https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/09/13/covid-crushed-las-vegas-revive-510204
When Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, following CDC recommendations, brought back mask mandates to the Strip, it began losing business from both sides of the spectrum: those who stayed away for fear of catching the virus, and those who canceled plans because they didn’t want to have to abide by public health rules while they were here.
And for smaller businesses that are not covered under the mandate, and that have spent 18 months struggling to stay open, there are still the risks of voluntarily cutting off customers or discouraging an already scarce labor pool if they choose to implement their own vaccine requirements.
Perhaps most dramatically, consumer confidence also plunged in August, University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index found, showing the “least favorable economic prospects” in more than a decade.
Through the summer, when the masks were off, revenues at the store were soaring roughly 25 percent month over month. Then there was the bachelor party that canceled its trip because the guys didn’t want to wear masks. And the group of medical professionals who canceled because they were concerned about the optics of holding an indoor event at a gaming store. In August, Casino Quest revenues dropped 11 percent below normal — the first month of losses since the store first reopened in the peak of the pandemic last summer, Noll says.
“Customers don’t want to come if they feel like they’re going in a hospital to gamble,” Titus, the congresswoman, says. “So, it can’t be too strict. But if they don’t feel safe, then they’re not going to come, either.”
And Josh Marrujo, a bartender at the Dawg House Saloon & Sports Book inside the resort, said it had been noticeably less busy since the return of the mask mandate — a step more damaging, he suggested, because of its inconvenience than for the increase in health risks that it symbolizes.
And Josh Marrujo, a bartender at the Dawg House Saloon & Sports Book inside the resort, said it had been noticeably less busy since the return of the mask mandate — a step more damaging, he suggested, because of its inconvenience than for the increase in health risks that it symbolizes.
Attendees are still wearing masks and being encouraged to sanitize their hands as they enter.
Employees re-masked in early July, shortly after the first show reopened and weeks before Sisolak re-imposed the mask restrictions. Plus, back in May, before most employers were considering anything of the sort, the production required all its staff to get the vaccine.
https://nypost.com/2021/09/12/england-cancels-plans-for-covid-vaccine-passports-sajid-javid/
https://100percentfedup.com/departing-fda-officials-warn-against-covid-booster/
The vaccine mandate arises from three core issues: 1) It offers a massive payout to pharmaceutical companies, 2) It maintains the fear-based Covid narrative, 3) It enables the consolidation of power at the top. It is not about citizens’ health in the least.
https://www.newsmax.com/us/new-york-religious-exemptions-vaccination/2021/09/14/id/1036392/
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-898254/v1
The proportion of hospitalizations that are due to severe COVID-19 has changed with vaccine availability, thus, increasing proportions of mild and asymptomatic cases are included in hospitalization reporting metrics. The addition of simple measures of disease severity to the case definition of a SARS-CoV-2 hospitalization is a straightforward and objective change that should improve the value of the metric for tracking SARS-CoV-2 disease burden
https://www.route-fifty.com/health-human-services/2021/09/our-most-reliable-pandemic-number-losing-meaning/185348/
https://reason.com/2021/09/15/met-gala-aoc-covid-pandemic-hypocrisy/
Hypocrisy is written into New York City's official COVID-19 policies. The city's mandate requires vaccination in a wide variety of circumstances: restaurant customers, gym employees, and museum visitors can all be asked to show their vaccination cards. Visiting celebrities, though, are exempt. The law specifically excludes out-of-town athletes, performance artists, and their entourages. (Last year's quarantine orders similarly exempted the same groups of people.)
New Yorkers who object to the vaccine for their own reasons, or have robust immunity following a prior infection, are still obligated to obey the mandate. Nationally, the federal government has grown increasingly willing to push vaccination and masks. Most students sitting inside a classroom at present are probably forced to wear a mask, whether they have been vaccinated or not. But when the elites get together for a party, the rules appear to go out the window.
This has been a recurring theme of the pandemic, of course. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) imposed brutal restrictions on California residents and demanded extreme social distancing, but had no compunction about attending a private dinner with a lobbyist at the luxurious French Laundry. At the start of the pandemic, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told city residents that they should delay getting haircuts. "Getting your roots done is not essential," she said. When she said "your roots," she really did mean your roots, because the mayor absolutely went and got a haircut anyway. She justified it by saying: "I'm the public face of this city. I'm on national media and I'm out in the public eye."
https://thebluestateconservative.com/2021/09/16/political-mandates-have-killed-covid-cooperation/
Harris: I wont take the vaccine.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/10/biden-administration-orders-ideological-purge-of-u-s-military-academies/
Each of the service academies (U. S. Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs) is overseen by a bipartisan “Board of Visitors,” comprised of accomplished members of Congress, retired military personnel, and distinguished civilians. By federal statute, these Boards of Visitors are charged with a duty to “inquire into the morale and discipline, the curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods, and other matters relating to the Academy.” The members visit the academies regularly and by law (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/7455) are required to submit an annual “written report to the President of its action, and of its views and recommendations pertaining to the Academy.”
On January 30 (https://media.defense.gov/2021/Feb/02/2002574747/-1/-1/0/DOD-ADVISORY-COMMITTEES-ZERO-BASED-REVIEW%20.PDF), less than two weeks after President Biden’s inauguration, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced he was suspending the Boards of Visitors for West Point, the Air Force Academy, and the Naval Academy, along with those of 39 other DOD advisory boards. This suspension of operations was to take place “immediately,” pending completion of what Austin called a “Zero-Based Review” of the boards. This was to include recommendations of “changes to mission or functions, membership balance, [and] membership size.”
Although the service academies’ Boards of Visitors’ operations were suspended, their membership was retained, at least temporarily. Austin could not fire the members of their boards because they are appointed, by statute, by congressional leadership and the president. That purge would have to come later, as it now has.
Austin ordered that the review of service academies’ boards was to be completed by April 30. This has yet to occur. However, on Aug. 27 (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/austin-board-suspension-visitors-military-academies), Susan Gough, a Pentagon “Strategic Planner & Spokesperson,” announced: “Largely, the zero-based review committee-level work has been completed, and Secretary Austin is examining the recommendations to determine how he wants to move forward…. We don’t have any specific announcements to make at this time, but we should be able to communicate in more detail soon about what boards are going to be reconstituted and how they’re going to be both chaired and populated” (emphasis added).
The next shoe dropped on Sept. 8, when the White House purported to fire the service academies board members appointed by President Trump. Notwithstanding Biden’s self-professed policy of unity and “bringing the nation together,” this unprecedented action was calculated to be as insulting as possible.
Biden’s director of the Office of White House Personnel, Catherine Russell (https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/10/biden-administration-orders-ideological-purge-of-u-s-military-academies/), sent letters to all the president-appointed members requesting their resignations that same day with a caveat that they would be terminated if they did not resign voluntarily by 6:00 p.m. She did not include any recognition of their past service, just a perfunctory “thank you” for their demanded resignation. Nor did she give any reason for the firings, or mention that each member had been appointed for a three-year term.
This message came from the top. Russell is not some third-tier millennial who is freelancing policy decisions without the president’s knowledge and approval. She is a senior, experienced Democrat political operative who is a “longtime adviser to both Vice President Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden.”
Among other things, she is a former chief of staff to Jill Biden, an “ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues,” and is married to President Obama’s National Security Advisor Tom Donilon. Her brother-in-law is Mike Donilon, a lawyer and political consultant who was the chief strategist of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and now serves as a “chief advisor” to Biden. These are top-level, plugged-in people who are part of the policy-making core group of political operatives running this show.
Another “Special Assistant to the President,” a thirty-somethingish Katie Petrelius, added (more) insult to injury in an email (https://nypost.com/2021/09/08/biden-fires-trump-trio-from-naval-academy-board/), curtly informing the distinguished members like Gens. Jack Keane and H. R. McMaster, Rep. Sean Spicer, and others that, “If we do not receive your resignation by end of day today, you will be terminated.”
Russell’s and Petrelius’s heavy-handed and dangerous effort to eradicate independent and diverse viewpoints are clearly part of a coordinated strategy. It fulfills the Pentagon’s promise “to communicate in more detail” about how the boards will be “reconstituted and how they’re going to be both chaired and populated.”
As of this writing, the administration and its allies in the press have not yet coordinated their defense of this political purge. The first weak effort was Jen Psaki’s in her Sept. 8 press briefing. She gave the game away when she defended the firings, saying among other absurdities, that “the president’s qualification requirements are …. whether you’re aligned with the values of this administration.”
Think about that: Those overseeing the education of our future military leaders must align themselves with Joe Biden’s thinking and values. Scary thought.
These lefties are saying retired vice chief of staff and four-star general Keane, West Point distinguished graduate and three-star general McMaster, and Spicer, however competent they may be, are not fit to serve this country overseeing the military service academies because they are too diverse—they may not be “aligned with the values of this administration.” What an utter disgrace. And a dangerous one.
The American people need to fully understand how dangerous a precedent this administration is setting for the country. It is not just part of the continuing Biden purge of anything Trump touched, although it is that. It is part of the political left’s relentless drive to force political conformity in thought, word, and deed on all segments of society, including the military.
It is also an attempt to overthrow the fundamental military ethos and tradition of being apolitical. The military has always had a long and valued tradition of being apolitical. In all this writer’s years of active service, all of which were during the Vietnam War, I never heard an officer criticize any president or push any political position.
Most officers and non-commissioned officers take pride in that. Their sworn loyalty is to the Constitution, not to any particular president or administration. This ethos and tradition also have the force of law. They are enshrined in Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It is commanded by law for good reason: A politicized military would pose an existential danger to our constitutional order.
The apolitical nature of the military, along with its competence, is one of our country’s crown jewels. It is a priceless tradition.
It is priceless because its elimination for a standard by which those overseeing the education of our future military officers must agree with “the values of this administration” would inevitably fully politicize the U.S. military (a process many fear is already underway). There is no greater danger to both the safety and the freedom of the American people.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-democrats-eye-26-5-corporate-tax-rate-11631484260?mod=hp_lead_pos3
House Democrats Consider 26.5% Corporate Tax Rate
Lawmakers are expected to propose a smaller capital-gains tax increase than Biden wants
WASHINGTON—House Democrats expect to propose raising the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21% and imposing a 3-percentage-point surtax on individual income above $5 million, according to two House Democratic aides familiar with the plans.
https://issuesinsights.com/2021/09/13/thus-begins-tyranny/
When the Babylon Bee posted a story with the headline “Joe Biden Announces Civil War,” it was intended to be parody. But like much the Bee publishes, it’s painfully close to the truth.
“In a stirring address to the country today, Biden has announced a new Civil War,” the Bee “reported” last week. The site’s masters of lampoon then “quoted” the president saying “we’re gonna force millions of people to get vaccinated against their will,” and in order “to enforce this, we’re just gonna have ourselves a little Civil War.”
Biting humor aside, what Biden actually said when he announced last Thursday that his administration is going to require every employer in the country with 100 or more employees to force their workers to be fully vaccinated “or show a negative test at least once a week” was disturbing. He indicated that he’s going to go beyond the autocratic pen-and-phone methods of the previous Democrat in the White House.
“If these governors won’t help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my powers as president to get them out of the way,” he said, primarily referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who have refused to be bullied by federal pandemic orders.
Later in the day, senior White House adviser Cedric Richmond reiterated the threat, declaring that Biden “will run over” the “governors who stand in the way.” Obviously his handlers, much of his party, and nearly all of the media are in full support of him seizing powers he was never meant to have.
Both DeSantis and Abbott were duly elected by the voters of their states, as were the other Republican governors who have resisted the White House (an act that not so long ago the Democrats and media said was both virtuous and necessary). No president under our constitutional system of federalism has the authority to move governors “out of the way.” Why would attempting to do so not be a high crime against this nation?
Of course Biden’s words are subject to interpretation. Still, there’s not wide latitude there. He clearly means to at least bypass our federalist system by expanding the powers limited to presidents by the Constitution. This president, again, like the Democrat before him, doesn’t feel constrained by our laws. He doesn’t want to govern within the boundaries, he wants to rule without restraint, and if that means eliminating political rivals, then it has to be done.
According to Psychology Today, one of the seven steps to becoming a dictator is to “get rid of your political enemies.” No, we don’t expect the White House to disappear a group of Republican governors. But the president clearly wants to remove them as a threat to his agenda, which includes several of the other steps to a achieving “a prolonged iron rule,” such as currying “favor by providing public goods efficiently and generously,” creating and defeating a common enemy (the coronavirus), and accumulating “power by manipulating the hearts and minds of your citizens.”
https://www.caucusroom.com/posts/ssRqfX2ssawkRQ2PL
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-video-of-biden-apparently-getting-booed-in-new-york-on-anniversary-of-9-11-surfaces
https://100percentfedup.com/watch-live-patriots-line-boise-highway-to-protest-biden-visit-trump-flags-everywhere/
https://www.scribd.com/document/524860374/W-M-Markup-Tax-Pay-For-Items
It hikes top statutory income tax rate to 39.6% – but adds a new 3% surtax and expands the Obamacare 3.8% tax to cover most income. Hello 46.4% top income tax rate.
The corporate rate jumps from 21% to 26.5% and the capital gains rate from 23.8% to 28.8%. Passthrough businesses lose their small business deduction, which is capped at $500,000, and raises the marginal small biz tax rate to over 40%.
There is also a tax on cigarettes and vapes – Biden must think nobody who makes less than $400,000 a year smokes or vapes?
Speaking of socking it to the middle class, the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have added a $600 billion carbon tax – which is basically a tax on anyone who has a car or a home or a business.
And worst of all Biden's doubling the size of the IRS is in there, claiming that spending $80 billion on an army of IRS agents will net $200 billion in revenue.
Our favorite fantasy is “dynamic scoring,” which measures the economic impact of changes in budget and tax policy. Raising tax rates obviously has a negative impact on economic activity, but almost laughably, the Democrats are claiming that the biggest tax increase in American history will HELP the economy GROW and generate an extra $600 billion.
https://www.scribd.com/document/524860374/W-M-Markup-Tax-Pay-For-Items
It hikes top statutory income tax rate to 39.6% – but adds a new 3% surtax and expands the Obamacare 3.8% tax to cover most income. Hello 46.4% top income tax rate.
The corporate rate jumps from 21% to 26.5% and the capital gains rate from 23.8% to 28.8%. Passthrough businesses lose their small business deduction, which is capped at $500,000, and raises the marginal small biz tax rate to over 40%.
There is also a tax on cigarettes and vapes – Biden must think nobody who makes less than $400,000 a year smokes or vapes?
Speaking of socking it to the middle class, the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have added a $600 billion carbon tax – which is basically a tax on anyone who has a car or a home or a business.
And worst of all Biden's doubling the size of the IRS is in there, claiming that spending $80 billion on an army of IRS agents will net $200 billion in revenue.
Our favorite fantasy is “dynamic scoring,” which measures the economic impact of changes in budget and tax policy. Raising tax rates obviously has a negative impact on economic activity, but almost laughably, the Democrats are claiming that the biggest tax increase in American history will HELP the economy GROW and generate an extra $600 billion.