“Vote for me; I’m the guy who fired you because you didn’t take experimental coronavirus ‘vaccine’ shots.” “Vote for me; I’m the guy who made you take experimental coronavirus ‘vaccine’ shots to keep your job.” These are far from persuasive campaign slogans. But, these slogans are what hundreds of thousands to millions of people who voted for President Joe Biden a year ago will be hearing in their heads come election day in 2024 should Biden be the Democratic presidential nominee.
Expect many of these voters to be determined not to vote the same way they did last time. The man who publicly led the charge to threaten their livelihoods and place them in the terrible position of choosing between being fired and receiving the experimental injections will not merit consideration. Biden made it personal. Many people will not easily forgive and forget.
And it is not just the many 2020 Biden voters who have been fired or have taken the shots under duress who will rule out voting for Biden again. Spouses, family members, and friends of these people will make the same decision.
Biden’s reelection prospects always appeared to rely on a thin margin of victory. With his push for firing people who refuse to take the shots, he may have ensured that that margin is unattainable, and that such is clear long before election day.
If Biden has destroyed his chances of reelection, maybe another candidate could win the Democratic nomination and then the general election. But, who could win the nomination who has spoken out publicly against Biden’s push that people take the shots or be fired? I don’t see that potential candidate out there.
Most nationally prominent Democrats in American politics have been either publicly backing Biden on the firing push or keeping quiet about it. These individuals are nearly as tainted as Biden.
A Democratic presidential nominee who was on record early opposing the take the shots or be fired push could win much of these otherwise lost votes that appear needed for victory in 2024. But, there seems to be no means for such a person to make it through the Democratic Party’s presidential primary successfully. It will probably take longer than a couple years for the support for coronavirus crackdown measures, even extreme ones like Biden’s rampage against employees, to lose high popularity among the party’s primary voters.
Even if the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee is not Biden, the nominee will probably be a defender of the coronavirus tyranny with which Biden is so strongly associated. That nominee will still lose many of the votes from former Biden supporters hit by Biden’s take the shots or be fired push.
Biden messing with people’s jobs seems a precursor to defeat for Democrats in the upcoming presidential election — so long as Republicans don’t find a way to screw up a path to victory.
Jean-Pierre was pressed about Biden’s comments at his Wednesday conference
She insisted Biden was referring to the $450,000 settlement amount when he called the reports ‘garbage’
However, she wouldn’t elaborate on the amounts that could be in the payouts
‘The President is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation,’ she said
The ACLU on Wednesday claimed Biden had ‘not been fully briefed’ before his response on the settlements
Republicans have launched a bill trying to block the payments
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that President Biden is ‘perfectly comfortable’ with cash payouts to migrant families separated at the border, but insisted the settlements won’t be as high as $450,000.
Fox News‘ Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre during the briefing what Biden meant when he called the reports of payments ‘garbage’ after the ACLU claimed that he ‘hadn’t been briefed properly.
Jean-Pierre, standing in for Jen Psaki after her COVID diagnosis, responded by saying that settlements were happening, and he was responding to the claim that they could be close to half-a-million dollars.
‘If it saves taxpayer dollars and puts the disastrous history of the previous administration’s use of “zero tolerance” and family separation behind us, the President is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation with the US government,’ she said.
She wouldn’t specify the amount the Biden administration would spend in the settlements and referred all other questions to the Department of Justice.
The American Civil Liberties Union tore into Biden on Wednesday night after he denied reports that his White House is planning on paying separated migrants $450,000 each or $1 million per family.
The head of the ACLU said the 78-year-old president’s statement means he either hasn’t been ‘full briefed’ on the matter or is ‘abandoning’ his promise to undo Donald Trump‘s more strict immigration laws.
‘President Biden may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department as it carefully deliberated and considered the crimes committed against thousands of families separated from their children as an intentional governmental policy,’ ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero told Fox News.
‘But if he follows through on what he said, the president is abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families.
‘We respectfully remind President Biden that he called these actions “criminal” in a debate with then-President Trump and campaigned on remedying and rectifying the lawlessness of the Trump administration. We call on President Biden to right the wrongs of this national tragedy.’
The disputed financial offerings have been heavily criticized by Republicans, who unveiled legislation on Thursday aimed at blocking the payments.
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that President Biden is ‘perfectly comfortable’ with cash payouts to migrant families separated at the border, but insisted the settlements won’t be as high as $450,000A migrant caravan is pictured in Pijijiapan, Mexico, heading north to Mexico City and en route towards the southern border A migrant caravan headed toward Mexico City clashed with Mexico’s National Guard on Thursday, leaving several people injured and arrestedNational Guard in the town of Pijijiapan, in Chiapas, Mexico, on November 4 2021Many people in the caravan are likely headed for the US, Reuters reported earlier this week
The lawmakers are led by Rep. Tom McClintock of California, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship. He said the reported plan ‘adds insult to injury’ amid a months-long border crisis.
McClintock is introducing the bill, the Illegal Immigration Payoff Prohibition Act, and it will be co-sponsored by 137 of his GOP colleagues including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Fox reports.
It’s the first widespread effort by Republicans to stop a reported plan to pay $450,000 per person or up to $1 million per family for migrants who crossed the border illegally and were separated under Donald Trump’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy.
GOP lawmakers have vehemently attacked the proposal, comparing it to giving money to someone breaking into your home.
It’s is meant to amend the US attorney general’s power to hand out financial settlements.
If passed, Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland would be blocked from making payments to undocumented migrants that are directly linked to them running afoul of immigration laws, including entering the country illegally.
Rep. Tom McClintock (left) introduced the legislation, and it’s backed by 137 House lawmakers including GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (center) and Rep. Jim Jordan (right)Migrants rest in a public square as they take part in a caravan heading to Mexico City, in Pijijiapan, Mexico November 3. According to reports, many of them are hoping to reach the US southern borderCritics of the reported $450,000 payment plan have said it’ll encourage more migrants to come to the US border, after record numbers of asylum-seekers were already encountered by officers since Biden took office (pictured: Migrants line up for food during a resting day, as they take part in a caravan heading to Mexico City, in Pijijiapan, Mexico November 3)
‘Law-abiding, hardworking Americans have seen their purchasing power decimated by Biden’s economic policies while he has surrendered our southern border,’ McClintock said in a statement obtained by Fox.
‘Paying illegal immigrants $450,000 apiece as an apology for Trump’s decision to enforce our immigration law adds insult to injury. Congress has the power of the purse, and that’s why we must act today to stop this outrageous plan in its tracks.’
Yesterday Biden denied a report that his administration is giving the hefty payments and accused the media of putting out ‘garbage.’
Speaking at a press conference on the authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for kids aged 5 to 11, the 78-year-old Democrat was asked by Fox News whether the reported payments ‘might incentivize more people to come over illegally.’
‘If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah,’ Biden retorted. ‘But it’s not true.’
Fox reporter Peter Doocy asks, ‘So this is a garbage report?’
Biden stood by his aggressive reaction.
‘Yeah. $450,000 per person, is that what you’re saying?’ Biden asked. ‘That’s not going to happen.’
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went after Biden over the plan on Tuesday.
Biden was asked about the reported payments to migrants by a Fox News reporter during a White House press conference on Wednesday
The lump sums have been put forward as a way for the U.S. Justice Department to settle lawsuits with migrants who say the policy caused them lasting psychological damage.
But DeSantis, a Trump loyalist, has said he is ‘very, very concerned’ about the payments declaring them to be a ‘slap in the face’ with Americans themselves already struggling to make ends meet as inflation boosts the cost of living.
‘I mean, you think about it, Americans are getting more in their gas bills. They’re getting more in their grocery bills,’ DeSantis said during a press conference. ‘You’ve had all kinds of really bad policies throughout our country that have limited freedom.
‘And you’re going to turn around for that and you’re going to do $475,000 for an individual that came illegally to this country?’ DeSantis decried.
‘I’ve seen a lot in my day — I’ve seen a lot that’s happened over the last nine or ten months that I didn’t think I’d ever see — but this takes the cake,’ the governor said in a furious statement.
‘If that is done, that is going to be a slap in the face to every American who works hard and plays by the rules,’ he continued.
He called the proposed payouts a ‘slap in the face to hardworking Americans’
‘And it will especially a slap in the face to people that have immigrated legally to this country. That should not be allowed to stand. It’s wrong, and whatever we can do in Florida to fight back against it, we will do.’
About 5,500 children were split from their parents under President Donald Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy, under which parents were separated from their children to face criminal prosecution for crossing the border illegally, according to court filings in a federal case in San Diego.
Officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are now considering the payments that could total close to $1million for two people within the same family.
The total potential payout could cost $1billion or more.
A migrant man pushes his mother’s wheelchair as they take part in a caravan heading to Mexico City, in Las Almendras, Mexico November 2. Reuters has reported that many of the migrants in that caravan are hoping to eventually get to the United States
Lawyers for both the families and the government have said that they are working on settlements and hope to be finished by the end of November.
But some government lawyers are outraged at the payments under discussion, which they view as excessive for people who knowingly broke the law by crossing the border. One government lawyer threatened to remove his name from the case in protest of the potential settlement offer.
One government attorney said that the payouts could amount to more than the government paid to the families of 9/11 victims and Gold Star families. Another disputed that comparison, as the US government had not been directly responsible for the 9/11 attack. Payouts averaged $2 million, tax-free, per family.
So far, 45 House Republicans including House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, GOP Caucus Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, have put their name to a demanding answers from the Biden administration.
‘Promising tens of thousands of dollars to those who unlawfully entered the United States would not only reward criminal behavior, but it would surely send a message to the world that our borders are open and our rule of law will not be enforced,’ the letter states.
Officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering the payments that could total close to $1 million for two people within the same family
A record 1.7 million families were encountered trying to enter the US illegally in the 2021 fiscal year, ending September 30, up from a record 1.6 million in 2000. Over 479,000 families were encountered, along with an unusually high number of unaccompanied children – 147,000.
Inadequate tracking systems caused many to be apart for an extended time. The payments are intended as compensation for what occurred.
Attorneys for the families are also seeking permanent legal status in the United States for those separated under the practice enacted by former President Trump‘s administration in April 2018.
A judge halted the process after much controversy in June 2018, six days after Trump suspended it amid an international backlash.
The ‘zero-tolerance policy’ applied to families who illegally crossed the US-Mexico border to claim asylum. Since children could not be detained alongside their parents, the families were separated, sometimes with no way to track and reunited them later on, government investigations found.
Under the Biden administration, many families are released into the interior of the US and asked to appear in court at a later date
Now, many families are released into the interior of the US and asked to appear in court at a later date. Some are deported under Title 42, the coronavirus public health policy.
Lawsuits allege that the separated children were housed in poor conditions, and sometimes suffered from malnutrition or heat exhaustion or were kept in freezing cold rooms and offered little medical care. Lawyers for the families argue the children have suffered long-lasting trauma from the anxiety of being without their parents.
The Biden administration has repeatedly deemed the policy cruel and inhumane and promised to reunited families still separated.
Earlier this month, Michelle Brane, head of the Family Reunification Task Force, said that the Biden team had only been able to reunite 52 of the over 1,000 families separated under the policy who have not yet found each other.
‘We estimate that over 1,000, somewhere between 1,000, 1,500, maybe more remain separated,’ Brane said on CBS’ 60 Minutes on October 12. ‘It’s very hard to know because there’s no record.’
She added: ‘So there’s nowhere to go to find out who was separated or not. It really is case-by-case detective work.’
The task force is reportedly in the process of reuniting 200 more.
Reunited families are then given a three-year grant of parole, allowing them to live and work legally in the US for that period, but are not offered a pathway to citizenship.
Aaron Rogers condemns “cancel culture” and the “woke mob.”
QUICK FACTS:
The star quarterback for the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers, finally broke his silence after it was revealed earlier this week that he tested positive for Covid and has not been vaccinated, according to InfoWars.
Rodgers had previously told the media he’s “been immunized” against Covid but was criticized by mainstream media who claimed he “lied.”
Rodgers clarified on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday that he is allergic to an ingredient in the mRNA Covid vaccines and was actually following federal guidelines by foregoing the jab.
INFOWARS REPORTS:
“I have an allergy to an ingredient that is in the mRNA vaccines. So, on the CDC’s own website it says, ‘should you have an allergy to any of these ingredients you should not get one of the mRNA vaccines.’ So those two were out already,” Rodgers said. “My only other option was the Johnson & Johnson. At this time, in the early spring, I had heard of multiple people who had adverse side effects around getting the J&J. No deaths or anything, but just some really difficult times.”
"I'm not an anti-vaxx, flat-earther.. I have an allergy to an ingredient that's in the mRNA vaccines. I found a long term immunization protocol to protect myself & I'm very proud of the research that went into that" ~@AaronRodgers12#PatMcAfeeShowLIVEpic.twitter.com/FDMmI5rZmO
“I realize I’m in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now, so before my final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I think I’d like to set the record straight on so many of the blatant lies that are out there about myself right now,” he said.
The Packers signal-caller continued, “I’m not an anti-vax, flat-earther. I have an allergy to an ingredient that’s in the mRNA vaccines. I found a long-term immunization protocol to protect myself and I’m very proud of the research that went into that.”
A-Rod even called out the pharmaceutical companies behind the vaccines, noting they’ve been involved in criminal activity as shown in previous fraud cases.
Several sports outlets wondered if Rodgers should be fined or suspended for violating league Covid protocols, but the future Hall of Famer said the NFL was fully aware of his vaccination status.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a federal rule mandating COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing for companies with 100 or more employees while also seeking comments about potential parts of the rule that could force massive government overreach into American lives.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro highlighted the Request for Comment section of OSHA’s document announcing the emergency temporary standard, which featured seven authoritarian aspects of the ETS that could become part of a permanent rule.
OSHA standards are required to be replaced by a permanent regulation after six months, according to Bloomberg.
So, OSHA is promulgating this insanely authoritarian regulation on an emergency temporary basis. They're seeking to make a rule permanent. Here are the questions they are asking about when formulating a permanent rule:
The seven areas OSHA sought comments about included sweeping, invasive suggestions like the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for companies with under 100 employees.
Questions in the document included, “How much time would it take, what types of costs would you incur, and how much would it cost for you to implement [vaccination and/or testing requirements]?”
7. Social distancing, physical barriers, and further ventilation requirements. In other words, this is only the beginning of the authoritarianism. If made permanent, the OSHA rule would be far more onerous. They could push a national vaccination AND mask mandate.
Another section asked whether fully vaccinated people should be required to wear masks in the workplace.
“Should portions of the rule, such as face coverings, apply to fully vaccinated persons?” OSHA’s document asked.
The third area of consideration involved no exceptions for natural immunity.
“Given scientific uncertainty and limitations in testing for infection and immunity, OSHA is concerned that it would be infeasible for employers to operationalize a standard that would permit or require an exception from vaccination or testing and face covering based on prior infection with COVID-19,” the document said.
The fourth area discussed the potential to remove testing as an alternative to vaccination.
“Should OSHA impose a strict vaccination mandate (i.e., all employers required to implement mandatory vaccination policies as defined in this ETS) with no alternative compliance option?” OSHA asked.
The fifth area asked questions about testing employees more than once per week.
“Should OSHA require testing more often than on a weekly basis?” it asked.
The sixth area addressed quality standards for masks.
“Are there particular workplace settings in which face coverings meeting one standard should be favored over another?” OSHA asked, suggesting only masks meeting a certain quality standard would be acceptable in the workplace.
The seventh area included other “controls against SARS-CoV-2 transmission recommended by OSHA and the CDC.”
The open-ended list included ongoing social distancing, physical barriers and specifics such as ventilation requirements for businesses, suggesting a potential addition of requirements for American businesses.
The Republicans MUST push Democrats in the Senate for a Congressional Review Act vote. Today. Force the Democrats to sign onto this authoritarian nonsense.
After posting about OSHA’s detailed requests for recommendations in its 490-page document, Shapiro concluded, “The Republicans MUST push Democrats in the Senate for a Congressional Review Act vote. Today. Force the Democrats to sign onto this authoritarian nonsense.”
The Daily Wire, a news website founded by conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, is suing the Biden administration over its “tyrannical vaccine mandate” requiring large companies to ensure their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to regular testing.
In a statement issued Thursday, The Daily Wire said that the Dhillon Law Group Inc. and Alliance Defending Freedom had filed a lawsuit on its behalf against the federal government in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. Attorneys for The Daily Wire will also file an emergency motion to stay the mandate.
In September, the Biden administration announced that federal workers and federal contractors will be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Contractors have until Dec. 8 to mandate their employees to get the shot. Federal contractors can’t allow their employees to opt-out.
This week, the administration released the new rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that requires 84 million private-sector workers to get shots, and also announced its rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requiring 17 million health care workers at facilities that receive federal funding to be vaccinated.
The White House said it is also pushing back the deadline for workers in those sectors to get fully vaccinated to Jan. 4, 2022, according to a senior administration official. That date also applies to federal contractors.
“The Daily Wire will not comply with President Biden’s tyrannical vaccine mandate, and we are suing the Biden Administration to put a stop to their gross overreach,” Daily Wire Co-Founder and Co-CEO Jeremy Boreing said in the statement.
“President Biden, the federal government, social media, and the establishment media have conspired to rob Americans of their freedoms in the name of public health. They have broken faith with the American people through conflicting messaging, false information, and by suppressing data and perspectives with which they disagree.”
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, alleges that the Biden administration “lacks constitutional and statutory authority to issue the employer mandate,” and that the mandate “failed to meet the requirements for issuing a rule taking effect immediately without the normal process of considering public comments.”
Dhillon Law Group partner Harmeet K. Dhillon said the federal government does not have the legal authority to compel private employers to ensure their employees get vaccinated against COVID-19, and that the administration lacks both the constitutional power and police powers to “regulate every aspect of our lives” and enforce such a mandate.
“The Biden administration’s attempt to impose this unprecedented and unlawful federal medical mandate on the U.S. workforce without considering the public’s views is arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by the evidence, and would produce a willfully ignorant rule,” Dhillon said.
The OSHA rule requires employers with 100 or more employees to put vaccine requirements in place for all staff, or face fines of up to $14,000 per violation. The agency is allowed to put into place an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) when it determines workers are at “grave risk.”
Biden’s vaccine requirement has faced backlash from critics, while numerous lawsuits have been filed against the Biden administration over the mandate. Others, including lawmakers, fear that the mandate may further exacerbate labor shortages amid supply-chain bottlenecks.
The attorneys general of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee are just some of those who have announced they would take legal action against the White House over the rule and filed a lawsuit (pdf) in a bid to challenge the new rule.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt also said he would sue the administration over its mandate on private employers.
But the deadline has been praised by public health officials and Democrats as a way of boosting the U.S. vaccination rate amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, the president also defended his actions, and stressed that it had so far not led to any labor shortages.
“As we’ve seen with businesses—large and small—across all sectors of our economy, the overwhelming majority of Americans choose to get vaccinated,” Biden said in a statement. “There have been no ‘mass firings’ and worker shortages because of vaccination requirements. Despite what some predicted and falsely assert, vaccination requirements have broad public support.”
New Jersey’s Senate President Sweeney says he is not conceding to the Republican truck driver who beat him in Tuesday’s election.
We reported earlier on the truck driver in New Jersey who beat the Democrat President of the New Jersey state senate. Durr only spent $6,000 on the race.
We also reported that Mr. Durr was the winner earlier today.
But now far-left Politico reports that Sweeney is not conceding:
New Jersey stateSenate President Steve Sweeney is not conceding in a race The Associated Press called for Edward Durr, a virtually unknown Republican challenger, on Thursday morning.
“The results from Tuesday’s election continue to come in, for instance there were 12,000 ballots recently found in one county,” Sweeney said in an email to POLITICO. “While I am currently trailing in the race, we want to make sure every vote is counted. Our voters deserve that, and we will wait for the final results.”
Sweeney, who as Senate president is the state’s second-most powerful elected official, was down more than 2,000 votes to Durr,a truck driver who says he spent less than $10,000 on the race.
A majority of Texans have voted on Tuesday, November 2, that they do not want the government limiting religious services in any way.
The Christian Headlines reported that results of the elections on amending the Texas Constitution came out with a majority of voters or 62.4% supporting Proposition 3, which bars the government from imposing any public health measures or actions that would limit religious services regardless of the occasion.
On the other hand, the Texas Tribune explained that the election actually involved eight proposed amendments to the state’s Constitution that came from approved bills by Congress during the year. Proposition 3 or Freedom To Act is one among the proposals and is one of two amendments that came about due to COVID-19 restrictions. The other, Proposition 6, involved imposing restrictions on visitors to nursing homes and essential caregiver designations.
Proposition 1 entailed rodeo raffles, Proposition 2 focuses on tax financing for county infrastructure, Proposition 4 involves a state judge’s eligibility, Proposition 5 establishes the judicial misconduct process of accountability, Proposition 7 provides property tax exemptions for bereaved families, and Proposition 8 provides tax exemptions for military families.
Christianity Daily reported two weeks ago that an election will take place after Proposition 3 passed the Texas Congress with bipartisan support. The law, sponsored by Representative Scott Sanford, was meant to uphold religious freedom from government restrictions on public health orders since houses of worship were shut down along with businesses last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Secretary of State John Scott expounded that Proposition 3, also known by the name SJR 27, “proposes a constitutional amendment barring the State of Texas or a political subdivision from enacting, adopting, or issuing a statute, order, proclamation, decision, or rule that prohibits or limits religious services.”
According to the Secretary of State, “the proposed amendment would apply to religious services, including those conducted in churches, congregations, and places of worship, in the state by a religious organization established to support and serve the propagation of a sincerely held religious belief.”
Ironically, Proposition 3 has been reported to create a divide among the religious sector with the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops supporting it along with other Christians such as Houston’s Glorious Way Church Pastor John Greiner who find it important.
While Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director Amanda Tyler finds it unnecessary and “damaging” for it conveys religious people seek “special treatment” than care for the overall “good of their communities.”
With early voting having commenced last October 18, the Secretary of State released on Wednesday the unofficial results of the election that all proposed amendments have been approved by Texans. Proposition 1 was approved by 84% of Texas with 1,242,625 votes while Proposition 2 received 63% approval with 931,453 votes. Proposition 3’s 62% approval came with 925,447 votes against 557,093 votes or 38%.
Proposition 4 and 5 both garnered 59% approval with 845,030 votes and 852,336 votes, respectively. For proposition 6, it received 1,293,922 votes or 88% approval. Proposition 7 was approved by 87% of Texans through 1,285,384 votes and Proposition 8 was approved by 88% at 1,291,920 votes.
New York City gave firefighters one day to to file for exemptions, according to The Epoch Times.
Two NYC firefighters gave Epoch Times an update on the present situation of the FDNY under the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
An internal document indicating that on Nov. 3, there were only 55% of firetrucks available.
The normal number, according to the firefighters, should be about 90%.
FROM EPOCH TIMES:
“ENG,” short for engine, represents the firetrucks that have a water hose. “LAD,” short for ladder, represents the trucks that have a ladder.
“My engine has about 25 guys, and of that, half of the guys went home,” said the firefighter, who now has less than 30 days before termination.
On Wednesday, there were four fires that went above 3rd alarm in the city, according to the two firemen that the Epoch Times interviewed and the NYC Fire Wire app that gives alerts and updates on the fires in the city.
Every subsequent alarm means that a fire is getting bigger or it’s persisting to the point that members on the scene need replacement. Two of the fires went up to 4th alarm and one of them went to 5th alarm.
“It’s very unusual. It doesn’t happen often,” the firefighter said, showing the Fire Wire app.
Most of the firemen want to keep working for the FDNY, but are not allowed.
“A lot of guys are looking for a side job, some guys are looking to retire, not by will, but because they feel like they’ve been forced.
“They want to work. My company is out of service today as we speak,” he continued.
“A lot of guys have to show up every tour and say ‘we’re here ready to go and you guys sent us home.’ They’re not allowed inside the firehouse building,” the firefighter said.
He noted that he did a lot of research on his own about COVID-19 vaccines and feels that they haven’t been thoroughly tested.
“I listen to doctors. I personally don’t want to take an experimental vaccine. I already had COVID and I have the natural immunity. I also was tested for the antibodies as well. So my natural immunity is working. I got sick at least twice from last year till now and I have recovered 100 percent every time by myself without any vaccines,” he said.
Another fireman told The Epoch Times on Wednesday afternoonthat “there were three multiple alarms today in the city.”
“That doesn’t normally happen. That’s a direct result of manpower shortages. So a third alarm, fourth alarm, a fifth alarm, all in 12 hours. That’s a direct result of manpower shortages. And the manpower shortages are a direct result of de Blasio’s mandate, there’s no going around it. Those fires don’t go more than a room or a mattress or anything other [than] a small fire, but now they’re [going through] entire floors of buildings.”
Some of the comments in the app blamed de Blasio’s mandates for the fire, while others asked for civility.
White House backtracks and admits Biden WILL pay separated migrants after he called claim they will receive $450K ‘garbage’: President is ‘perfectly comfortable’ with ‘settlements’
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that President Biden is ‘perfectly comfortable’ with cash payouts to migrant families separated at the border, but insisted the settlements won’t be as high as $450,000.
Fox News‘ Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre during the briefing what Biden meant when he called the reports of payments ‘garbage’ after the ACLU claimed that he ‘hadn’t been briefed properly.
Jean-Pierre, standing in for Jen Psaki after her COVID diagnosis, responded by saying that settlements were happening, and he was responding to the claim that they could be close to half-a-million dollars.
‘If it saves taxpayer dollars and puts the disastrous history of the previous administration’s use of “zero tolerance” and family separation behind us, the President is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation with the US government,’ she said.
She wouldn’t specify the amount the Biden administration would spend in the settlements and referred all other questions to the Department of Justice.
The American Civil Liberties Union tore into Biden on Wednesday night after he denied reports that his White House is planning on paying separated migrants $450,000 each or $1 million per family.
The head of the ACLU said the 78-year-old president’s statement means he either hasn’t been ‘full briefed’ on the matter or is ‘abandoning’ his promise to undo Donald Trump‘s more strict immigration laws.
‘President Biden may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department as it carefully deliberated and considered the crimes committed against thousands of families separated from their children as an intentional governmental policy,’ ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero told Fox News.
‘But if he follows through on what he said, the president is abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families.
‘We respectfully remind President Biden that he called these actions “criminal” in a debate with then-President Trump and campaigned on remedying and rectifying the lawlessness of the Trump administration. We call on President Biden to right the wrongs of this national tragedy.’
The disputed financial offerings have been heavily criticized by Republicans, who unveiled legislation on Thursday aimed at blocking the payments.
The lawmakers are led by Rep. Tom McClintock of California, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship. He said the reported plan ‘adds insult to injury’ amid a months-long border crisis.
McClintock is introducing the bill, the Illegal Immigration Payoff Prohibition Act, and it will be co-sponsored by 137 of his GOP colleagues including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Fox reports.
It’s the first widespread effort by Republicans to stop a reported plan to pay $450,000 per person or up to $1 million per family for migrants who crossed the border illegally and were separated under Donald Trump’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy.
GOP lawmakers have vehemently attacked the proposal, comparing it to giving money to someone breaking into your home.
It’s is meant to amend the US attorney general’s power to hand out financial settlements.
If passed, Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland would be blocked from making payments to undocumented migrants that are directly linked to them running afoul of immigration laws, including entering the country illegally.
‘Law-abiding, hardworking Americans have seen their purchasing power decimated by Biden’s economic policies while he has surrendered our southern border,’ McClintock said in a statement obtained by Fox.
‘Paying illegal immigrants $450,000 apiece as an apology for Trump’s decision to enforce our immigration law adds insult to injury. Congress has the power of the purse, and that’s why we must act today to stop this outrageous plan in its tracks.’
Yesterday Biden denied a report that his administration is giving the hefty payments and accused the media of putting out ‘garbage.’
Speaking at a press conference on the authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for kids aged 5 to 11, the 78-year-old Democrat was asked by Fox News whether the reported payments ‘might incentivize more people to come over illegally.’
‘If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah,’ Biden retorted. ‘But it’s not true.’
Fox reporter Peter Doocy asks, ‘So this is a garbage report?’
Biden stood by his aggressive reaction.
‘Yeah. $450,000 per person, is that what you’re saying?’ Biden asked. ‘That’s not going to happen.’
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went after Biden over the plan on Tuesday.
The lump sums have been put forward as a way for the U.S. Justice Department to settle lawsuits with migrants who say the policy caused them lasting psychological damage.
But DeSantis, a Trump loyalist, has said he is ‘very, very concerned’ about the payments declaring them to be a ‘slap in the face’ with Americans themselves already struggling to make ends meet as inflation boosts the cost of living.
‘I mean, you think about it, Americans are getting more in their gas bills. They’re getting more in their grocery bills,’ DeSantis said during a press conference. ‘You’ve had all kinds of really bad policies throughout our country that have limited freedom.
‘And you’re going to turn around for that and you’re going to do $475,000 for an individual that came illegally to this country?’ DeSantis decried.
‘I’ve seen a lot in my day — I’ve seen a lot that’s happened over the last nine or ten months that I didn’t think I’d ever see — but this takes the cake,’ the governor said in a furious statement.
‘If that is done, that is going to be a slap in the face to every American who works hard and plays by the rules,’ he continued.
‘And it will especially a slap in the face to people that have immigrated legally to this country. That should not be allowed to stand. It’s wrong, and whatever we can do in Florida to fight back against it, we will do.’
About 5,500 children were split from their parents under President Donald Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy, under which parents were separated from their children to face criminal prosecution for crossing the border illegally, according to court filings in a federal case in San Diego.
Officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are now considering the payments that could total close to $1million for two people within the same family.
The total potential payout could cost $1billion or more.
Lawyers for both the families and the government have said that they are working on settlements and hope to be finished by the end of November.
But some government lawyers are outraged at the payments under discussion, which they view as excessive for people who knowingly broke the law by crossing the border. One government lawyer threatened to remove his name from the case in protest of the potential settlement offer.
One government attorney said that the payouts could amount to more than the government paid to the families of 9/11 victims and Gold Star families. Another disputed that comparison, as the US government had not been directly responsible for the 9/11 attack. Payouts averaged $2 million, tax-free, per family.
So far, 45 House Republicans including House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, GOP Caucus Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, have put their name to a demanding answers from the Biden administration.
‘Promising tens of thousands of dollars to those who unlawfully entered the United States would not only reward criminal behavior, but it would surely send a message to the world that our borders are open and our rule of law will not be enforced,’ the letter states.
A record 1.7 million families were encountered trying to enter the US illegally in the 2021 fiscal year, ending September 30, up from a record 1.6 million in 2000. Over 479,000 families were encountered, along with an unusually high number of unaccompanied children – 147,000.
Inadequate tracking systems caused many to be apart for an extended time. The payments are intended as compensation for what occurred.
Attorneys for the families are also seeking permanent legal status in the United States for those separated under the practice enacted by former President Trump‘s administration in April 2018.
A judge halted the process after much controversy in June 2018, six days after Trump suspended it amid an international backlash.
The ‘zero-tolerance policy’ applied to families who illegally crossed the US-Mexico border to claim asylum. Since children could not be detained alongside their parents, the families were separated, sometimes with no way to track and reunited them later on, government investigations found.
Now, many families are released into the interior of the US and asked to appear in court at a later date. Some are deported under Title 42, the coronavirus public health policy.
Lawsuits allege that the separated children were housed in poor conditions, and sometimes suffered from malnutrition or heat exhaustion or were kept in freezing cold rooms and offered little medical care. Lawyers for the families argue the children have suffered long-lasting trauma from the anxiety of being without their parents.
The Biden administration has repeatedly deemed the policy cruel and inhumane and promised to reunited families still separated.
Earlier this month, Michelle Brane, head of the Family Reunification Task Force, said that the Biden team had only been able to reunite 52 of the over 1,000 families separated under the policy who have not yet found each other.
‘We estimate that over 1,000, somewhere between 1,000, 1,500, maybe more remain separated,’ Brane said on CBS’ 60 Minutes on October 12. ‘It’s very hard to know because there’s no record.’
She added: ‘So there’s nowhere to go to find out who was separated or not. It really is case-by-case detective work.’
The task force is reportedly in the process of reuniting 200 more.
Reunited families are then given a three-year grant of parole, allowing them to live and work legally in the US for that period, but are not offered a pathway to citizenship.