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Tuesday, December 21, 2021

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Supreme Court Prepares to Hear Cases on Biden Vaccine Mandates

The Wall Street Journal: The question is whether OSHA acted within the law as written by Congress. It certainly didn’t as we read the law…. the separation of powers is crucial to safeguarding individual liberty. Justices now have two key tests on whether they will rein in the administrative state. They will have to decide if they take their major question and non-delegation doctrines seriously, or are they merely seminars at the Federalist Society? (WSJ). Businesses who have challenged the mandate argue: the mandate “is one of the most far-reaching and invasive rules ever promulgated by the Federal Government,” …. The companies also contended that the mandate “threatens to impose mass damage across the entire American economy including further hobbling already strained supply chains” (ScotusBlog). ADF: “The government has no authority to unilaterally treat unvaccinated employees like workplace hazards akin to asbestos or toxic chemicals, or to compel employers to carry out the government’s unlawful national vaccine mandate. The profoundly negative effect of this upon those employers and the 80 million American workers who are impacted is just one reason the Supreme Court immediately should halt enforcement of the mandate,” said ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert (ADF).

Democrat Exodus in the House of Representatives: 22 and Counting

From NPR: A growing number of House lawmakers are deciding to retire or run for a different political office next November. But there are far more Democrats from competitive districts ending their service than Republicans. The number of Democratic departures exceeds the tally of those who stepped down or ran for another office in the 2010 cycle, when the GOP picked up 63 seats in that wave election (NPR). From CNN: All together, there are now 22 Democrats retiring or running for other offices this election cycle as opposed to just 11 Republicans doing the same (CNN). Politico: Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a leading voice of House Democrats’ moderate wing, announced Monday she won’t seek reelection next fall in another stinging loss for her party. The Florida Democrat—who flipped a GOP-held battleground seat in 2016 and helped write the party’s playbook for its House takeover two years later—said she is leaving the Hill to spend more time with her family, including her two school-aged children (Politico). From Fox News: The congresswoman’s announcement came one day after moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., struck a major blow to President Biden and congressional Democrats by saying he could not support the party’s nearly $2 trillion social spending bill (Fox News).

Imprisoned Missionaries Tell Harrowing Story of Escape

Washington Post reports: The group of 12, which included a 10-month-old infant and three other children, walked 10 miles until they found someone who could help them make a phone call… The 12 missionaries prepared overnight — putting on their shoes, packing water in their clothes and stacking their mattresses in a corner of the room where they were held, Weston Showalter, a spokesman for the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, told reporters. “When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path that they had chosen to follow and quickly left the place that they were held, despite the fact that numerous guards were close by,” he said (WPost). New York Times adds: The organization said that an unspecified ransom had been provided but did not describe the money as leading directly to the hostages’ freedom (NYT). In the press release from the mission organization: First, we thank Almighty God…. (ChristianAid).

Israel Issues Travel Bans to 10 New Countries Including the United States

The Washington Post: Israel on Monday barred travel to 10 new countries, including the United States, Canada and Germany, as its total number of omicron cases reached 175 and the prime minister warned that the fifth wave of the coronavirus had already arrived (WashingtonPost). From the AP: Israel has seen a surge in new cases of the more infectious coronavirus variant in recent weeks and began closing its borders and restricting travel in late November. Foreign nationals are not allowed to enter, and all Israelis arriving from overseas are required to quarantine—including people who are vaccinated (AP). Israel has suffered about 8,232 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

White House Warns: Winter of “Severe Illness and Death” Awaits the Unvaccinated

ABC News: The White House’s chief coordinator for the U.S. coronavirus response has a strong warning for unvaccinated Americans ahead of a projected surge in cases over the next few weeks. “For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm” (ABC News). From Olivia Nuzzi of New York Magazine: Who is this for? Unvaccinated Americans are not going to be persuaded by messaging like this (Twitter).

Amazon Complies with China’s Demands on Book From Xi Jinping

TechStory: After Beijing demanded that all comments and reviews related to a listing on Amazon’s Chinese site touting the country’s Communist leader Xi Jinping’s speeches and writings be deleted, Amazon decided to do so (TechStory). From Reuters: Amazon’s compliance with the Chinese government edict, which has not been reported before, is part of a deeper, decade-long effort by the company to win favor in Beijing to protect and grow its business in one of the world’s largest marketplaces. That briefing document, and interviews with more than two dozen people who have been involved in Amazon’s China operation, reveal how the company has survived and thrived in China by helping to further the ruling Communist Party’s global economic and political agenda, while at times pushing back on some government demands (Reuters). New York Post: Amazon entered China in 2004 in a bid to launch Kindle its e-book reader. By the end of 2017, China had become Kindle’s largest global market, accounting for 40 percent of its global sales volume, according to the 2018 internal document Reuters reported (NewYorkPost).

Senator Blumenthal Participates in Event Hosted by Communist Party USA; Apologizes

The event was being held on the 102^nd anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party USA. Bluemental honored, “the great tradition of activism and standing up for individual workers that is represented by the three honorees” (YankeeInstitute). But the uber-wealthy Connecticut Senator says he did not know. Free Beacon: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) says he would not have taken part in an awards ceremony this month had he known the ceremony was hosted by the Communist Party USA, though video shows he took stage after organizers made clear that it was a comrade conclave (FreeBeacon). Elite media ignores the story: The entire story came and went last week without so much as a second of airtime from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, or MSNBC (Newsbusters).

Bette Midler Attacks Senator Manchin and “Poor, Illiterate and Strung Out” West Virginians

From Breitbart: Bette Midler lashed out at the senator in a rageful tweet on Monday. “He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out,” she wrote. After receiving almost instant backlash, Midler switched to damage control mode. She issued an apology (Breitbart). From Bette Midler: I apologize to the good people of WVA for my last outburst. I’m just seeing red; #JoeManchin and his whole family are a criminal enterprise. Is he really the best WV has to offer its own citizens (Twitter)? From The New York Daily News: While Manchin’s deep ties to his state’s coal industry have been scrutinized, the 74-year-old senator stands accused of no criminal activity (NewYorkDailyNews).

Scientific Merits Don’t Matter: Indian Chemistry Professor Denied Grants for Not Pledging Fealty to Equity

From The College Fix: Chemistry Professor Patanjali Kambhampati said he has been denied two grants over the past two years for failing to properly pledge allegiance to equity, diversity and inclusion. Kambhampati was born in India. He grew up and was educated in the United States. Kambhampati provided the letter he received from the organization informing him his grant proposal was being removed from consideration for funding. In the letter, Jennifer Bean, director of research partnerships, stated that “The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion considerations in the application were deemed insufficient. The training plan did not adequately describe specific, concrete practices that will be put in place to ensure that EDI is intentionally and proactively supported in the training plan. Vague or generic statements are not sufficient and therefore the application is being rejected” (The College Fix). From The Daily Wire: Kambhampati added that if a researcher didn’t write a statement that satisfied federal funding agencies, those agencies wouldn’t even look at the scientific merits of the work. All that mattered was the stated commitment to diversity (DailyWire).

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Who Leader Calls for Cancellation of Christmas Plans: “An Event Canceled Is Better Than a Life Canceled”

The World Health Organization’s director-general recommended on Monday that people cancel or postpone their holiday events as the new Omicron variant drives a spike in COVID-19 cases. “An event canceled is better than a life canceled,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference. He added: “It’s better to cancel now and celebrate later, than to celebrate now and grieve later” (BusinessInsider).