Commentary: SCOTUS Takes Up Free Speech Case, Putting Biden Administration’s Censorship Regime on Trial

Late Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Missouri v. Biden, a case that may end the Biden administration’s circumvention of the First Amendment by outsourcing censorship to Big Tech. The case was initially filed by the states of Missouri and Louisiana, along with various private plaintiffs who allege that social media platforms censored them at the behest of federal agencies. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty ruled for the plaintiffs on July 4, enjoining the agencies from communicating with platforms about “content moderation.” The Biden administration sought relief from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and lost again, making a Supreme Court clash inevitable.

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Data Expert Predicts ‘Homeschool Boom’ After CDC Committee Votes to Add COVID Shot to Children’s Routine Immunizations

Data journalist and pollster Rich Baris posted to social media he predicts a “homeschool boom” following the news that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine advisory committee unanimously voted to add the COVID shot to the children and adolescent immunization schedule, a move that will likely lead many states to require COVID shots for school attendance.

Baris, also known as “The People’s Pundit,” tweeted Wednesday, “Parents will flip the F–k out, with good reason. Homeschool boom.”

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Federal Judge Strikes Down Vaccine Mandates from Biden

Sandy Brick felt her freedom was on the line. The Head Start teacher taught through the pandemic and opposed a federal “jab-or-job” mandate from the president.

Judge Terry A. Doughty, on the bench of a U.S. District Court in Louisiana, on Wednesday agreed. He ruled the federal government cannot require Head Start program teachers, staff and volunteers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, nor can it require adults or students to wear masks. His order “permanently enjoins the vaccine and mask mandate in 24 states,” a release from the Liberty Justice Center says, and impacts 280,000 teachers, staff and volunteers.

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COVID-Era High School Graduates Face Uncertain Futures in College

After nearly two years of unprecedented lockdowns, mandates, and other restrictions on daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of graduating high school students are preparing to head off to college without having learned nearly as much as they should have.

The Associated Press reports that such students are about to enter college significantly farther behind the academic standards of previous years, almost entirely due to the pandemic’s forced transition to “online learning,” a shortage of teachers, and mask and vaccine mandates that disrupted school life for millions of students across the country. Such students risk the possibility of being grossly underprepared for the level of work required by college, and could result in a massive spike in college dropouts in the coming years.

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Retired JAG: Officers Forcing out Unvaxxed Military Pers Could Be Guilty of Following, Issuing an ‘Unlawful Order’

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed former Army JAG attorney Sean Timmons, a partner at Tully Rinckey, about how officers enforcing the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate could be sanctioned for issuing and or following unlawful orders.

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Cincinnati Drops Mandated Masking and Testing for City Employees

The city of Cincinnati Tuesday announced that it would end all mask and vaccine mandates for city employees, effective immediately. 

“Today, alongside top health experts and City leaders, we announced the removal of masking and testing requirements for all City employees and facilities,” Mayor Aftab Pureval (D) said on Twitter. 

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Canadian Trucker Urges Nationwide Strike over COVID-19 Rules in Viral Video

police officers standing outside in the snow

In a now-viral video an unidentified man encouraged a national strike in every Canadian business sector, along with active support for those who are opposing COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates in the country. 

“You’ve seen what’s happening in Ottawa,” the man, whose face was blurred in the video, said. “Canadians are known around the world to be among the most kind, most peace-loving people anywhere. And so you know when Canadians star rising up by the millions, to oppose what their government is doing, something is horribly wrong.”

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‘If There Is Risk, There Must Be Choice’: Dr. Robert Malone Stirs Defeat Mandates Rally in DC

Vaccine Mandates

Protesters opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates marched on Washington, D.C. on Sunday, embarking on a mile-long march before convening at a rally outside the Lincoln Memorial.

Organizers with Children’s Health Defense predicted 20,000 people would attend the event, Defeat the Mandates.

Speakers included Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., virologist and immunologist Dr. Robert Malone, investigative journalist Lara Logan, and doctors and other experts.

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Commentary: Biden Administration Is Making Lists of Religious Vaccine Objectors

Doctor with mask on holding COVID-19 Vaccine

A tiny administrative agency in the District of Columbia announced a new policy Tuesday that will likely serve as a model for a whole-of-government push to assemble lists of Americans who object on religious grounds to a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia—a federal independent entity that assists officers in the District of Columbia courts in formulating release recommendations and providing supervision and services to defendants awaiting trial—announced a new records system that will store the names and “personal religious information” of all employees who make “religious accommodation requests for religious exception from the federally mandated vaccination requirement.”

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Awaiting Supreme Court Decision, Iowa OSHA Blocks Vaccine Mandate for Businesses

man in yellow hardhat and work jacket

Iowans are waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for businesses with at least 100 employees. In the meantime, they’re moving ahead with actions of their own.

Iowa Department of Education Communications Director Heather Doe told The Center Square in an emailed statement that since Iowa is a state-plan state, the Iowa Division of Labor typically enforces workplace safety in Iowa instead of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The state is required to notify OSHA whether it will adopt a given Emergency Temporary Standard or provide notice it will not adopt it because its standards are as effective as the new federal standard. Iowa needed to respond to the standard by Jan. 7.

Iowa Labor Commissioner Rod Roberts did so, saying that the Hawkeye State will not adopt or enforce the mandate.

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Liberal Supreme Court Justices Show Weak Grasp of Basic COVID-19 Facts

The liberal justices on the Supreme Court demonstrated a stunningly weak grasp of basic facts concerning the COVID-19 pandemic Friday, as they defended the Biden regime’s policies during oral arguments over vaccine mandates in the workplace.

The court heard separate oral arguments over federal vaccine mandates for employers with more than 100 employees, and for health care workers at facilities receiving Medicaid and Medicare funding.

Justice Stephen Breyer at one point seemed to suggest outrageously that the OSHA mandate would prevent 100 percent of daily US COVID cases. It is common knowledge now that the vaccinated people can still spread the disease.

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Commentary: Joe Biden’s Failed Policies Has Lead to a COVID Test Shortage

President Joe Biden walks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as he departs the U.S. Capitol after addressing the House Democratic Caucus, Thursday, October 28, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

America has basically run out of tests for Covid-19 as lines are forming at emergency rooms, urgent care facilities and doctors’ offices, and now patients are simply being turned away nationwide. In the meantime, tests are being rationed to those with greater risk factors just a month after President Joe Biden was pushing “test to stay” in order for Americans to be allowed to go to work, school and to travel.

This comes as the Institutes for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) project an estimated 1.9 million probable Covid infections in the U.S per day — and rising. By the end of January, IHME estimates as many as 2.8 million new cases per day, largely thanks to the new omicron variant that accounts for 95 percent of all new cases, the Centers for Disease Control say.

For perspective, last year, IHME estimated cases peaked at over 500,000 a day in early Jan. 2021.

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Commentary: ‘America First’ Has Answers for U.S. Crisis of Confidence

Joe Biden

A majority Americans begin 2022 full of worry and dread. During President Biden’s first year in the White House, societal anxiety surged, including among voters who identify as independents and Democrats. In the newest Axios/Momentive year-end survey, 2021 saw a 50% increase in fear about what 2022 will bring among independents. Democrats weren’t much more sanguine. They began last year with refreshing optimism as their party took control of the White House and Congress, with only 19% of Democratic voters declaring themselves fearful about 2021. By year’s end, that number had surged to 45%.

Reflecting this dour assessment, the RealClearPolitics polling average of Joe Biden’s approve/disapprove ratio also receded sharply for the last year, from a stellar 20-percentage-point surplus in his favor on Inauguration Day, to a minus- 10-point rating.

Given this environment, Republicans naturally grow more confident about the midterm elections. But taking nominal control of Capitol Hill won’t be enough. Will Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy and their lieutenants be content with stopping the woke and socialist-inspired agenda of progressives? Or will they boldly implement a full-throttle populist nationalist “America First” agenda?  

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Georgia, 23 Other States File Lawsuit Against Head Start Vaccination, Mask Mandate

Georgia is again pushing back against the Biden administration’s COVID-19 mandates.

Georgia and 23 other states are asking the court to block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Administration for Children and Families from requiring Head Start program staff, certain contractors and volunteers to wear masks and be fully vaccinated by Jan. 31.

Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr announced the court challenge against the Head Start vaccination and mask mandate Tuesday.

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Ohio University Students Suing School over ‘Illegal’ Vaccine Mandates

A student at Ohio University has filed a lawsuit against the school over its COVID-19 vaccination mandate. 

“Everyone who wants to be vaccinated has been vaccinated at Ohio University,” Tyce Patt told The Ohio Star. “I believe it is not only wrong to force students to get an experimental Emergency Use Authorized vaccine to go to class, but also Illegal.”

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6th Circuit Ruling Restoring Employer Vaccine Mandate Falsely Claims ‘Options Available to Combat COVID-19 Changed Significantly’ When ‘FDA Granted Approval to One Vaccine on August 23, 2021’

The majority opinion released on Friday by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which restored the Biden administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requiring employers with more than 100 employees to mandate that all employees take a COVID-19 vaccinefalsely asserts that Pfizer’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved vaccine is currently available and in use among the general public.”

“At the same time, the options available to combat COVID-19 changed significantly: the FDA granted approval to one vaccine on August 23, 2021, and testing became more readily available,” the majority opinion asserts on page 24 of the ruling.

The majority opinion was written by Obama-appointed Judge Jane Branstretter Stranch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

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War Room Pandemic: Steve Bannon Talks to The Star News Network CEO and Editor in Chief, Michael Patrick Leahy About OhioHealth’s Distribution of Not Fully Approved COVID-19 Vaccine

  Stephen K. Bannon welcomed The Star News Network’s CEO and Editor in Chief Michael Patrick Leahy on Thursday’s War Room: Pandemic to discuss The Ohio Star’s breaking story by Peter D’Abrasco regarding the unapproved COVID-19 vaccines being distributed by OhioHealth. Bannon: Michael Patrick Leahy from The Ohio Star, you’ve…

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Facing Labor Shortages, Several Large Hospital Systems Drop Vaccine Mandates

Several large U.S. hospital systems have dropped their COVID-19 vaccine requirements for employees in the wake of a U.S. district court’s temporary halt of the Biden regime’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

After months of protests, the mandate forced thousands of hospital employees to either resign, or be terminated because of their refusal to get vaccinated.

Louisiana-based federal Judge Terry Doughty issued a preliminary injunction on November 30, blocking the federal government from mandating the experimental injections for workers at Medicare or Medicaid-funded healthcare facilities in 40 states.

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Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson Won’t Run Against DeWine

Mike DeWine and Warren Davidson

A Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives confirmed Friday that he will not run against Gov. Mike DeWine (R) for Ohio’s top office. 

“It is far better in Ohio than in D.C.,” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH-08) reportedly said. “The biggest impact I can have is in Congress being the representative for Ohio’s 8th District.”

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Lawsuits Challenging Biden’s Vaccine Mandates Mount, Likely Heading to U.S. Supreme Court

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the Biden administration over three different vaccine mandates targeting private employees, federal employees and healthcare workers serving Medicare and Medicaid patients.

But lawsuits filed by 27 states over the private sector mandate is setting the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in because they were filed directly in five federal courts of appeals.

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Commentary: Youngkin Shock Win in Virginia Vote of No Confidence in Biden, Portends Red Wave for GOP in Congress in 2022

This is one of the greatest votes of no confidence in the 21st Century.

Against the destructive policies of President Joe Biden, a torrent of spending that has brought back memories of the 1970s — surging inflation as the middle class are taxed their savings at the grocery store and then scenes of American defeat overseas in Afghanistan that stranded hundreds of Americans and thousands of American allies, who now suffer under the tyranny of the Taliban.

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Commentary: When the Regular Joes Shrugged

Until recently, conservatives were the party of business. They defended the business world not as a necessary evil or because of its efficiencies, but because they thought it exemplified an enterprising, individualist morality. It respected rights of contract, served as an arena for creativity, and allowed socially useful competition. Even now, Republicans condemn the Left’s programs as creeping socialism, seemingly forgetful of the last decade in which corporations became the vanguard of the cultural revolution.

Part of American conservatives’ embrace of capitalism comes from its historically central place in American life. Americans had tamed the wilderness and become an industrial powerhouse by the middle of the 20th century. Most of this activity was rooted neither in the pursuit of glory nor religious conviction—as, perhaps, with Spanish colonialism—but by ordinary economic self-interest, the spirit of Yankee ingenuity.

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Ohio House Speaker Shuts Down Planned Hearing on Vaccine Mandates

Ohio Speaker of the House Bob Cupp has left little doubt about the future of bills that would give most Ohio workers and students the ability to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine by ordering a committee chair to cancel an upcoming meeting.

House Bill 435 failed to get a full vote Wednesday in the House for the second time in two weeks, with Cupp, R-Lima, saying the House was moving on to different things. He reiterated that message Thursday in a letter to Health Committee Chair Scott Lipps, R-Franklin, shutting down a seventh hearing on House Bill 248, the Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act, a separate bill dealing with the same subjects.

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Majority of Americans Think Government Is Doing Too Much, Poll Shows

Washington DC

Most Americans believe that the federal government is now doing too much, a new poll shows.

More than 50% of respondents in the Gallup survey, released Thursday, said that the government was too involved in things that should be left to individuals or private businesses, while 43% said that the government should involve itself more in trying to fix the country’s problems.

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Commentary: A Closer Look at a Supreme Court Case That Could Help Decide the Legality of Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

Every now and again, an otherwise arcane legal topic suddenly becomes relevant to contemporary political debate. At that point, general commentary suddenly becomes filled with newly minted experts with strong positions on what is typically a nuanced issue. Thus, at various points during the past decade, Twitter saw a flood of hitherto undisclosed connoisseurs on the intricacies of the Logan Act, a constitutionally problematic piece of legislation that emerged from the same 18th century administration that brought us the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, some observers suddenly expressed deep-seated opinions on the Jones Act, a complex piece of maritime law most people had probably never heard of prior to 2017.

So it seems to be with Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the previously obscure 116-year-old precedent – it barely warrants a footnote in most constitutional law treatises – that people have taken to citing whenever anyone questions the legality or constitutionality of vaccine mandates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Jacobson is not some sort of argumentative checkmate. If the decision were actually taken to the lengths that some of its proponents suggest, it would be a truly terrifying ruling.

Although I drafted most of this article before encountering Josh Blackman’s excellent law review article on Jacobson (available here), I did rely on it for some of the procedural history of the case, as well as some of the cases from the pandemic that relied upon Jacobson. It is well worth a read for anyone else interested in learning more about the case.

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Allen West, Former Texas GOP Chair Seeking to Oust Greg Abbott, Hospitalized with COVID-19

Allen West, the former chair of the Texas Republican Party who is primarying Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, is hospitalized with COVID-19 but said Sunday that he was “doing great.”

Allen West told the Associated Press that he had “no complaints” and was “just relaxing” in a hospital in Plano, Texas. West said on Twitter that both he and his wife, Angela, were hospitalized with the virus and that they underwent monoclonal antibody infusion therapy.

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COVID Vaccination Mandate Bill in Front of New Ohio Committee

An Ohio bill that would end COVID-19 vaccination mandates and nearly passed the House last week is back in front of another committee with health care groups from around the state lined up in opposition.

House Bill 435, the Vaccine Fairness Act, received hearings in front of the House Labor and Commerce Committee on Wednesday and Thursday.

The legislation would provide broad exemptions for COVID-19 vaccination mandates from public and private employers and schools. It also would stop any entity from mandating a COVID-19 vaccine that has not been fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and prohibit government-ordered vaccine passports.

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Vaccine Mandates Will Worsen Police Shortage as Crime Spikes, Republican Attorney General Warns

Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt of Missouri warned that vaccine mandates nationwide could lead to a greater police officer shortage even as crime surges.

Schmitt, Missouri’s chief law enforcement officer, said he is worried that mandates will only worsen the wave of police officer retirement triggered by the “defund the police” movement last year.

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Ohio House Hits Brakes on Bill to End COVID Vaccination Mandates

An Ohio bill that would give most Ohio workers and students the ability to refuse COVID-19 vaccination mandates was poised to pass the House on Wednesday before Republicans sent it back to the House Rules and Reference Committee.

House Bill 435, The Vaccine Fairness Act, would stop any entity from mandating a COVID-19 vaccine that has not been fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and would prohibit government-ordered vaccine passports.

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Jim Renacci Slams Ohio Gov. DeWine over Response to Biden Vaccine Mandate

In a Tuesday press release, former congressman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci blasted Gov. Mike DeWine (R) over what Renacci sees as a failure to stand up to the Biden Administration and fight COVID-19 vaccine mandates. 

“We have seen Mike DeWine promise one thing, yet do another, often at the expense of Ohioans – his tepid response to Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate is no different,” Renacci said in the release. “We simply cannot and must not trust Mike DeWine to lead our fight against Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate.”

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White House Advisor Says Biden is Prepared to ‘Run Over’ Republican Governors Who Fight His Vaccine Mandates

A White House senior advisor said Thursday that Joe Biden is prepared to “run over”  Republican governors who “stand in his way” on vaccine mandates.

Following Biden’s shocking, widely-panned authoritarian speech Thursday afternoon, multiple Republican-led states announced plans to sue the Regime over its “unconstitutional” mandate forcing businesses with more than 100 employees compel vaccinations.

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Kentucky Lawmakers Override Governor, Ditch School Mask Mandate

Group of young students at table, reading and wearing masks

Kentucky’s Republican legislature overrode the state’s Democratic governor late Thursday and repealed a statewide public school mask mandate.

The move, reported by the Louisville Courier Journal, came on the final day of a special session called by Gov. Andy Beshear. The mask mandate was repealed as cases in the state increased for the 10th straight week, and as over 30% of Kentucky’s new cases Thursday were in people 18 and younger, according to state data.

The legislature last month moved to significantly limit Beshear’s pandemic-related power, an action that was upheld by multiple judges in the state.

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Big Tech, Woke Finance Crack Down on Flynn, Gateway Pundit, Berenson in Cancel Culture Purge

Person holding phone up in Times Square.

With national attention riveted over the weekend on two major stories — the frantic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan amid its fall to the Taliban and category 4 Hurricane Ida slamming into the Louisiana coast — Big Tech and woke finance dramatically extended the reach of cancel culture with brazen moves to silence and harass three high-profile voices of political and scientific dissent: independent journalist Alex Berenson, popular conservative news and opinion website The Gateway Pundit, and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

On Saturday, Twitter permanently banned Alex Berenson, who has built a large social media following challenging public health establishment orthodoxy on COVID issues ranging from lockdown to vaccine mandates.

“The account you referenced has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules,” a Twitter spokesperson responded to an inquiry from Fox News.

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Texas Gov. Abbott Bans Vaccine Mandates Statewide Despite FDA Approval

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday banned government-issued vaccine mandates despite the Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.

Abbott’s executive order applies to all government-run entities with the exception of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. “Vaccine requirements and exemptions have historically been determined by the legislature, and their involvement is particularly important to avoid a patchwork of vaccine mandates across Texas,” Abbott said in an accompanying statement.

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Commentary: Vaccine Mandates and Bribery Are Headed for K-12 Schools

Young girl getting COVID vaccination

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, more than 680 U.S. public and private colleges require students to get a coronavirus vaccine. This is a non-negotiable mandate for students to maintain enrollment status.

The vaccination edicts come even as the coronavirus has an extremely low mortality rate among college-aged students — CDC data attributes only 2.8 percent of coronavirus deaths to those under age 45. Regardless of this reality, those favoring mandated vaccines argue that schools already require students to provide proof of other vaccinations.

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Fauci: Pandemic Overrides Personal Freedoms, Mandatory Vaccines Are Necessary

In an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday, Anthony Fauci said that defeating the coronavirus is more important than Americans’ personal freedoms, and that every American should be forced to get a vaccine, the Daily Caller reports.

When asked by host Willie Geist, Fauci said that he supports vaccine mandates for teachers and all levels of schools, including colleges and universities, referring to the India Variant, also known as the “Delta Variant,” as a “major surge” that has led to a “critical” situation.

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Fauci Says He Supports Vaccine Mandates for Teachers

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday he supports efforts by local governments to mandate vaccinations for teachers against the novel coronavirus.

“I’m going to upset people on this but I think we should [mandate vaccinations for teachers]. I mean, we are in a critical situation now,” Fauci told MSNBC “We have had 615,000 deaths and we are in a major surge now as we’re going into the fall, into the school season. This is very serious business.”

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New Hampshire Gov. Sununu Signs Law Banning Vaccine Mandates

New Hampshire will be limited in requiring people to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under a new law signed by Gov. Chris Sununu.

The “medical freedom” law which passed the Republican-controlled Legislature on a largely party-line vote, states that people have the “natural, essential and inherent right to bodily integrity, free from any threat or compulsion by government to accept an immunization.”

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Ohio Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Ban Mask Mandates from Schools

Sen. Andrew Brenner Masks

Just days after Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed HB 244, banning colleges and public schools from forcing students to take the COVID-19 vaccine, one Ohio lawmaker wants to ban mask mandates in public schools too.

“Senate Bill 209, introduced by state Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Powell, is unlikely to impact school districts’ decisions for the fall, as lawmakers are on break until after most schools return to class,” News 5 reported. “SB 209 would prohibit the state school board, the Ohio Department of Education or individual school districts’ boards of education from requiring anyone to wear facial coverings in a public education setting.”

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Commentary: Facebook ‘Fact-Checkers’ Disagree About University COVID Vaccine Mandates

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook’s “fact-checkers” cannot agree on the legality of university COVID vaccine mandates.

Disagreement about the legality of the COVID vaccines is understandable — The College Fix explored this topic several weeks ago in our own article, but the problem is that a Facebook fact-check on an article can lead to reduced distribution.

And enough strikes against a page can lead to a permanent ban. The College Fix has seen this firsthand, after Facebook overlords punished us for sharing the comments of an epidemiologist who made a prediction about what would happen if lockdowns were lifted.

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