to drive another wedge into the heart of the American populace. And what better way to segregate people into their respective camps than to claim that one side winning literally means the end of the democracy? Such a “threat” to the country can justify anything, after all. That Tapper knows exactly what he’s doing makes his behavior all the worse.