The Exemptions

For John, BLUF:  After promising no Vaccination mandates, a few months back, President Biden has now come out with them.  He hasn't reached everyone, but even so, he has exceeded his Constitutional limits  I hope the US Supreme Court does its job.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Vax Mandate Exceptions

All Governent Employees must get the COVID-19 Vaccindation, as well as workers in businesses with 100 or more employees. For some reason, those in private enterprise may skip the Vaccintion if they submit to a weekly test.♠ 

Now, for the exemptions:

• The humdreds of thousands of illegal immigrants coming across our Southern Border.  They are not being vaccinated.  An exemption, for some reason.
• Postal Workers.  There are some 640,000 Postal Employees.
• Members of Congress, and †heir staffs, are not covered by President Biden's Vaccine Mandate.  They are in a separate branch of Government, as is the Judiciary.
• Then there are businesses, where firms with fewer than 100 employees (thus not part of the President's Mandate) accounted for 98.1% of the some 6 million employer firms in the US.

The President is getting help in his obsession with Vaccinations from Colleges and Universities.  Those institutions, which used to be hotbeds of independent thinking and freedom, have now moved into the area of fascism.  For example, at Rutgers University, in New Jersey, a student taking virtual classes was required to have a COVID-19 Vaccindation.  It appears Zoom has become so good it can transmit diseases,

On the other hand, there are all the unemployed and those not seeking work, which runs to millions of people.  The President's power over them is as yet limited.

I hope the reader is not confused.  I have had my two shots, as has my wife.  We plan on booster shots when are Primary Care Physician says so and they are available.  But, we are in the over 65 category and have some comorbidities.  I understand why some are reluctant to get the Vaccination.  And I respect their right to make their own choices.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Is the Weekly test painful enough that the CDC thinks it will drive people to get the Vaccination?

Vaccine Mandates

For John, BLUF:  The President, apparently without consulting with Congress, has assumed dictatorial powers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Larry Kudlow calls out 'anti-freedom part' of Biden's vaccine mandates

Here is the sub-headline:

'President Biden caused a firestorm yesterday by announcing his mandate'

From Fox Business News, by Anchor Larry Kudlow, 10 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

"If they'll not help... if these governors won't help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way."

Don't take it from me. Take a listen to the president himself who is thumbing his nose at our nation's governors and after he thumbs his nose at them, he's putting his finger in their eye.

Federalism is dead. Don't take it from me, take it from President Biden.

The Constitution?  The Bill of Rights?  Roe v Wade?.  The role of the US Congress?

All gone in a flash because not everyone will do as President Joseph Biden says.

It is almost like Donald Trump won in 2020.  Not the real Donald J Trump, but the one pictured in the minds of Progressives and many Democrats.

But, it wasn't just a Bidenism.  His staff was out backing up his move.  For example, on the CNN Don Lemon Tonight Show we have the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, former Congressman Cedric Richmond.

Senior White House adviser:  Biden will 'run over' governors standing in way of vaccine mandates

Here is the sub-headline:

'We won’t let one or two individuals stand in the way,' adviser Cedric Richmond declared

And this article's lede:

Senior White House adviser Cedric Richmond declared Thursday that President Joe Biden would "run over" governors that stood in the way of his efforts to mandate vaccinations against the coronavirus in companies with more than 100 employees.

We are going to run over the Governors?

If I thought the agencies of the Federal Government followed the science, let along understood it, I might have some willingness to concede the President was trying to help us.  As it is, I think he is just swatting wildly at the problem, and breaking things in the process.

Regards  —  Cliff

Does Society Help Shape IQ?

For John, BLUF:  Is the Author correct?  I don't know, but it is worth considering.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Connecting the dots the experts won’t

From The American Mind, by Ms Helen Roy, 31 Agust 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Flynn effect and its reversal are topics of scientific inquiry by which, should you find yourself inching toward politically incorrect conclusions, cancellation looms ominously.

In 2016, in a systematic literature review of all major accounts of the post-seventies IQ plummet across Western countries, Edward Dutton of the Ulster Institute for Social Research concluded that the best explanation for the dawdling of the Western mind had both environmental and genetic components.  The industrial revolution’s technological advances, he argued, precipitated massive gains on IQ scores “by establishing an environment which compelled us to think in a more scientific way, compelled us to become more educated, and saturated us with knowledge, information, and novel problems.”

But industry simultaneously brought “dysgenic fertility” practices.  It precipitated a decline in fertility, especially for wealthy people, and those with weaker genetic material were able to survive and themselves procreate whereas they would have died in previous centuries.  Dutton determined that the Flynn Effect is best explained as temporary superficial adaptation to new forms of education which disguised postindustrial genetic degradation for a period of time—until the truth of dysgenic fertility could overcome the effects of the new educational environment, a reversal which he identified as the negative Flynn effect.  These conclusions, as well as his other forays into forbidden areas of scientific knowledge caused several problems for Dutton, namely his disaffiliation from the Ulster Institute.

This article asks if sociatal changes post 1970s might have impacted IQ.  The author suggest no-fault divorce, more women in the workforce and day-care for pre-school children.  These are issues worth exploring.  The tradeoffs may well be worthwhile.  However, acceptance of the change in IQ should be with full knowledge of the pluses and minuses.

Who are the people in Lowell who might best kick off an exploration of this issue?  Are there political constraints on people getting off the approved path to look into these kinds of issues?

One quibble.  The writer tags then Governor Ronald Reagan with no-fault divorce.  The legislation came from State Assemblyman Jim Hayes, of Long Beach, a devoted Father.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

9/11 Remembered, Again

For John, BLUF:  A sad memory, not made better by our withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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9/11 Anniversary

A friend of mine has his Birthday on 11 September.  On that day, 20 years ago, he was heading North on Interstate 395 (Shirley Highway), up where it does an almost 90° turn to the East, near the Air Force Memorial, when he saw American Airlines Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon.  He said it looked like a thousand pound bomb going off.  Having been a Navy Attack Pilot during the Viet-nam War, he knew whereof he spoke.

Of course, traffic came to a halt and continuing into DC made no sense.  My friend took things into his own hands, like a good American and a good fighter pilot.  He maneuvered his car to head South in the Northbound HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) Lane and led a string of vehicles back South and away from the disaster area.

That initiative on the part of Americans on the Shirley Highway, at the Pentagon, in New York City and aboard United Airlines Flight 93, over Southwest Pennsylvania, prevented things from being even worse.  We should be thankful for that and take a moment to appreciate that individual initiative.

Regards  —  Cliff

Vaccine Mandates

For John, BLUF:  President Biden seems to have little tolerence for pushback  If people won't do it his way, he doubles down, the Constitution be damned.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Horrific Outcomes of the Jacobson Case You’re Using to Justify Biden’s Vaccine Mandates

Here is the sub-headline:

Biden is about to find out that he’ll have as hard of a time eradicating freedom and personal choice in this country as trying to eradicate the coronavirus.

From The Hannah H Cox Blog, by Ms Hanna Cox, 10 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

It’s been a hell of a news cycle for bodily autonomy.

The left is in histrionics over the new Texas abortion law that bans the procedure after six weeks, and the rest of us are aghast at Biden’s new executive order forcing private companies to mandate COVID vaccines for their employees.

You’ll find few people in both camps, however, a testament to just how partisan and unprincipled our country has truly become.  That’s a tangent for another time, though.  Right now, I want to talk about the legality of Biden’s mandate.

Even before the ink dried one could hear the lawsuits being filed.

The legality of mandating vaccines is based on the 1905 case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts.  This originated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and made its way to the US Supreme Court.

Then there is the 1927 case, Buck v. Bell.  At the height of the Eugenics movement.  This ruling, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., of Massachusetts, said it was legal to sterilize those who were "feebleminded."

On the other hand, we have Roe v Wade, which legalized abortion.♠  How does "Our Bodies! Our Choice!" fit into this?

If the Courts empower and encourage President Biden in this area we will see a further erosion of our civil rights in the United States and we will become a little more like the People's Republic of China.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  There was no abortion and the name of the child, a daughter was recently revealed.

Unequal Responses to Demonstrations

For John, BLUF:  I believe some Americans are careless with their use of the term domestic terrorism.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Jan. 6-BLM Side-by-Side Comparison

Here is the sub-headline:

A Resource on Violent Political Unrest, Continually Updated

From RealClearInvestigation, by The Editors, 9 September 2021.

Here is the lede:

Many in the political and media establishment consider the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot to be one of America’s darkest episodes.  Others say the nationwide protests last summer over George Floyd’s murder were worse.  With polling indicating Americans see two sides to the story – and major media dwelling on only one – RealClearInvestigations has developed the database below allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.  Further context can be found here.

Note that the original article, created by RealClearInvestigations, may be republished for free, with attribution.

I am hoping that we, as a nation, will have a period of peace, in which we can pull back from positions that see evil on the part of others.  A period of peace would be good for all of us.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Look For the Briefcase

For John, BLUF:  I think there is an assumption out there that all European descendents are racist, an assumption that ignores history and the prejudice against immigrants from Ireland, or France, or Poland, or Italy or ....  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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White People on a Plane

Here is the sub-headline:

Bigotry in the Sky

From An Injustice!, by Ms Roz Warren, 26 August 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

I’d just boarded my plane from Philadelphia to California. When you travel alone, sitting on a plane always is a lottery. Would the person sitting next to me be pleasant and friendly? An obnoxious drunk? A motormouth? A jerk who’d assault the first flight attendant who insisted they wear a mask?

This was going to be a six-hour flight and I was hoping for somebody pleasant and low-key. No demands and no drama.

I was in luck. When I got to row 20, I saw that the fellow in the middle seat was a friendly smiling man in his fifties. A woman who I assumed was his wife — they’d lowered the armrest between them — sat beside him in the window seat.

As I sat down and settled into my aisle seat, the man gave me a welcoming smile. “I’m so glad you’re sitting here,” he told me.

That seemed a little much. Was he being flirty? No, I decided. Not only was he at least a decade younger than me, but his wife was sitting right there. Maybe he was just a really friendly guy?

“Thank you,” I replied.

“I was scared it would be the guy with the turban,” he explained. “When I saw him in the boarding lounge, I was really hoping he wouldn’t sit near us.”

She nailed him.  A White racist.  There is not a shred of doubt in her mind.  There is no exploration of her interloctor's personal trauma.  No specuation that he might have lost an older Brother or Father on 9/11.

My first complaint is that the guy in the next seat isn't "White".  He is a Caucasian.

My second point is that as we approach the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States some are alert to the possibility of a repeat of that terrorist event.  Frankly, the vast majority of Muslims walking around in your City, and mine, are just like the rest of us.  They are just more Caucasians, or Blacks, or Asians, trying to have a good day, a good week, a good year.  There is a fringe in their Community who wish to change the world, by violence if needs be.  Is this not true?  And, there are fringes in other communities, but they tend to blend in and not be noticed, like real "White Suppressicists".♠ 

If one is not looking around and paying attention one is living in a fog.  One needs to know where the exits are, not just on the airliner.  One needs to note anyone who looks like they don't belong.  One should be suspicious of packages or briefcases that seem to be abandoned.♥  When I was at Staff College, in the United Kingdom, one of our sister Colleges had a bombing that killed one person.

We shouldn't be paranoid, which would ruin the beauty of life, but we need to be aware.  One the other hand, we shouldn't have our head in the sand, as does, it appears, our Author.  She apparently has not read many history books, or perhaps only those by Mr Zinn.  Lost in school is that an expansive Islam made it to tours in France and the Gates of Vienna, in Austria.

And, we shouldn't assume everyone with a slightly different view is a racist.  We are in this with them.  We should be willing to exchange views.  Perhaps everyone will learn something.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  See Professor Arie Perliger's American Zealots:  Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism
♥  Remember, it was a briefcase that Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg left in the briefing room of the Wolf's Lair on 20 July 1944, in an attempt to kill Chancellor Adolph Hitler.