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Firefighters, State Troopers Sue Governor Over COVID Vax Mandate

Some of Oregon’s bravest and finest are fighting back against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate issued by Democratic Oregon Gov. Kate Brown.

A group of Oregon State Police troopers and firefighters from Klamath County filed the suit just days after an Oregon State Trooper who called Brown “Miss Governor” was placed on leave for taking to social media with his opposition to the vaccine mandate, according to The Oregonian.

Brown is being sued by the Oregon Fraternal Order of Police along with troopers from various communities around the state and the Kingsley Firefighters Association, which represents Kingsley Field firefighters,  according to KOIN-TV.

“This lawsuit has nothing to do with the efficacy of the vaccine at this point,” Dan Thenell, the lawyer representing the troopers and firefighters, told The Oregonian. “It has to do with having their jobs held over their heads.”

“With very few exceptions, none of which apply here, all speech and expressive conduct are constitutionally protected,” the lawsuit said. “Plaintiffs’ right to control their own medical destinies is both expressive speech in the form of opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine, and expressive conduct in opposition to the vaccine mandate.”

The lawsuit said that Oregon law precludes employers from requiring vaccines as a condition of employment. Firing state workers for failure to knuckle under to Brown’s order — as she proposes — is illegal, the suit said.

“The individual plaintiffs are Executive Branch employees … who want to exercise control over their own medical treatment and are being forced to choose between their rights privileges and liberties as citizens on the one hand and their employment, careers, and financial futures on the other,” the suit said.

The group wants the order declared “unenforceable.”

The order calls for all state workers to be vaccinated — or else — by either Oct. 18 or within six weeks after a COVID vaccine receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer’s vaccine received that approval on Aug. 23.

The lawsuit came after Oregon State Police Trooper Zachary Kowing posted a video on Instagram saying he would defy the order.

“I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, to protect the freedom of the people who pay my salary,” he said in the video. “I do not work for my governor but for them.”

“I have personal and religious reasons as to why I will not take the vaccine, as well as the freedom to choose not to,” he said.

In the video, he tells those watching they have a choice, “if you’re going to fall in line as sheep or if you’re going to stand up for the rights that we have for the short time we still have them.”

Capt. Stephanie Bigman, a state police spokeswoman, said Kowing is under investigation  for violating the state police social media policy, which bans “making any statements, speeches, appearances, and endorsements, or publishing any materials, when such activities could reasonably be considered to represent the views or positions” of the agency “without authorization.”

Thenell, who is Kowing’s attorney, said the trooper “swore an oath to protect peoples’ rights and freedom. He felt it was important for him to stand up and speak for people who may be too afraid or unable to voice their opinions. In other words, he felt this issue was important enough to risk his job.”

Thenell said Kowing opposes not the vaccine, but the mandate.

Kowing spoke for himself, Thenell said, “however, many other troopers share his view.”

Forbes Deletes Article by Education Expert Asserting That Forcing Children to Wear Masks Causes Psychological Trauma

All dissent must be banished.

Forbes deleted an article written by an education expert who asserted that forcing schoolchildren to wear face masks was causing psychological trauma after the piece began to go viral.

The article (archived here) was written by Zak Ringelstein, who has a a PhD in education from Columbia University and founded Zigadoo, an educational and development app aimed at helping children.

Ringelstein explains how he worked hard to remove standardized testing from schools but that this was derailed when the pandemic began, a process that “transformed the American public education system into something unrecognizable: a system of restrictions and mandates far more repressive than standardized testing ever was.”

Ringelstein attacked the notion that “kids are resilient” and can overcome the onerous COVID rules imposed on them by asserting, “Masks and social distancing induce trauma and trauma at a young age is developmentally dangerous, especially for children who are experiencing trauma in other parts of their lives.”

He went further, noting how the new measures were creating classrooms full of lonely, atomized kids.

“Students in most American classrooms now must wear a covering over their face and stay distanced from their peers the entire school day. In many schools, students are forced to play by themselves during recess. Even for the youngest of school children, desks are in rows. Kids can’t see each other’s smiles or learn critically important social and verbal skills.”

Noting how “a child’s current chance of death from Covid-19 in America is lower than their chance of dying from a lightning strike or car accident,” Ringelstein argued that the risk of children getting ill is far outweighed by the psychological trauma caused by social distancing rules.

“Neurological research demonstrates that kids who experience this kind of fear and trauma at a young age undergo structural and functional restructuring of their brain’s prefrontal cortex, resulting in emotional and cognitive processing problems,” he writes.

“Furthermore, children in masks who are socially distanced are more likely to lead a sedentary lifestyle at school and home, and therefore are also more likely to become both obese and depressed. Obesity disproportionately affects children from low-income backgrounds and can lead to lifelong health challenges that often result in early death. Tragically, the prevalence of clinical depression and anxiety have already doubled for children globally since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and will likely worsen with continued restrictions.”

“Children in masks are also likely to miss out on critical language development, another fundamental area of growth in early years where children from low-income backgrounds already have disproportionate disadvantages.”

Presumably because Ringelstein dared to challenge the sanity of forcing kids to mask up, Forbes pulled the article after it had begun to get traction via social media.

Not even experts in education who intimately know how children are impacted by trauma are allowed to offer a whimper of dissent against the COVID orthodoxy that demands ruthless ideological compliance.

Any information that challenges mask zealots must be banished.

As we recently highlighted, a study by researchers at Brown University found that mean IQ scores of young children born during the pandemic have tumbled by as much as 22 points while verbal, motor and cognitive performance have all suffered as a result of lockdown.

Michael Curzon noted that two of the primary causes for this are face masks and children being atomized as a result of being kept away from other children.

“Children born over the past year of lockdowns – at a time when the Government has prevented babies from seeing elderly relatives and other extended family members, from socialising at parks or with the children of their parent’s friends, and from studying the expressions on the faces behind the masks of locals in indoor public spaces – have significantly reduced verbal, motor and overall cognitive performance compared to children born before, according to a new U.S. study. Tests on early learning, verbal development and non-verbal development all produced results that were far behind those from the years preceding the lockdowns,” he wrote.

Sean Feucht and the Road to Revival

Afghan Refugees Not Tested for COVID Before Landing in US

Afghans are tested after arrival in the United States

Afghan refugees coming to the United States did not receive COVID-19 tests before departing Kabul, the State Department told the Washington Free Beacon.

The State Department’s disclosure comes amid increased scrutiny of the Biden administration’s handling of more than 100,000 Afghans, who fled the country following the Taliban’s takeover. The agency requires COVID tests before it allows foreign travelers to arrive in the United States, but it waived the requirement for those who evacuated from Afghanistan.

“Given the extraordinary circumstances, a blanket humanitarian exemption was issued for the requirement of pre-departure COVID testing for all individuals the U.S. government transported by aircraft from Afghanistan,” an agency spokeswoman told the Free Beacon on Friday. 

Reports indicate other significant lapses in the State Department’s handling of the Afghan evacuation efforts. The Associated Press reported Friday that officials are investigating cases of Afghan men bringing their child brides into the United States. “Intake staff at Fort McCoy reported multiple cases of minor females who presented as ‘married’ to adult Afghan men, as well as polygamous families,” a document obtained by the AP says. “Department of State has requested urgent guidance.”

Both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have defended the refugee-vetting process that has been criticized for leaving behind hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan translators and allies. Special Immigrant Visa applicants, who spent years waiting on agency background checks and other bureaucratic hurdles, were stranded as others boarded flights at the Kabul airport on a seemingly first-come, first-serve basis under the supervision of the Taliban. Republicans, as well as DHS officials, say the sheer number of refugees coming into the country makes it impossible for comprehensive background checks to take place.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and 26 other GOP senators sent a letter to the White House on Thursday demanding specifics on the refugees who are arriving in the United States, citing the high number of SIV applicants left behind in Afghanistan. Cotton estimated more than 57,000 of the Afghans evacuated were not green card holders, visa applicants, or U.S. citizens.

“Joe Biden cynically used the plight of those loyal Afghans who served alongside American troops to evacuate tens of thousands of Afghans who had no right to be in the country and is now bringing them into the country to the tune of thousands every day, with no ability to vet whether or not they’re a security threat at all,” Cotton said.

Afghans received COVID tests after their arrival at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and Philadelphia International Airport. The State Department official declined to elaborate on the quarantine procedures for those who test positive.

Bring All the Troops Home: Stop Policing the Globe and Put an End to Endless Wars

It’s time to bring all our troops home.

Bring them home from Somalia, Iraq and Syria. Bring them home from Germany, South Korea and Japan. Bring them home from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman. Bring them home from Niger, Chad and Mali. Bring them home from Turkey, the Philippines, and northern Australia.

It’s not enough to pull American troops out of Afghanistan, America’s longest, bloodiest and most expensive war to date.

It’s time that we stop policing the globe, stop occupying other countries, and stop waging endless wars.

That’s not what’s going to happen, of course

The US military reportedly has more than 1.3 million men and women on active duty, with more than 200,000 of them stationed overseas in nearly every country in the world.

Those numbers are likely significantly higher in keeping with the Pentagon’s policy of not fully disclosing where and how many troops are deployed for the sake of “operational security and denying the enemy any advantage.” As investigative journalist David Vine explains, “Although few Americans realize it, the United States likely has more bases in foreign lands than any other people, nation, or empire in history.”

Don’t fall for the propaganda, though.

America’s military forces aren’t being deployed abroad to protect our freedoms here at home. Rather, they’re being used to guard oil fields, build foreign infrastructure and protect the financial interests of the corporate elite. In fact, the United States military spends about $81 billion a year just to protect oil supplies around the world.

The reach of America’s military empire includes close to 800 bases in as many as 160 countries, operated at a cost of more than $156 billion annually. As Vine reports, “Even US military resorts and recreation areas in places like the Bavarian Alps and Seoul, South Korea, are bases of a kind. Worldwide, the military runs more than 170 golf courses.”

This is how a military empire occupies the globe.

After 20 years of propping up Afghanistan to the tune of trillions of dollars and thousands of lives lost, the US military may have finally been forced out, but those troops represent just a fraction of our military presence worldwide.

In an ongoing effort to police the globe, American military servicepeople continue to be deployed to far-flung places in the Middle East and elsewhere.

This is how the military industrial complex, aided and abetted by the likes of Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and others, continues to get rich at taxpayer expense.

Yet while the rationale may keep changing for why American military forces are policing the globe, these wars abroad aren’t making America—or the rest of the world—any safer, are certainly not making America great again, and are undeniably digging the US deeper into debt.

War spending is bankrupting America.

Americans have thus far allowed themselves to be spoon-fed a steady diet of pro-war propaganda that keeps them content to wave flags with patriotic fervor and less inclined to look too closely at the mounting body counts, the ruined lives, the ravaged countries, the blowback arising from ill-advised targeted-drone killings and bombing campaigns in foreign lands, or the transformation of our own homeland into a warzone.

That needs to change.

The US government is not making the world any safer. It’s making the world more dangerous. It is estimated that the US military drops a bomb somewhere in the world every 12 minutes. Since 9/11, the United States government has directly contributed to the deaths of around 500,000 human beings. Every one of those deaths was paid for with taxpayer funds.

The US government is not making America any safer. It’s exposing American citizens to alarming levels of blowback, a CIA term referring to the unintended consequences of the US government’s international activities.

The 9/11 attacks were blowback. The Boston Marathon Bombing was blowback. The attempted Times Square bomber was blowback. The Fort Hood shooter, a major in the US Army, was blowback.

The US military’s ongoing drone strikes will, I fear, spur yet more blowback against the American people. The latest drone strike reportedly killed seven children, ages 2 to 10, in Afghanistan.

The war hawks’ militarization of America is also blowback.

James Madison was right: “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” As Madison explained, “Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes… known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.”

We are seeing this play out before our eyes.

The government is destabilizing the economy, destroying the national infrastructure through neglect and a lack of resources, and turning taxpayer dollars into blood money with its endless wars, drone strikes and mounting death tolls

Clearly, our national priorities are in desperate need of an overhauling.

At the height of its power, even the mighty Roman Empire could not stare down a collapsing economy and a burgeoning military. Prolonged periods of war and false economic prosperity largely led to its demise. As historian Chalmers Johnson predicts:

The fate of previous democratic empires suggests that such a conflict is unsustainable and will be resolved in one of two ways. Rome attempted to keep its empire and lost its democracy. Britain chose to remain democratic and in the process let go its empire. Intentionally or not, the people of the United States already are well embarked upon the course of non-democratic empire.

This is the “unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex” that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us more than 50 years ago not to let endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

We failed to heed his warning.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, there’s not much time left before we reach the zero hour.

It’s time to stop policing the globe, end these wars-without-end, and bring the troops home.

The Taliban Says China Is a ‘Trustworthy Friend’

The Taliban indicated that it would work with the Peoples Republic of China and even called the communist country a “trustworthy friend.”

Abdul Salam Hanafi, deputy director of the Taliban’s office in Doha, Qatar, said the terror group would “take effective measures” to protect Chinese institutions and personnel in Afghanistan and would allow China to continue its expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative.

“China has been a trustworthy friend of Afghanistan,” Hanafi said in a Thursday phone call with Chinese assistant foreign minister Wu Jianghao, according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “The Afghan Taliban is willing to continue to promote friendly relations between Afghanistan and China and will never allow any force to use Afghan territory to threaten China’s interests.”

And while Chinese foreign minister Wang Webin would not directly answer questions at a press conference Friday about whether China will recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government in Afghanistan, he did say that the situation on the ground is being followed closely by the Chinese government.

Webin also pointed out that China’s embassy in Afghanistan plays an “important channel for China-Afghanistan exchanges” and is operating normally.

Through its partnership with the Taliban, China will be given access to Afghanistan’s natural resources such as copper and aluminum.

“The cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative advocated by China is conducive to the development and prosperity of Afghanistan and the region at large,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement following Thursday’s call.

During an interview on Thursday, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid expressed support for China’s investment in Afghanistan. 

“China is our most important partner and represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity for us, because it is ready to invest [in] and rebuild our country,” he said, according to the South China Morning Post.

The Taliban is looking to formally establish a government in the coming days. However, it remains to be seen which countries will recognize them as a legitimate governing body.

CA Assembly Employees Who Weren’t Vaccinated by Sept 1 Have Been Placed on Unpaid Leave

California State Assembly employees who didn’t start the process of obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination by September 1 and who don’t have an approved religious or medical exemption on file have now been placed on unpaid leave — even those who work remotely — according to legislative sources who spoke to RedState on condition of anonymity.

Speaker Anthony Rendon announced the policy on August 16, stating that the mandate was implemented at his direction “and with the support of Members,” but Members who didn’t wish for their staffers to be subject to this mandate were completely ignored or not consulted. Rendon’s tweeted statement feigned empathy and had a theme of “We just want to help.”

In reading the memo sent to all employees, it was clear that the actual policy had a much sharper bite — even if it was short on details. As the California Globe reports, Rendon noted that the Assembly already had an 80 percent vaccination rate, but that was not enough to “end” COVID:

“Vaccination is our best bulwark against transmission, even in the face of the Delta variant.

“Therefore, this requirement is mandatory and violations may be subject to adverse action, up to and including termination of employment.”

The memo didn’t address whether employees who’d been infected with COVID-19 and recovered, therefore having antibodies, would still be required to be vaccinated. It also didn’t state whether, like other workplaces, employees could be tested daily instead of being vaccinated, or whether they could seek permission to work remotely instead of being vaccinated. Employees who wanted to request religious or medical exemptions were directed to contact their human resources representative for “guidance.”

One paragraph toward the end of the two-page memo was both ignorant and chilling.

“This policy will create a safer workplace and support the four out of five employees who have already taken the important step of vaccination. We will continue to help those who have not been vaccinated to comply, including appropriate leave for vaccination and vaccination reactions, which Assembly employees are already entitled to.”

“Support” the 80 percent of vaccinated employees how? A great number of the employees aren’t even present at the Capitol during this part of the session – remember, a Member’s district staff are Assembly employees too, and because of the ongoing, neverending state of emergency numerous Assembly employees are still working from home. Employees who have to physically enter the Capitol are forced to wear a mask — double-layered — over their nose and mouth at all times and are tested multiple times a week, whether they’re vaccinated or not. So just how is one random, masked, unvaccinated employee going to infect a masked, vaccinated employee? If that’s possible, we should just give up right now.

Rendon continues with the chilling statement that they will “continue to help those who have not been vaccinated to comply.” In other words, “You will assimilate.”

Because of the lack of detail, a follow-up “FAQ” memo was sent by Debra Gravert, the Assembly’s Chief Administrative Officer, on August 23. As to whether there are other alternatives to vaccination, Gravert wrote:

The COVID-19 vaccination is a requirement of all employees. Exemptions will be considered if you are unable to be vaccinated for a medical or sincerely held religious belief.

What if an employee had a documented COVID-19 infection and still has antibodies?

Employees are still required to provide documentation that they have received the COVID-19 vaccine or have an approved exemption on file.

What if they just want more time? Nope.

Regardless of whether you are working remotely, all employees are required to comply with the COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

How can the Assembly require that employees take the jab? Gravert wrote:

Under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, an employer may require employees to receive a vaccination against COVID-19 infection so long as the employer does not discriminate against or harass employees or job applicants on the basis of a protected characteristic, provides reasonable accommodations related to disability or sincerely held religious beliefs or practices, and does not retaliate against any employee for engaging in protected activity (such as requesting a reasonable accommodation).

Is placing the employee on unpaid leave without giving them an opportunity to do their job remotely retaliation? According to what Gravert is saying, only if their refusal to be vaxxed is due to a sincerely held religious belief or “disability.”

Even if the Assembly wasn’t allowed to retaliate, harass, or discriminate against an employee who decided to remain unvaccinated, that wouldn’t mean anything. The Assembly Rules Committee notoriously looks the other way when powerful Members want to retaliate or harass people, and the definition of “retaliation” changes frequently.

Knowing this, Members whose staffers were unceremoniously left without pay — and who could be unable to collect unemployment if they’re fired — are afraid to stick up for their employees and go to bat for them with the Rules Committee, which also has control of Assembly HR. In addition to being retaliated against by the Democrat leadership personally, their employees could be fired to set an example for any other Member who might want to fight back. Since the termination would have been due to failure to follow a mandatory job requirement, it could be difficult for that employee to even be eligible for unemployment. Assembly employees, who are at-will, non-unionized, civil servants, are unable to fight back against the mandate the way teachers, nurses, firefighters, and law enforcement officers are.

Still, Assembly insiders tell RedState that a group of Members are meeting with outside counsel to see how they can best help their staffers and get them back to work — at least remotely — until this is worked out.

The California State Senate does not have a similar mandate.

Legislative sources couldn’t say definitively whether Gov. Gavin Newsom knows that the Assembly took this punitive, unnecessary action against these staffers or not. But it’s a good question for him to be asked.

Lyft and Uber to supplement legal fees for drivers sued over Texas abortion law

Rideshare companies Lyft and Uber issued separate statements announcing they will supplement legal fees for any drivers transporting women to abortion clinics who are sued under the recently passed Texas abortion law.

Lyft said that it formed a “Driver Defense Fund” to cover 100% of legal fees for any driver sued under the abortion law while working for its platform. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted that the company would “cover legal fees in the same way” as Lyft, and it added that “drivers shouldn’t be put at risk for getting people where they want to go.”

“This law is incompatible with people’s basic rights to privacy, our community guidelines, the spirit of rideshare, and our values as a company,” Lyft said of the legislation.

Senate Bill 8, which took effect on Wednesday after the Supreme Court did not act on an emergency appeal to block enforcement of the measure, prevents medical workers from performing or inducing abortions if they have “detected a fetal heartbeat for the unborn child” but provides exemptions related to medical emergencies.

Under the law, anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion after the detection of a heartbeat, including those providing transportation to a clinic, could be liable to facing lawsuits that can yield at least $10,000 in “statutory damages” per abortion.

In addition to legal fee coverage, Lyft said it would donate $1 million to Planned Parenthood to ensure “transportation is never a barrier to healthcare access.”

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the abortion law in May, and the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow the law to take effect.

Other companies have pledged to begin fundraising efforts to help Texans gain access to abortion services in the state.

Dating apps such as Bumble and Tinder have pledged to help fundraising efforts, and Match CEO Shar Dubey said Thursday she established a fund for workers who need to travel to an outside state for abortion procedures.

NYC Teachers Union Ready to Take Legal Action Against Call for Taking Off Unvaccinated Staff From Payroll

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is resisting full compliance with New York City’s vaccine mandate for public school teachers and staffers.

Michael Mulgrew, president of UFT, said city hall has asserted that unvaccinated staffers will be taken off the payroll without exception, that is, including those with religious and medical exemptions.

“The city, however, announced during our negotiations its intentions to refuse to honor medical and religious exemptions for Department of Education (DOE) staff from COVID-19 vaccination,” Mulgrew said in a statement directed to UFT members.

The union is going to try to arbitrate the impasse together with other labor groups.

“Its proposed policy states that staff with medical issues can stay on the payroll until their sick days are exhausted and then go on unpaid leave, while staff with religious objections would immediately go on unpaid leave. In both cases, those on leave would lose not only their pay but also their health insurance,” he said.

He further noted that the “no exceptions mandate” for all the members of the Department of Education violates federal and state law, as well as their contract.

The UFT has declared an impasse in negotiations, and at the same time, the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC) has recommended to its general members that the MLC take legal action to challenge the city Department of Health’s power to mandate the shots.

“With the first day of school fast approaching, we are as frustrated as you are with the mayor’s perpetually last-minute announcements and late planning. We assure you that we are working to get as many answers for you about this upcoming school year as soon as possible. We will be keeping you informed via email about the latest developments and updates on safety, instructional plans, and more,” Mulgrew said.

Epoch Times Photo
Michael Mulgrew (L), president of the United Federation of Teachers, listens as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks during a news conference at City Hall in New York, on May 1, 2014. (Seth Wenig/AP Photo)

Custodians’ union President Robert Troeller said he was concerned that the city had announced the requirement without bargaining. He said he believed about 60 percent of the 850 members of Local 891 of the International Union of Operating Engineers had gotten at least a first shot, but some others “are dead-set against this.”

About 70 percent of adults have gotten at least one dose of vaccine in the city.

Some other unions have favored mandating all staff and teachers to get vaccinated.

“The health and safety of New York City children and the protection of our employees is at the core of the vaccine mandate,” said the press secretary at NYC DOE, according to the New York Post. “We will continue to negotiate with the UFT to reach a successful agreement because that is what’s best for our school communities.”

The new requirement came as federal regulators gave full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, one of three vaccines available in the United States. All already have authorization for emergency use, but officials hope the full approval will increase public confidence in the vaccines.

The Epoch Times reached out to City Hall for comment.

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