Why Is the Left Worried Suddenly About
the End of Democracy?
Posted By: earlybird, 12/16/2021 11:16:44 AM
What is behind recent pessimistic appraisals of democracy’s future, from Hillary Clinton, Adam Schiff, Brian Williams and other elite intellectuals, media personalities, and politicians on the Left? Some are warning about its possible erosion in 2024. Others predict the democracy downturn as early 2022, with scary scenarios of “autocracy” and Trump “coups.” To answer that question, understand first what is not behind these shrill forecasts. They are not worried about 2 million foreign nationals crashing the border in a single year, without vaccinations during a pandemic. Yet it seems insurrectionary for a government simply to nullify its own immigration laws.
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More and more businesses in recent days have walked back previous rules mandating COVID-19 vaccine sas a condition for employment in a bid to keep workers.
Earlier this week, Amtrak—a quasi-public corporation—became the latest to rescind its vaccine requirement amid concerns about staff shortages and cut service in January. In a memo sent to staff that was obtained by The Epoch Times, Amtrak CEO William Flynn said the company would do away with the mandate that would have given employees until Jan. 4 to get fully vaccinated or go on unpaid leave.
About 500 out of more than 17,000 Amtrak workers remain unvaccinated,
Kyrsten Sinema Wrecks Biden’s Hopes
of Destroying Federal Election Integrity
Laws; Democrats Panic 9 replies
of Destroying Federal Election Integrity
Laws; Democrats Panic 9 replies
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) on Thursday wrecked President Biden’s hopes of destroying federal election integrity laws, causing Democrats to panic heading into the 2022 midterms.
While Biden on Wednesday was forced to shelve his massive tax and spend package until next year(Snip)Biden immediately pivoted to enact his second priority of altering election integrity laws, such as doing away with popular voter ID constraints.“If we can get the congressional voting rights done, we should do it. … There’s nothing domestically more important than voting rights,” (Snip)
But Sinema singlehandedly burst Biden’s desperate attempt to weaken election integrity laws Wednesday evening by stating she will protect the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
A growing number of New York counties indicated they won’t enforce Gov. Kathy Hochul’s mask-or-vaccine mandate that she enacted earlier this month, with one county executive describing the Democratic governor’s order as “misguided and unrealistic.”
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said he opposes “using Gestapo tactics and going business to business and asking them if they are enforcing masking,” referring to the governor’s order.
“My health department has critical things to do that are more important than enforcing this and I think small businesses have been through enough already,” the Republican executive said. “God forbid the governor directs the state police to go out and enforce it.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) spoke during a recent gala held by a communist group, hailing the event as a “remarkable occasion.”
Blumenthal was present when the Connecticut People’s World Committee, a branch of Communist Party USA, held an awards ceremony earlier this month. He was introduced as a “special surprise guest.”
“I am really excited and honored to be with you today and to share this remarkable occasion,” (snip)
“You don’t have to agree with anyone or everyone, with any party or any particular union or organization. I’m here to honor the great tradition of activism and standing up for individual workers that is represented by the three honorees here,”
AUSTIN, Texas – During a recent trip to a Reynosa, Mexico migrant camp, I took photos of a United Nations-supported International Organization for Migration (IOM) operation to hand out cash debit cards to intending and repeat border crossers.
One of two workers at a plastic folding table inside the Reynosa camp, which was filled to capacity with at least 1,200 mostly U.S.-expelled Central Americans, said they were distributing the cards for IOM to help migrants waiting until they cross the Rio Grande at greater leisure to claim asylum, for which most will be declared ineligible years later. Many parents, for instance, got about $400 every 15 days, I was told, or
A freelance photojournalist is suing the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, saying the panel issued “an invasive and sweeping subpoena” of her phone records that violates the First Amendment.
Amy Harris, a photographer who has worked with outlets including The Washington Post, (snip), filed a lawsuit on Wednesday afternoon in federal court
Her 23-page suit (pdf) seeks to block a subpoena issued by the Jan. 6 panel, arguing that demanding her phone records violates her right not to reveal confidential sources. The subpoena would compel her phone carrier, Verizon, to hand over her phone records dated from Nov. 1, 2020 through Jan. 31, 2021.
What is behind recent pessimistic appraisals of democracy’s future, from Hillary Clinton, Adam Schiff, Brian Williams and other elite intellectuals, media personalities, and politicians on the Left? Some are warning about its possible erosion in 2024. Others predict the democracy downturn as early 2022, with scary scenarios of “autocracy” and Trump “coups.”
To answer that question, understand first what is not behind these shrill forecasts.
They are not worried about 2 million foreign nationals crashing the border in a single year, without vaccinations during a pandemic. Yet it seems insurrectionary for a government simply to nullify its own immigration laws.
Texas’s highest court for criminal matters has ruled that the attorney general cannot independently prosecute election cases.
In an 8–1 decision Wednesday (pdf), the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stated, “the Attorney General can prosecute [election cases] with the permission of the local prosecutor but cannot initiate prosecution unilaterally.”
At issue is a provision in section 273.021 of the Texas Election Code, which reads, in part, “The attorney general may prosecute a criminal offense prescribed by the election laws of this state.” The court said that the provision violates the separation of powers clause in the Texas Constitution.The ruling was tied to a case involving a southeast Texas sheriff who faced campaign-finance
Senate Passes Legislation to Prevent Dishonorable
Discharges for Unvaccinated Servicemembers 8 replies
Discharges for Unvaccinated Servicemembers 8 replies
The Senate has passed a draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would forbid the Department of Defense from dishonorably discharging members of the military whose only offense was refusing the vaccine.
The bill rider to the larger NDAA package was put forward by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) to “prevent Joe Biden from dishonorably discharging servicemembers for choosing to not get the COVID vaccine.”
The amendment to the NDAA would not protect men and women in the military from being discharged from the military, but it would protect them from the social stigma of a dishonorable discharge, only permitting those who refuse the vaccine to be discharged honorably.
Heart Inflammation Risk Higher From Moderna
Vaccine Than COVID-19 for Those Under
40: Study 3 replies
Vaccine Than COVID-19 for Those Under
40: Study 3 replies
Researchers found 15 excess cases per 1 million people who received a second dose of the vaccine compared to 10 extra cases of myocarditis following a positive COVID-19 test. Moderna’s vaccine is typically taken in a two-dose regimen.
The risk of myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation, was much higher following the second dose of the Moderna vaccine, but there were still eight excess cases per 1 million people following the first dose as well.
“Time to abandon the belief that COVID-19 myocarditis risk is always higher than mRNA vaccine myocarditis risk. For some individuals, myocarditis risks of the vaccine(s) are higher than those of the disease,” Euzebiusz Jamrozik,
To me, this is just jaw-dropping. The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made statements today akin to saying the emperor is wearing a beautiful coat. I can share examples, but to really encapsulate the issues it’s actually easier to start by sharing a chart he presented when discussing inflation.
Do you notice anything missing in this chart? Look at it carefully.(chart) If you look at it and say: “hey, where’s the actual 2021 data he is talking about“, give yourself a cookie.
The guy is talking about the issue of 2021 inflation and expressing his empathy that inflation is running “far ahead” of the federal reserve projections.
During the pandemic, nationwide stay-at-home orders handed gaming companies a golden opportunity.
Under restrictive nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns, for many people gaming was one of the few active recreations, social activities, and creative outlets available.
From 2020 to 2021, revenue for gaming companies skyrocketed.
Games corporation Blizzard saw revenues on the first-person shooter game Call of Duty rise by 72 percent, the massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORG) World of Warcraft by 7 percent, and apps by subsidiary company King rise by 22 percent.
Chinese gaming company Tencent saw its total revenue rise by 25 percent in the same timeframe.
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In November, the Salvation Army officially went woke, declaring that, after soul searching, it was calling upon all White people associated with or donating to the Salvation Army to admit their racism and repent. After an angry response from the public, the Salvation Army itself repented...of its wokeness and it walked back its message. It was too late, though. Local Salvation Army chapters are seeing 50% drops in both volunteers and donations. Get Woke; Go Broke. (snip) Antifa won’t pony up money or labor and those normal people who usually do aren’t going to this year.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) spoke during a recent gala held by a communist group, hailing the event as a “remarkable occasion.”
Blumenthal was present when the Connecticut People’s World Committee, a branch of Communist Party USA, held an awards ceremony earlier this month. He was introduced as a “special surprise guest.”
“I am really excited and honored to be with you today and to share this remarkable occasion,” (snip)
“You don’t have to agree with anyone or everyone, with any party or any particular union or organization. I’m here to honor the great tradition of activism and standing up for individual workers that is represented by the three honorees here,”
President Joe Biden issued a stark warning about the risks the Omicron variant poses to the unvaccinated in particular, as the nation braces for a steep escalation in cases amid an expected surge in hospitalizations. 'It's here, it's spreading and it's going to increase,' Biden cautioned in remarks Wednesday afternoon. With the highly transmissible new variant spreading at an alarming rate, amid an ongoing surge in the Delta variant, Biden warned of the trauma facing Americans who have not received covid vaccines. 'For the unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death,' said Biden. He also gave yet another hard sell for Americans to get booster
The first female commissioner of the New York Police Department was officially named on Wednesday at a ceremony held in front of a mural depicting celebrated black revolutionaries.Keechant Sewell, 49, is only the third black NYPD commissioner in the force's 176-year history, and ends a 30-year line of white men leading the force.Sewell, currently chief of detectives in Nassau County, was formally declared the next commissioner - ahead of officially taking over on January 1 - at the Queens housing project where she grew up.She stood in front of a mural depicting Malcolm X, Assata Shakur and Huey P. Newton.
Lawmakers can't agree on how to save college students from years of stifling loan debt. It's an ideological tug-of-war that can't end soon enough for millions of Americans.
It's also a fight that's personal for many congressional staffers who work under those members, and who are still paying off the bills for their own educations — with some having paid over decades.An Insider analysis of congressional financial disclosures for 2020 and 2021 found that Congress itself was profoundly affected: About 360 high-ranking staffers owed money on student loans. Dozens of these staffers either work for House or Senate leadership,
A Covid-19 'viral blizzard' is about to
hit the US, expert says, with 'millions'
to be infected soon 37 replies
hit the US, expert says, with 'millions'
to be infected soon 37 replies
The coronavirus will hit millions of Americans in a "viral blizzard" within a few weeks as infections from the Omicron variant pile on top of Delta, an expert predicts. Already, hospitalizations are rising as the holiday season gets into full swing. Long lines for Covid-19 testing formed Thursday in metro areas, including New York, Boston and Miami. The Delta variant remains a problem. And Omicron, with its high transmissibility, could strike millions more soon, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "We're really just about to experience a viral CORRECTION*
For the last several years, billionaire philanthropist George Soros has been quietly financing a revolution in criminal justice reform, doling out tens of millions of dollars to progressive candidates in district attorney races throughout the country amid movements to abolish bail and defund the police.Working with an activist attorney, Soros, 91, mainly funnels cash through a complicated web of federal and state political action committees as well as non-profits from coast to coast, public records show.Last year, the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a nonprofit in Soros’ orbit, gave $3 million to the Community Resource Hub for Safety and Accountability,
President Biden said Thursday that Americans unvaccinated against the coronavirus are facing a winter of "severe illness and death." "It’s here now and it’s spreading and it’s going to increase," the president said about the omicron variant while meeting with his coronavirus response team. "For unvaccinated we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death if you’re unvaccinated for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they will soon overwhelm." (Snip) Biden’s warning comes almost a year into his presidency after repeating many times on the campaign trail that he was the candidate who would "shut down the virus"
A group of teens, including one wielding a hammer, beat up a 67-year-old man after a confrontation that started on a Brooklyn bus, according to video and the NYPD. Footage of the incident on the B6 bus in East Flatbush obtained by The Post shows one of the group yelling at the older man as a woman tries to keep them separated.
“Get off the bus!” the woman tells them repeatedly in the video.(Snip)The man is soon surrounded by the group, who all start taking swings at him, including the boy with the hammer. “You’re gonna kill him!” one woman on the bus screams,
Let the parade begin!
Democrats who see the writing on the wall and who have been around in Congress for a while are seeing this as a good time to pack it in.
The latest to retire is five-term Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA). Lowenthal is the 20th Democrat who will be retiring or otherwise moving on at the end of this term. He’s 80 years old and has been serving in political positions since 1992, almost thirty years. Generally, you hear a lot of retirements after the holidays. The fact that there have been so many already has to be worrying the Democrats because there are likely even more coming,
I am not sure who told Chevrolet that what we really needed this Christmas was to ugly cry over an ad they produced for the holidays, but whoever it was needs to go sit in the corner and think about what they’ve done.
You may have seen the shortened version of this ad, titled “Holiday Ride,” on TV. But you don’t get the full emotional impact without seeing the extended four-minute version, which is a tear-jerker and hit me harder than listening to my child ask me why Mufasa wasn’t waking up. [Video]
All the jokes aside, this ad is possibly one of the most needed
Elon Musk's bizarre feud with a senator and a television host intensified on Thursday, with news anchor Joy Reid accusing him of 'misappropriating black vernacular for misogynistic purposes' by using the insult 'Karen'—and Musk referring to Reid, in turn, as a lobbyist for Elizabeth Warren.(Snip)'Elon wasn't happy, so he did what he always did, and stomped his little feet and insulted Senator Warren,' said Reid. 'Calling her an 'angry mom' and referring to her as Senator Karen. 'So for so many reasons—being a freeloader, and a selfish and disrespectful one, and for misappropriating black vernacular for misogynistic purposes—Elon Musk is the absolute worst.
Comments:
One of the great thinkers of our time...