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‘We all must come together now’: Senate Dems struggle for unity to finish $3.5 trillion bill

Senate Democrats are poised to blow past their Wednesday deadline to finish the $3.5 trillion social welfare bill, raising fresh doubts about the party’s ability to hold together and put the bill onto President Biden’s desk.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer set the deadline to pressure lawmakers to use their August recess to draft the legislation. While talks took place over the monthlong break, the Senate made only minor progress as rifts emerged over the bill’s size and how to divvy up the taxpayer-financed windfall.

Mr. Schumer on Tuesday pleaded with his Democratic senators to pull together behind the spending plan that is the core of Mr. Biden’s agenda.

“Everyone, everyone is going to have input into this legislation. But, of course, our unity is our strength and if we’re not unified with 50 votes, we can’t get anything done. So, we all must come together now,” Mr. Schumer said in a Senate floor speech.

At the moment, the intraparty kerfuffle results from a cadre of moderate Democrats, including Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who refuse to back the large price tag. Mr. Manchin has said repeatedly stressed that he will only support a bill within the $1 trillion-to-$1.5 trillion range that is paid for by repealing Trump-era tax cuts.

“I don’t think there should be a ceiling or a floor, I really don’t,” Mr. Manchin said. “We should look at what’s a competitive tax code.”

The majority of the Democratic conference is opposed to any reconfiguration of the top-line numbers. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernard Sanders, a self-described socialist from Vermont, is holding firm on the need for $3.5 trillion for a historic expansion of the social safety net.

“This is an unprecedented moment in American history for a variety of reasons, dealing with COVID, dealing with climate [change] and dealing with all kinds of problems,” Mr. Sanders said. “We have to act in an unprecedented way.”

The impasse over the price tag, along with strong disagreement over how robust the climate and health care provisions will be, has hindered the Senate’s progress in drafting the bill.

“You can’t write a package if you don’t know how much you can spend,” a Senate Democratic aide said privately. “Until we know for sure what everyone is comfortable voting for, it will be difficult to finalize the bill.”

In recent days the disarray has only grown among Democrats. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana joined Mr. Manchin this week with demands that the package doesn’t add to the deficit.

“There’s plenty of things that we can be spending far more than $3.5 trillion on that will do this country a lot of good,” said Mr. Tester, who is generally considered a safe vote for Democratic leadership. “But if the money’s not spent correctly, then we got a problem. So I’m going to be looking at a couple of things — where the money is coming from, how it’s being raised and then how it’s being utilized.”

Democrats are pitching the spending bill to voters as “human infrastructure.” They suggest the package complements the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that focuses on roads, bridges, railway and airport projects.

The Senate passed the infrastructure bill last month. The bigger bill amounts to a wish list of liberal priorities such as proposals for climate change, amnesty for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, tuition-free community college and expanded health care programs.

Given Republicans’ solid opposition, Democrats plan to pass the $3.5 trillion package via a special process known as budget reconciliation. It allows some spending and tax measures to avoid the Senate‘s 60-vote filibuster threshold and pass with a simple majority of 51 votes.

Since the Senate is evenly split between both parties, any single lawmaker can exert significant influence over its crafting. Mr. Manchin and other moderates appear to be doing exactly that at the moment.

The tactic could imperil not only the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill but also the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

The infrastructure deal, which passed the Senate in August, is awaiting action on the other side of the Capitol. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, pledged not to move the bill until the Senate passes a reconciliation measure.

“The success of each bill contributes to the success of the other,” said Mrs. Pelosi, arguing that the bipartisan infrastructure bill is inextricably linked to the social welfare bill.

The stand-off is likely to come to a head on Sept. 27, the day Mrs. Pelosi has agreed to hold a vote on the infrastructure measure. If the Senate does not pass a reconciliation bill by then, she will be caught between her caucuses moderates and progressives.

Some progressives appear eager to put the moderates in their place.

“Nothing would give me more pleasure than to tank a billionaire, dark money, fossil fuel, Exxon lobbyist-drafted ‘energy’ infrastructure bill if they come after our child care and climate priorities,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat and member of the far-left “Squad.”

11 Times the Biden Administration Lied About Vaccine Mandates

Over the last eight months of Joe Biden’s tenure, everyone from public health officials, White House spokespeople, and cabinet secretaries have insisted that the federal government would not and could not mandate a vaccine for private citizens. Yet that’s exactly what Biden announced he would direct the government to do.

As the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) works on how it will mandate the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine for tens of millions of American workers, the rest of the Biden administration is scrambling to explain how and why such a mandate will take effect after spending the first half of Biden’s new administration assuring Americans a federal mandate would not materialize. 

As president-elect, Joe Biden said in a December 2020 press conference in Delaware that “I don’t think it should be mandatory,” when talking about Wuhan coronavirus vaccines. “I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory,” he promised. “Just like I don’t think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide.” 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked in a May press briefing whether the Biden administration would mandate vaccines for private companies, to which she responded “I wouldn’t anticipate that we would be putting requirements on private sector companies. I would expect that we would allow the space for them to put those requirements in place themselves or decide what is best for their workforces,” she explained.

Also in May, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Meet the Press that the Biden administration was “not counting on vaccine mandates at all.” Instead, she explained, “it may very well be that local businesses, local jurisdictions will work toward vaccine mandates [but] that is going to be locally driven and not federally driven.”

In July, Psaki was asked again if Biden would enact a federal vaccine mandate, something she explained was “not a decision that we are making” and “that is not our intention from the federal government.”

Just a few days later, Psaki again said “I think the context of the question, which I think is important here, is: Can we mandate vaccines across the country? No, that’s not a role that the federal government, I think, even has the power to make.”

Walensky again in July tweeted to clarify her statements about vaccine requirements that “there will be no nationwide mandate. I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.”

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said what “you won’t see is a requirement from the federal government to have people get vaccinated” in a July interview with The Washington Post. “This is a decision that historically has not come from the federal government around vaccine mandates,” he added. “It has come from private institutions and from local government.”

On CNN later in July, White House COVID-19 Response Director Jeff Zients was asked by Wolf Blitzer if President Biden was exploring mandating vaccines. Zients said “No.” “That’s not an authority that we’re exploring at all,” he added. 

As students began returning to classrooms and college campuses across the country, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told CBS in August that “at the federal level I don’t have the authority to mask mandate or vaccine mandate, that’s not what we do at the federal level.”

In August, Dr. Fauci said that “you’re not going to see a central mandate coming from the federal government” for vaccines because businesses and private entities could handle such requirements for themselves. A few days later, Fauci told Bloomberg that he feels “we should not have central mandates from the federal government” on vaccines or masks.

Much like Biden did with the eviction moratorium, his administration knew and said that they lacked the authority to mandate vaccines and would not take such a step even if they did. And again, Biden threw all of that out the window to make another power grab that is now set to impact up to 100 million Americans.

Afghan population in US surging 50%, most on welfare

The expected welcoming of 65,000 Afghan refugees by the Biden administration is likely to hit local welfare agencies hard if the current use of Medicaid and food stamps by those already here is any indication.

In a thorough review of the 133,000 Afghan migrants already in the United States, the Center for Immigration Studies found that they are nearly three times more likely to tap into welfare than native-born Americans.

What’s more, the share of those in poverty is about twice as high as native-born Americans, according to census data used in the new report.

But unlike some other immigrant groups, notably those from Central and South America, more have arrived in the U.S. at an older age, most have jobs, and 1 out of 9 earned at least $100,000 a year in 2019, higher than native-born Americans.

“The Census Bureau data analyzed in this report indicates that a large share of Afghans in this country have modest levels of education, with many living in or near poverty and dependent on the welfare system. It seems likely that a large share of Afghans allowed into the United States in the future will also struggle in a similar manner,” said the report’s authors Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler.

So far, following the bungled military withdrawal from Afghanistan, about 24,000 refugees have arrived in the U.S., and about another 45,000 are set to enter, according to the State Department.

The Center for Immigration Studies and others have reviewed the current population to get an idea about where the new immigrants will go and what programs they will tap. The group is hosting a panel discussion on Tuesday to discuss the issue.

Most Afghans in the U.S. reside in California, Texas, and Virginia — states the government is sending the newcomers to.

Unclear is how many additional Afghans will come to the U.S. But the report said, “Given the oppressive nature of the new Taliban regime, the Biden administration will also be under political pressure to admit more Afghans on humanitarian grounds as refugees, asylees, parolees, and on Special Immigrant Visas.”

Highlights of the census data in the report:

  • The number of Afghan immigrants (also referred to as the foreign-born) was 133,000 in 2019, more than triple the 44,000 Afghans in 2000 and nearly 2.5 times the 55,000 Afghans in 2010.
  • The states with the largest Afghan-immigrant populations are California (54,000), Virginia (24,000), and Texas (10,000). The metropolitan areas with the largest Afghan populations are Washington, D.C. (26,000), San Francisco, and Sacramento, both with 16,000.
  • Since 1980, 79% of Afghan immigrants have been admitted for humanitarian reasons — as refugees, asylees, or, since 2008, on Special Immigrant Visas.
  • The educational level of Afghan immigrants has fallen both in absolute terms and relative to the native-born. The share of Afghans (25-64) with at least a bachelor’s degree fell from 30% in 2000 to 26% in 2019, while increasing from 27% to 35% for natives.
  • In 2019, the share of all Afghans (18 to 64) employed was only 64%, compared to 75% for the native-born. This reflects low rates of work among Afghan women. Among Afghan men, 84% were employed, higher than the 78% for native-born men.
  • Many Afghans have low incomes. Of persons in households headed by Afghan immigrants, 25% live in poverty — more than twice the rate of 12% for people in households headed by native-born Americans.
  • Although the share of Afghans with low incomes has not worsened in recent years, their use of welfare has increased significantly. In 2019, 65% of Afghan households used at least one major program (cash, food stamps, or Medicaid), while the usage rate in native-born households was 24%.
  • Food stamp use by Afghan households increased the most, from 19% to 35%, between 2010 and 2019.
  • The share of Afghan households with one or more persons on Medicaid increased from 47% to 62% over this time period.
  • The high rates of welfare use reflect the large share of Afghans who live in or near poverty and the success of refugee resettlement organizations in signing them up for programs, helping many assimilate into the welfare system.

RAND PAUL: Gen. Milley Should Be ‘Court Martialed’ If Secret Call To Chinese General Is Real

Senator Rand Paul is saying General Mark Milley should be “court martialed” if the claims made in Bob Woodward’s book are true.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said that General Mark Milley should be “court martialed” if Bob Woodward’s claims that the General made secret calls to Communist Chinese general Li Zuocheng on October 30 and January 8 are true.

If General Mark Milley is proven to have secretly called Communist Chinese general Li Zuocheng behind President Donald Trump’s back just four days before the election and once more on January 8, assuring the Chinese Communist Party that China would be warned before any potential incoming attack by the US beforehand, then he must be court martialed, Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul told Fox News on Wednesday.

“It should be investigated immediately, today, he should be questioned under oath, if not with a polygraph test, on whether it happened. If it happened, he should be immediately relieved of his duties and court-martialed,” said Senator Paul. “You have to find out if it’s true. This is innuendo and rumor and propaganda perhaps. But, if it is true he absolutely immediately needs to be removed.”

President Donald Trump told Newsmax that he had no plans to attack China and called Milley’s claims “the most ridiculous thing” he’s “ever heard, and everybody knows it,” adding that if Milley truly did secretly call the CCP, it would amount to treason. “So first of all if it is actually true, which is hard to believe, that he would have called China and done these things and was willing to advise them of an attack or in advance of an attack, that’s treason. I’ve had so many calls today saying, ‘That’s treason,’ said President Trump.

In addition to his comments on television, President Trump issued a blistering statement condemning “weak and ineffective” Milley over the reports of his alleged secret calls and meetings with the Chinese General, Nancy Pelosi, and high level military intelligence officials at the Pentagon at the time of the November election and shortly after January 6. President Trump had also raised questions about Woodward’s credibility.

“If the story of ‘Dumbass’ General Mark Milley, the same failed leader who engineered the worst withdrawal from a country, Afghanistan, in U.S. history, leaving behind many dead and wounded soldiers, many American citizens, and $85 Billion worth of the newest and most sophisticated Military equipment in the world, and our Country’s reputation, is true, then I assume he would be tried for TREASON in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the President’s back and telling China that he would be giving them notification ‘of an attack,’” Trump declared. “Can’t do that!”

President Trump continued, “The good news is that the story is Fake News concocted by a weak and ineffective General together with two authors who I refused to give an interview to because they write fiction, not fact. Actions should be taken immediately against Milley, and better generals in our Military, of which we have many, should get involved so that another Afghanistan disaster never happens again. Remember, I was the one who took out 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. Milley said it couldn’t be done!”

“For the record, I never even thought of attacking China—and China knows that,” President Trump concluded. “The people that fabricated the story are sick and demented, and the people who print it are just as bad. In fact, I’m the only President in decades who didn’t get the U.S. into a war—a well known fact that is seldom reported.”

Simone Biles, Other Athletes Call For Full Probe Into FBI, USA Gymnastics Over Allowing Sex Abuse

Larry Nassar, who had been a doctor for US Olympic gymnasts, was sentenced in 2017 to 60 years in prison for possessing child sex abuse material, and receiving the following year additional sentences of 175 years and up to 125 years for molesting female gymnasts that he had overseen.

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles has blasted the FBI and USA Gymnastics for allowing the sexual abuse of athletes to happen, referring to the actions of Larry Nassar against her and hundreds others.

“We have been failed and we deserve answers,” Biles told the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she testified alongside with Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols. “It really feels like the FBI turned a blind eye to us.”

In her emotional speech, Biles said that she doesn’t “want another young gymnast, or Olympic athlete, or any individual to experience the horror that I and hundreds of others have endured before, during and continuing to this day in the wake of the Larry Nassar abuse.

“The gymnast insisted that, even though Nassar has been put behind bars, “those who enabled him deserve to be held accountable.”

Aly Raisman, in her turn, also called for a complete and full investigation of USA Gymnastics over “doing nothing” to restrict the access of Nassar to the athletes while allegedly being aware of the sex abuse.

“It was like serving innocent children up to a pedophile on a silver platter,” she said during her testimony.

Maggie Nichols echoed the remarks made by her fellow athletes, stressing that “the survivors of Larry Nassar have a right to know why their well-being was placed in jeopardy by these individuals who chose not to do their jobs.”

McKayla Maroney also insisted on the importance of the investigation, accusing the FBI of attempting to silence her and falsify her report on the sex abuse she allegedly faced.

“US Gymnastics Association, in concert with the US Olympics Committee and the FBI, were working together to conceal that Larry Nassar was a serial sexual predator,” she said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray also testified, revealing that he was “heartsick and furious” after learning about the failures of the bureau to investigate the allegations properly.

“These individuals betrayed the core duty that they have of protecting people. They failed to protect young women and girls from abuse”, Wray said.

Nassar, a former Olympic team doctor, was charged with possessing child sex abuse material and sentenced to 60 years in prison in 2017. The following year, the court also sentenced him to 175 years and up to 125 years for molesting young gymnasts that he was supposed to have been taking care of.

Initially, the investigation into him began in 2015, when USA Gymnastics President and CEO Stephen Penny reported the allegations to the FBI and referred them to three victims who were willing to be interviewed in regard to the matter.

However, the Indianapolis FBI office, at the time led by Special Agent in Charge W. Jay Abbott, failed to open an investigation into the allegations, also never sharing them with state or local law enforcement agencies. Abbott was not prosecuted over the matter.

Roger Stone: Saturday’s Capitol Rally an ‘Agitprop, Setup’

Roger Stone is warning the Saturday “Justice for J6” rally at the U.S. Capitol planned by Look Ahead America is merely an “agitprop” and a “setup” to make supporters of former President Donald Trump look dangerous.

“This is called agitprop,” Stone said in an appearance on “Russia Today,” a Russian state-run media outlet, which will air in its entirely on “Eat the Press” on Friday night. “I don’t know a single person in the MAGA movement who’s going. It’s a setup.”

Stone is urging MAGA supporters to stay away.

“No, patriots, stay away from Washington,” Stone pleaded. “This is what is called a setup.”

Stone added for Trump supporters to definitely not bring guns, warning “the danger is obvious.”

“Here’s my suggestion: The people who will be there will all be working for the government,” Stone warned. “Nice try.

“If there’s a single armed protester there, he’ll be working for the federal government,” he continued. “This is so obvious. Who would go there armed?

“Folks, I’m appealing to you: Stay away. Stay safe. Stay in your homes, and by all means, never bring a firearm to the District of Columbia.”

Stone admitted there remains “so many unanswered questions about Jan. 6,” but Saturday’s rally will not lead to any answers.

Instead, it is an anti-Trump attempt “to recreate it,” according to Stone.

“It’s a sympathy ploy,” he added. “Let’s face it: Jan. 6 gave the government the single greatest opportunity they’ve ever had to abridge our constitutional rights, particularly our First Amendment rights.”

Look Ahead America founder Matt Braynard tweeted a plea to rally attendees to not wear MAGA or political gear:

“We request that anybody attending our events not wear any clothing or have signs supportive of either President Trump or Biden. Anyone not honoring this request will be assumed to be an infiltrator and we will take your picture, find out who you are, and make you famous.”

Braynard stressed in an ensuing tweet the rally is about those unfairly incarcerated from the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally:

“This event is 100% about #JusticeforJ6 and not the election or any candidate.”

Pope Francis: Abortion Is ‘Homicide,’ Catholic Church’s Position Will Not Change To ‘Accept Daily Murder’

Pope Francis spoke on the topic of abortion and Catholic politicians who publicly support the barbaric practice during a flight back to Rome from Slovakia, telling reporters that the Catholic Church has no plans to change its teachings on abortion, but that Catholic leaders should seek to counsel abortion-supporting politicians privately before taking the extreme step of excommunicating them from the Church.

“Answering questions aboard the papal plane from Bratislava, Slovakia, to Rome on Sept. 15, the pope emphatically said that abortion ends a human life and that human life must be respected,” EWTN News reported.

“Abortion is more than an issue. Abortion is homicide,” Pope Francis said, definitively. “It’s a homicide. No middle terms. Whomever does an abortion, kills.”

The Church, Pope Francis added, will remain strict on the issue, despite Catholic politicians like President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who claim that their conscience leads them to support “reproductive rights” and publicly support not just the right to obtain an abortion, but take affirmative action to protect abortion as a practice.

“Scientifically it’s a human life. The textbooks teach us that. But is it right to take it out to solve a problem? And this is why the Church is so strict on this issue because it is kind of like accepting this is accepting daily murder,” Pope Francis noted.

The theology of the issue, he added, is “simple.”

As for whether to deny a pro-abortion politician the ability to participate in communion, the Pope was less decisive, suggesting that bishops and priests should seek to be pastoral and counsel those who seem confused about Church teachings because a pastor’s responsibility does not end when an individual has been excommunicated or has excommunicated themselves by disagreeing publicly with core dogma.

“The problem is pastoral, how do we, as bishops, manage this principle,” Pope Francis said. “If we look at the history of the Church, we will see that every time the bishops acted not as pastors in a problem, they became politicians.”

“And what should the pastor do? He shouldn’t go around condemning. And he must also be a pastor with those who are excommunicated and be so with God’s style, which is closeness, compassion and tenderness,” Pope Francis said. “Those people who are not in the community cannot take communion, because they are out of the community. It is not a punishment: Communion is linked to the community.”

Pope Francis was responding to a question specifically about the U.S. Catholic bishops’ plan to issue pastoral guidance on the subject of denying communion to pro-abortion politicians. Although the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops determined, weeks ago, to compile the guidance, the issue has arisen more forcefully in recent weeks, with both Biden and Pelosi expressing support for efforts to overturn a Texas “heartbeat” bill that effectively outlaws abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy, when fetal cardiac activity can be detected.

Both Biden and Pelosi claim to be Catholic, but both openly support abortion, with Biden recently confirming that his thoughts on the subject have evolved from when he claimed, in 2012 to be personally against the practice.

Both Biden’s and Pelosi’s local archbishops, who would ultimately authorize a decision to deny them communion, have opined on the subject. Biden’s, Washington, D.C., Archbishop Cardinal Wilton Gregory, told reporters last week that the president “is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.” Pelosi’s, San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, wrote in the Washington Post that “[y]ou cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings,” and suggested that excommunication could be on the table for Pelosi and other abortion-supporting Catholics.

Chinese State-Run Media Chief Predicts Another ‘Deadly Attack’ On America

China’s state media appears to be threatening the United States.

The editor-in-chief of the Chinese state-run media outlet Global Times appeared to predict another “deadly” terrorist attack on the United States.

Hu Xijin – who heads the state-run newspaper – made the prediction in a tweet on the 20th anniversary of September 11th.

“The September 11 attacks was suicide attacks by 19 terrorists, but it was not the “suicide attack” of the terrorism. Terrorism will accumulate power to launch the next deadly attack. Time will prove that it is a mistake for the US to regard China as its biggest adversary,” he wrote.

In an op-ed for Global Times, Hu encouraged Americans to “wake up” and accept the Chinese Communist Party’s rise:

The lessons the US elites are taking from 9/11 are also misplaced — that the war on terror consumed US resources and attention and presented an opportunity for China’s rise. To this day, they still do not fully understand. They arrogantly believe that the rise of China was unleashed by their absentmindedness. They stubbornly believe that the power of the US is strong enough to determine the fate of one of the oldest civilizations with a population four times that of the US, and that they could have kept the Chinese people in the cage of poverty forever.

Wake up.

The comments came in the same week it emerged that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, colluded with Chinese Communist counterparts in order to usurp the civilian control of the United States government.

China, Russia Could Already Be Reverse-Engineering American Apache Helicopters Acquired By Taliban, Trump Says

Former President Donald Trump once again criticized the Biden administration for failing to clean up the military mess left behind in Afghanistan following the conclusion of the U.S. troops withdrawal on August 31. The 75-year-old former Commander-in-Chief is convinced that the Taliban-seized U.S. weapons will find their way to China, Russia, and other American adversaries to be reverse-engineered.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, former President Trump expressed his disapproval over the Biden administration’s military withdrawal, calling it “the greatest embarrassment in the history of our country.” Not the Bee agrees, writing that “Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal is one of the worst presidential mistakes of our lifetimes.”

The former Republican leader said that it appeared as if America “surrendered” and “ran” despite having “F-35 fighter jets – the greatest in the world,” while the Taliban “had knives.” The U.S. forces had destroyed or disabled about 100 combat vehicles and dozens of aircraft before withdrawing from Kabul in August, but the Taliban took over a range of military equipment such as U.S.-supplied assault weapons, night-vision goggles, and other U.S. military technology, including functional Humvees, MRAPs, and UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.

“They didn’t disable any equipment,” former President Trump accused the Biden administration. “The equipment is perfect – and if it is not absolutely perfect, it will be fixed, very, very quickly, probably by China or Russia.”

The 45th POTUS added that the U.S. military capabilities are “the best in the world,” making it highly coveted by the Taliban militant group. He said, “The goggles are the best in the world, they now have thousands of goggles. They are going to do night fighting, which they would have never done before.”

Trump also took the opportunity to boast about his administration’s accomplishments in “[rebuilding] the military with brand new, beautiful equipment.” He then accused the Biden administration of “[giving] a lot of it to the Taliban.”

“And the Taliban doesn’t need all of it, so they are sending a lot of the most sophisticated stuff to China and Iran and they’re sending it to Russia – to re-engineer,” the former Republican president said. According to the New York Post, Trump was also concerned over American Apache helicopters, which he believed are already in the hands of U.S.’ enemies.

“I guarantee that China and Russia already have our Apache helicopters and they’re taking them apart to find out exactly how they’re made,” Trump declared during a conversation with “Full Measure” on Sunday. “They’re the best in the world by far. And they’re taking them apart so they can make the exact same equipment.”

Trump, who lamented the loss of “$85 billion worth of brand new, beautiful equipment,” is not wrong in his reasoning, as his deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, former U.S. Army Col. Heino Klinck said that the possibility of U.S. adversaries getting their hands on American military tools and reverse-engineering it is “highly probable.”

‘Natural Immunity Is 27 Times More Protective’: Prof Tells White House Not to Ignore ‘Clear’ Science

Since President Joe Biden announced his controversial new vaccine mandates targeting private businesses, critics have been arguing the move is divisive and unconstitutional.

George Mason University (GMU) Law Professor Todd Zywicki – who was granted a medical exemption by the university – is one of those critics, telling CBN News’ Faith Nation the mandates actually undermine the vaccine message and insult the intelligence of Americans at the same time. 

Zywicki’s own case against GMU earned him an exemption to the vaccination requirement there because he argued he had “natural immunity” after getting COVID. 

The Virginia-based university had a mandate requiring all attending students to be inoculated by Aug. 1. Faculty and staff had a deadline of Aug.15 to be vaccinated. Those who did not comply with the mandate had to show a reason for a medical or religious exemption. 

The law professor explained that forcing people to get vaccinated is not the way to address those who are unwilling. In fact, it’s causing more tension among Americans.

“Mandates are certainly not the way to overcome hesitancy which is that compelling somebody to do something is not going to make them more willing to do it. And what I think we’re seeing already is a revolution coming about especially among those like me who have natural immunity,” Zywicki said.

“There’s reports now that nurses who have natural immunity are quitting. There was a report that they’re trying to reschedule births. I heard about cardiac units being shut down. People who have natural immunity need to be respected here because of the risks that they’re putting on us,” he added. “This draconian, just crushing people is not going to overcome vaccine hesitancy. You might force some people to get vaccines but that’s not going to improve this country’s commitment to come together and fight this pandemic.”

Zywicki said exemptions should apply to the broad vaccine mandates announced by the White House Friday, despite the administration’s “misdirected” way of dealing with the issue.

“We are a year and a half into this pandemic by now. What we should be focusing on is people’s level of immunity however acquired, whether it’s by vaccine or natural immunity … that’s the way out of this,” he noted. “It’s not by vaccinating people who don’t need to be vaccinated like me, forcing people who have health risks, leaving it in the hands of individual employers to determine whether someone has a legitimate medical exemption … it’s just crazy and it violates the Constitution.” 

“Your right to bodily autonomy and bodily integrity is not a matter of majority vote, and it’s not a matter that we put up to suburban voters to determine whether somebody has a right to be free from an involuntary medical activity. We should be focusing on immunity and that’s our glide path to get out of this in the long run. Immunity however acquired.”

He pointed out that the scientific evidence supporting natural immunity is apparent. 

“The science on this is clear at this point unless you have some superstitious attachment to the vaccines, natural immunity is robust, durable, broad, it protects against variants and we all know the Israel study finds that natural immunity is 27 times more protective than vaccines against symptomatic infections and eight times more protective against hospitalization,” he said. 

“It’s really no contest at this point and the idea that we’re going to continue down this one path of vaccination and ignore natural immunity – my students, my colleagues at least are too smart for that and I wish somebody at the White House would wake up to that fact as well.”

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