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Biden Pandemic Censorship Corruption COVID Drugs Emotional abuse Government Overreach Leftist Virtue(!) Tony the Fauch

PART II: Congressional Report Validates COVID “Conspiracy Theories”

This is the second part of the article “Congressional Report Validates COVID Conspiracy Theories” (Part 1) from January 15, which concluded that the Wuhan lab is the most likely origin of the COVID-19 virus.

Furthermore, it revealed that the federal government funded gain-of-function research and that Fauci not only knew about it but actively suppressed information to keep it hidden from the public.

This article will highlight the reality of coordinated censorship of opposing views, the ineffectiveness of vaccines in stopping the spread of the disease, and the lack of scientific support for mandates, which ultimately caused more harm than good—along with other measures such as lockdowns and school closures.

According to the congressional report, President Trump’s travel restrictions, implemented rapidly during the pandemic, saved lives and were supported by Dr. Fauci, contradicting the narrative that these measures were xenophobic.

However, public health officials frequently spread misinformation through conflicting messages and a lack of transparency, with the federal government unjustly demonizing off-label drug use and the lab leak theory.

The Biden Administration employed undemocratic methods, including pressuring social media companies to censor COVID-19 content it deemed misinformation.

While Operation Warp Speed successfully accelerated the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and saved millions of lives, the vaccine did not prevent the spread or transmission of the virus, as promised.

The FDA rushed vaccine approval to meet the Biden Administration’s mandate timeline, ignoring warnings from senior scientists about potential adverse effects.

Vaccine mandates, unsupported by science, caused harm by undermining individual freedoms, harming military readiness, and ignoring natural immunity from prior infections.

Furthermore, vaccine injury reporting systems created confusion and eroded public trust, while the government failed to efficiently and transparently adjudicate claims for those injured by the vaccine.

Other measures taken by the government, supported by Dr. Fauci, had widespread negative economic impacts on individuals, communities, businesses, healthcare providers, and local governments.

Mandatory lockdowns led to over 160,000 business closures, 60% of which were permanent, while supply chain disruptions worsened disparities for businesses that remained operational.

The healthcare system suffered from reduced quality of care, longer wait times, and missed diagnoses.

Unemployment rates soared to Great Depression-era levels, with low-wage sectors hit hardest by broad mitigation measures like the now-debunked “6 feet apart” guidance.

While the Federal Reserve’s swift actions helped prevent a severe economic downturn, its aggressive approach also fueled soaring inflation.

Prolonged COVID-19 school closures, which lacked scientific justification, caused significant societal harm.

Children, who were unlikely to contribute to the virus’s spread or face severe illness, suffered historic learning loss, increased psychological distress, and decreased physical well-being.

The Biden Administration’s CDC allowed political influence from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which edited school reopening guidance to include measures that prolonged closures unnecessarily.

AFT, a political union rather than a scientific organization, advocated for mitigation efforts like automatic closure triggers, further delaying reopenings. Testimony revealed AFT President Randi Weingarten had direct access to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

The long-term effects include decades of academic progress lost, mental health crises, and a 51% increase in suicide attempts among girls aged 12-17.

A CATO Institute report similarly highlighted that the long-term closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant harm to children academically, mentally, and physically, with little to no impact on reducing virus transmission or child mortality.

These closures were driven more by politics than science, influenced by powerful teachers unions and their ties to Democratic politicians.

Research from Michigan State University found that decisions on in-person education in 2020 were tied more to local political partisanship and union strength than to COVID-19 severity, despite early evidence showing children were at low risk for severe illness.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) successfully lobbied the CDC to include union-driven language in school reopening guidance.

Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by CATO confirmed the findings of the congressional report, namely that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) successfully lobbied the CDC to include union-driven language in school reopening guidance.

Studies further demonstrated the consequences: districts with in-person learning experienced less academic loss, and remote learning disproportionately harmed older, minority, and low-income students.

The fallout from these decisions has led many families to shift to homeschooling and private education, with homeschooling rates doubling post-pandemic.

Even mainstream media outlets that supported lockdowns and other pandemic measures are now acknowledging the lack of scientific backing behind some public health guidance and the damage done to public trust in government health authorities.

The New York Times reported that during congressional hearings, top NIH officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, admitted that key aspects of early COVID-19 guidance were not based on solid science.

Fauci revealed that the six-foot social distancing rule “just sort of appeared” without supporting studies and acknowledged the virus is airborne, contradicting initial claims that it spread primarily through droplets.

According to the New York Times, officials not only promoted questionable guidance but also suppressed dissenting views, with some actively deleting emails to avoid public scrutiny.

Dr. David Morens of the NIH admitted to using his personal account to bypass oversight, writing that they avoided “smoking guns” and deleted sensitive emails.

This lack of transparency and accountability led to poor decision-making, such as closing beaches and parks unnecessarily, delaying school reopenings, and wasting millions on ineffective plexiglass barriers.

These failures, driven by obstinacy and arrogance, had significant negative impacts on Americans’ lives and undermined trust in public health leadership.

Over the past year, several diseases have been highlighted in news reports as potential sources of the next pandemic. Notably, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified pathogens such as Ebola, Marburg, Nipah, and various coronaviruses as having significant pandemic potential.

Additionally, the emergence of a new, more virulent strain of the mpox virus (formerly known as monkeypox) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has raised concerns among health experts. Despite these concerns, none of these diseases have escalated to a global pandemic over the past year.

Because of the many lies and invasive rights violations during COVID, many people have lost trust in the NIH and CDC. The constant identification of “the next great” pandemic is increasingly falling on deaf ears. With each new cause for panic, skeptics claim victory as the previous one fails to materialize.

These people and organizations should be class action sued out of existence –TPR

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Back Door Power Grab Biden Pandemic COVID Government Overreach Lies Opinion Weaponization of Government.

Congressional Report Validates COVID “Conspiracy Theories” (Part 1)

Six times loser. Credit: @nataliegwinters

Congressional Report Validates COVID “Conspiracy Theories” (Part 1)

The House Oversight Committee has released its final report on COVID-19, confirming many of the theories and claims labeled as “conspiracy” or “misinformation” during the pandemic. The report focuses on the origins of the coronavirus and the federal government’s funding of gain-of-function research. It concludes that COVID-19 most likely originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

The committee highlights five key arguments supporting the “lab leak” theory. First, the virus displays a biological characteristic not typically found in nature. Second, data reveals that all COVID-19 cases trace back to a single introduction into humans, unlike previous pandemics, which involved multiple spillover events. Third, Wuhan houses China’s leading SARS research facility, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function experiments under inadequate biosafety conditions. Fourth, researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology reportedly became ill with a COVID-like virus in the fall of 2019, months before the outbreak was linked to a wet market. Finally, the lack of scientific evidence for a natural origin, even after years of research, strengthens the lab leak hypothesis.

The House Oversight Committee has also determined that Dr. Anthony Fauci played a key role in suppressing the truth about the origins of COVID-19. According to the report, Dr. Fauci orchestrated the creation of the publication “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” which was widely cited by public health officials and media outlets to discredit the lab leak theory. This publication was allegedly crafted to promote the narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally rather than in a laboratory.

The report further concludes that a lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely origin of COVID-19. It highlights that current government mechanisms for overseeing gain-of-function research are inadequate, overly complex, and lack global enforcement. This oversight failure has underscored the need for more stringent and transparent regulations to mitigate risks posed by such experiments.

Additionally, the committee scrutinized the role of EcoHealth Alliance, Inc., led by Dr. Peter Daszak. EcoHealth allegedly used U.S. taxpayer funds to support dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Following the release of evidence by the Select Subcommittee showing that EcoHealth violated the terms of its National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiated debarment proceedings and suspended all funding to the organization. Furthermore, new evidence has revealed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating EcoHealth’s activities during the pandemic, adding another layer of scrutiny to its operations.

The House Oversight Committee’s report delivers a damning indictment of the measures taken to combat COVID-19, asserting that many were not based on science and caused significant harm. Policies such as social distancing, mask mandates, and lockdowns are unequivocally criticized for their ineffectiveness and their role in prolonging the crisis.

Social Distancing

The “6 feet apart” social distancing rule, which led to widespread school closures and the collapse of countless small businesses, was entirely arbitrary and unsupported by scientific evidence. Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted under oath that the recommendation “sort of just appeared,” exposing the lack of any substantive justification for this policy.

Mask Mandates

Mask mandates were imposed without conclusive scientific proof that they effectively protected against COVID-19. Public health officials frequently contradicted themselves on the efficacy of masks, fueling widespread public distrust and highlighting the absence of a consistent, science-based approach.

Lockdowns

Lockdowns inflicted devastating harm on the American economy and severely impacted the mental and physical health of the population, especially younger Americans. Instead of prioritizing the protection of vulnerable groups, federal and state governments imposed draconian measures that forced millions to sacrifice essential aspects of their livelihoods, education, and healthcare. These lockdowns caused immeasurable damage with no clear evidence of benefit.

New York’s Pandemic Failures

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s disastrous March 25 order, which mandated that nursing homes accept COVID-19-positive patients, is described as a case of blatant medical malpractice. This reckless policy led to catastrophic outcomes in nursing homes. Evidence further reveals that Cuomo and his administration deliberately worked to conceal the deadly consequences of their decisions to avoid accountability.

The Select Subcommittee has accused Cuomo of knowingly making false statements to conceal the extent of the tragedy in New York’s nursing homes. In light of this, the committee has referred Cuomo to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.

These findings categorically expose the failures and harm caused by pandemic policies, holding key officials accountable for their actions and the suffering they inflicted on the American people.

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Leftist Virtue(!) Media Woke Reprints from others. Team MAGA

IRONY: As Team Trump Takes Over, MSNBC Leftists Scream ‘Oligarchy!’

Liberals (really, the “Progressive Left”) cannot be satisfied unless government — their preferred instrument of exerting power — is in a position of complete supremacy over private business, i.e., the free economy. But the prospect of a new Trump administration next month threatens to reverse the Left’s gains of the past several decades, so their new buzzword is “oligarchy,” suggesting a handful of super-rich villains are on the verge of taking over.

Never mind that Donald Trump won re-election in November thanks to the votes of 77,301,997 Americans, extremely few of whom are billionaires (or even millionaires). Watching MSNBC the past few days, you’d have heard a cacophony of journalists insisting that democracy was already being supplanted by “oligarchy” as successful businessmen like Elon Musk are on the ascent.

“This is basically the new Gilded Age that we are living in,” MSNBC legal analyst Melissa Murray fretted on Friday’s Alex Wagner Tonight. “It’s not a surprise that the administrative state is under assault. It’s a real problem for these oligarchs and corporations,” she added.

“This is what we are headed for. It’s not dictatorship. It’s oligarchy, government by the rich,” former longtime Newsweek writer Jonathan Alter warned on Saturday’s Velshi.

An hour later, Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern agreed: “It really seems like this coterie of billionaires and benefactors all sort of entrenching and reinforcing each other’s power and privilege. And if that isn’t an oligarchy, Katie, I’m really not sure what is.”

Earlier (on Monday, December 23), occasional host Rachel Maddow suggested Musk’s success in blocking a massive government spending bill was a dangerous sign that billionaires were about to have the upper hand. She approvingly quoted from The American Prospect’s David Dayan: “This is going to be a constant theme of the next four years. Personal business interests are going to constantly take precedence over governance in the Trump/Musk White House. The word for this is oligarchy, and oligarchs do not think about the country first.”

And on Tuesday’s The ReidOut, David Corn of Mother Jones magazine blasted Republicans for their “acquiescence” when it comes to Trump’s nominations: “They’ve accepted this clown car cavalcade of cranks, oligarchs and cronies for his appointments to very important positions that will threaten our health and safety.”

Of course, one way to avoid the power of a dangerous “oligarchy” is to reduce government’s authority over economic activity — with less power at stake, there would be less for the super-rich to gain from buying up compliant pols. But a less powerful federal government would also be a less powerful tool for the Left, so don’t expect them to discover their inner Libertarian.

Here are short transcripts of MSNBC’s liberals on Friday and Saturday wailing about the coming “oligarchy,” each followed by a video showing the context of each remark.

 

# Alex Wagner Tonight
December 27, 9:20pm ET

Host ALEX WAGNER: It says something as we look towards the broader landscape of the incoming Trump administration about the power of billionaires, right? It’s largely unchecked. This is what Dick Durbin had to say — he’s the outgoing chair of the Judiciary Committee — he says, “Whether failing to disclose lavish gifts or failing to recuse from cases with apparent conflicts of interest, it’s clear that the Justices are losing the trust of the American people at the hands of a gaggle of fawning billionaires.” I mean, you have Elon Musk in the executive branch, you have Harlan Crow in the judicial branch, you have untold billionaires working their way into the legislative branch. I mean, just give me your opinion on this sort of, I’m not going to call it, officially, ‘kleptocracy,’ but man, Melissa, this is deeply problematic on a number of levels when you looking at the amount of money and the outsized influence it could buy.

MSNBC legal analyst MELISSA MURRAY: Wouldn’t we call it a kleptocracy? Maybe an — certainly an oligarchy gone amok, for sure, Alex. This is basically the new Gilded Age that we are living in, and we’ve seen the effects of it. The Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Doctrine last year, and there’s been reporting from the New York Times that has made clear that that was a multi-year project funded by the conservative legal movement and the Koch brothers network, which has a true interest in corporate deregulation, in hobbling the administrative state. Because administrative agencies issue regulations that often make it more costly for corporations to run because those regulations make it safer for consumers but more expensive for corporations to make their products. It’s not a surprise that the administrative state is under assault. It’s a real problem for these oligarchs and corporations, and so it’s no surprise the American people are losing faith in the Court when they see these cozy relationships between the Supreme Court justices and these oligarchs who sometimes function, apparently, as emotional-support billionaires….

 

# Velshi
December 28, 11:07am ET

Former Newsweek writer JONATHAN ALTER: He [Trump] becomes a lame duck on January 20th. I know people talk about him getting around the 22nd Amendment and being in office forever. That’s not going to happen. So he, his political power will start to ooze out of him, and a lot of the accountability will be reflected in the — first in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections this coming year, and then in the 2026 midterms. But if he ends up governing with a billionaires boys club — you know, he’s already appointed 12 billionaires — that’s not what he promised. He promised to look out for middle class working families. And if his policies include, you know, deep cuts to very popular programs, or other things that don’t really seem to resemble the populist promises that he made during the campaign, his popularity is going to suffer….

There are a lot of ways of fighting back, but it depends on ordinary people to organize against oligarchy. This is what we are headed for. It’s not dictatorship. It’s oligarchy, government by the rich. And we need to get a sense in the days ahead of whether Democrats, independents and even some anti-Trump Republicans are willing to organize against this. This doesn’t mean, like, massive resistance. You have to pick your battles, but Democrats have a lot of tools available to them, and it’s on. This is going to be a struggle between his critics and the administration for the next four years.

 

# The Katie Phang Show
December 28, 12:26pm ET

Slate’s MARK JOSEPH STERN: [Supreme Court Justice] Clarence Thomas has devoted his career to destroying campaign finance laws and granting billionaires a First Amendment right to purchase elections. Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet took advantage of those decisions to essentially buy Trump the presidency, to bail him out and to put Trump back in the White House. And because of Musk’s work now, [Justice Thomas’s wife] Ginny Thomas is going to have access to the Oval Office, Ginny Thomas is going to have meetings with Donald Trump, pushing her preferred policies, and there is no real chance that the President will approve of any kind of accountability for Clarence Thomas’s violation of the law. Come on! We know Trump is not going to approve court reform, he’s not going to impose a code of ethics, or sign one if Congress happens to pass it. His Attorney General is certainly not going to bring the civil or criminal penalties that could be on the table because of Thomas’s law-breaking here. And so it really seems like this coterie of billionaires and benefactors all sort of entrenching and reinforcing each other’s power and privilege. And if that isn’t an oligarchy, Katie, I’m really not sure what is.

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Biden China Crime How sick is this? Journalism. Reprints from others.

Constitutional Expert: Media ‘Not Likely to Pursue’ Newest Biden Influence Peddling Evidence

The MSM monkeys
Joe and Hunter Biden meet with China’s Xi Jinping: Photo obtained by America First Legal

This article originally appeared on WND.com

New images add to the documentation of the family’s close financial ties to Chinese interests.

For several years already, there’s been significant evidence of a Biden family influence peddling scheme.

Congressional investigators have confirmed that foreign interests paid Hunter Biden and his business associates $27 million from 2014 to 2019, when Joe Biden was vice president.

Hunter Biden used official trips with his father to facilitate some of those deals, and there’s been a startling lack of evidence of any services or products provided to obtain those millions.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden repeatedly claimed he had no knowledge of Hunter’s business schemes and profits, despite testimony that he was on speakerphone with Hunter’s clients, attended dinners with them, and took pictures with them.

Now there’s another piece of evidence that has surfaced. According to Fox News,“President Biden is seen in newly uncovered photos meeting with Hunter Biden’s Chinese business associates in China while he served as vice president, bringing further scrutiny to his claim he ‘never’ discussed business with his son. The photos, obtained by conservative-leaning America First Legal through litigation against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), appear to show then-Vice President Biden introducing his son to Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-Vice President Li Yuanchao. Other photos show Joe Biden posing with Hunter’s business associates from BHR Partners, including Jonathan Li and Ming Xue.”

In fact, America First Legal said, “These images shed light on the connections between then-Vice President Biden, Hunter and his Chinese business associates, and Chinese government officials including President Xi Jinping. Lawyers and representatives for President Biden and President Obama delayed NARA’s release of these photographs, as they did with other records, until after Election Day.”

But don’t expect the revelations to have a significant impact, warned constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, who has both testified before Congress on the Constitution, and represented members in court.

“After years of ignoring the influence-peddling scandal, the media is not likely to suddenly pursue the story. In the meantime, Democrats have praised or rationalized Biden for pardoning his son despite the fact that it covered possible crimes that might implicate not just Hunter but his father in corruption,” Turley explained.

He cited what’s already been in evidence: “There were diamonds as gifts, lavish expense accounts, and a sports car, in addition to massive payments that Hunter claimed were ‘loans.’ There are messages like the one to a Chinese businessman openly threatening the displeasure of Joe Biden if money is not sent to them immediately. In the WhatsApp message.”

In that situation, Hunter threatened his Chinese money source: “I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the Chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”

Turley noted the “pronounced lack of interest” by media organizations in America “into the alleged multimillion dollar influence-peddling scheme.”

He said those “House and conservative” groups that have pursued the story have found “overwhelming evidence that the president has repeatedly lied about his interactions with foreign clients.”

The newest image “Further contradicts” Biden’s claims, Turley said.

Fox reported the newly accessed images, according to America First Legal, “corroborate the House Oversight Committee’s investigative findings that Hunter Biden arranged for his father to meet with Jonathan Li and other BHR executives during the 2013 China trip, where ‘Mr. Li sought— and received — access to Vice President Biden’s political power, including, for example, preferential access to then-U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus … a condition of Hunter Biden and his associates participating in the BHR deal.’”

Congressional investigators also have concluded the Bidens benefited from their business dealings with BHR.

Campaigning in 2019, Joe Biden claimed, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”

But, Fox reported, “emails sent to and from Hunter Biden have cast doubt on that, including a 2017 email obtained by Fox News that shows Hunter requesting keys for Joe and Jill Biden, along with his uncle, Jim Biden, for space he planned to share with an ’emissary’ to the chairman of a now-bankrupt Chinese energy company.”

The report detailed, “In another 2017 email also obtained by Fox News, Biden wrote to the same Chinese energy company’s chairman extending ‘best wishes from the entire Biden family,’ and urging the chairman to ‘quickly’ send a $10 million wire to ‘properly fund and operate’ the Biden joint venture with the company.”

“The Biden Crime Family Christmas card just dropped,” GOP Rep. Eric Burlison explained on social media.

Whatever is revealed now about that time period no longer will threaten Hunter Biden, as Joe Biden granted him a pardon for a decade-long time period covering virtually all of the circumstances that have been uncovered that raise questions.

Joe Biden claimed his son was being “unfairly” prosecuted, even though a jury convicted him of multiple gun felonies, and he pleaded guilty to several tax felonies.

Guest post by Bob Unruh — Copyright 2024 WND News Center

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Media Woke MSM Poetic Justice Polls

Oh Noes! Newsmax Defeats CNN in Key Ratings on Christmas Eve

Santa Claus came early for Newsmax as ratings for Tuesday showed Newsmax beat competitor CNN for four consecutive hours.

On Christmas Eve Nielsen reported Newsmax scored decisive wins against CNN from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET.

Newsmax shows went head-to-head with CNN and their special holiday programming winning each time in “P2” or total audience for all viewers.

Here were Tuesday’s Nielsen’s:

 

  • 5 p.m. ET: “Carl Higbie FRONTLINE” with Lidia Curanaj substituting drew 324,000 viewers to CNN’s 251,000.

 

 

  • 7 p.m. ET: “Rob Schmitt Tonight” with Bob Brooks substituting drew 297,000 viewers to CNN’s 205,000.

The recent Newsmax ratings wins are not unusual.

“Rob Schmitt Tonight” has been winning against CNN during prime access regularly, with other Newsmax shows winning or coming close.

CNN is in about 10 million more homes than Newsmax, making the network ratings wins even more impressive on a proportionate basis.

Nielsen said Newsmax’s audience Tuesday in prime access was so large it beat the combined ratings of Fox Business, CNBC, and liberal NewsNation.

Newsmax continues to take a big chunk of Fox News’ audience, pulling nearly 20% of the network’s total audience number for total day.

Between its non-rated streaming channel, N2, and its cable channel, Newsmax estimates it draws about 30% of Fox’s total audience.

“Newsmax had a remarkable ratings year in 2024 and we’re excited about 2025,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said.

In June, the Reuters Institute said Newsmax was one of the top 12 U.S. news brands.

And a recent Pew study found Newsmax was a top source of news for Americans during the 2024 election, ranking with CBS, NBC, The New York Times, AP, and X, among others.

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California. Leftist Virtue(!) Medicine Reprints from others. The Courts

Advance Notice of Hospital Emergency Care Fees Unnecessary, CA Supreme Court Rules

UC Davis Medical Center

By Naveen Athrappully for The Epoch Times

The Supreme Court of California dismissed a lawsuit arguing that hospitals not showing certain costs in emergency care prior to treatment violate state laws, ruling the institutions are not obligated to disclose such fees.
The ruling was made following a class action lawsuit filed by plaintiff Taylor Capito against San Jose Healthcare System, also known as Regional Medical Center San Jose. In 2019, Capito was treated twice at the medical center’s emergency department, paying more than $41,000. She filed a complaint against the center in 2020, accusing the medical center of not providing advance notice of evaluation and management services (EMS) fees.

She alleged that this amounted to an “unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business” practice as per California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL) and violated the state’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA).

The case went to a trial court and the appeals court, both of which rejected the plaintiff’s claims. The Supreme Court of California then took up the case.

According to a Dec. 23 court opinion, the Supreme Court dismissed Capito’s claims on Monday, agreeing with the two courts.

“Hospitals do not have a duty under the UCL or CLRA, beyond their obligations under the relevant statutory and regulatory scheme, to disclose EMS fees prior to treating emergency room patients,” it said.

“The California Legislature, the United States Congress, and numerous rulemaking bodies have already decided what pricing information to make available in a hospital’s emergency room. Just as importantly, they have decided what not to include in those requirements.”

The reason authorities have avoided mandating the inclusion of certain fees is to prevent patients from getting dissuaded by seeing prices and opting out of potentially life-saving care, the court wrote.

Forcing hospitals to show EMS costs would lead to patients weighing the price against the necessity of such procedures. Insisting that such prices be shown assumes that patients in emergency rooms are capable of diagnosing “whether their ailment is relatively minor.”

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff did not accuse Regional Medical Center of failing to comply with the mandated disclosure requirements. Capito also did not allege that she was charged fees for services not provided or that the fees were excessive.

“Neither the UCL nor CLRA requires further disclosure of EMS fees beyond what the regulatory scheme requires,” the court opinion said.

Burden on Hospitals

The California Hospital Association (CHA) has argued against the push for notifying patients about fees in emergency treatment conditions.

In June last year, the organization filed an amicus brief in another lawsuit in which a plaintiff made arguments similar to those in the Capito case. The plaintiff said that California hospitals must disclose EMS fees to patients in emergency care prior to their treatment in accordance with UCL and CLRA laws.

Allowing such a policy would impose “an unreasonable duty” on hospitals, said the association.

“Hospitals cannot determine the costs of patient care prior to treatment, especially emergency care. The treatment necessary for a particular patient depends on the severity of the patient’s condition, which is impossible for either the patient or the hospital to know in advance,” the association said.

“Besides, a patient’s financial responsibility for treatment costs depends on his or her insurance status and coverage. Even assuming a patient has insurance, the hospital cannot foresee whether, and to what extent, the insurer will provide coverage for the services ultimately rendered to the patient.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is looking into the potential impact of private equity-run emergency care services provided to hospital patients.

According to an April 1 statement, he sent letters to private equity companies and physician staffing companies asking for information on patient care and other matters.

The letters followed multiple interviews conducted by his office with more than 40 emergency medicine physicians across the United States.

“I am concerned that our nation’s largest emergency medicine staffing companies may be engaging in cost-saving measures at the expense of patient safety and care, which could put our nation’s emergency preparedness at risk,” Peters said. “I am pressing these companies and their private equity owners for needed transparency.”

Just a reminder of how well California is doing in other areas.

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Biden Biden Cartel Child Abuse Corruption Democrat Emotional abuse How sick is this? Leftist Virtue(!) Politics Reprints from others. The Law

Scranton Finally Turns on Biden as Officials Demand Removal of His Name from Landmark

President Joe Biden has proudly referenced his roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on countless occasions.

But after he pardoned a judge involved in a cash-for-kids program that jailed thousands of juveniles in northeastern Pennsylvania, the Electric City is no longer feeling that spark of love.

The newly elected Pennsylvania Republican State Rep. Brenda Pugh called on officials in Scranton to remove Biden’s name from expressways labeled in his honor after he pardoned former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan.

That now-disgraced official was convicted after taking kickbacks in exchange for sending juveniles to jail for committing minor crimes, or committing no crime whatsoever, according to PAHomepage.

Pugh said the fact that Biden pardoned Conahan was a disgrace that merits renaming the “President Joe Biden Expressway,” originally named for the commander-in-chief by the Scranton City Council in 2021.

“Conahan’s conduct is forever a blight on Pennsylvania and is a slap in the face to the victims and their families who deserve justice to be served for his atrocious crimes,” Pugh wrote, per PAHomepage.

“His clemency places complicity and a stamp of approval on his behavior,” she continued. “Children are among the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians. This decision is nothing short of a travesty and his clemency is a miscarriage of justice.”

Pugh is far from the only Pennsylvania official to express concern over the presidential pardon.

Even Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro cringed at the pardon of the corrupt official.

“I’ll offer these thoughts as an outsider, not privy to all the information he looked at, but I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said last week, per the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

“Some children took their lives because of this. Families were torn apart,” Shapiro said of the original scandal. “There was all kinds of mental health issues and anguish that came as a result of these corrupt judges deciding they wanted to make a buck off a kid’s back.”

It is indeed rather difficult to see why Biden deserves to have any highways named in his honor.

This cash-for-kids scheme was clearly the last straw for at least some in Scranton.

But there are plenty of reasons to remove his name from that highway and other infrastructure in the city named for him.

Even beyond his mismanagement of the economy, his overseeing of several new wars around the globe, and his clear mental decline covered up by staffers over the past four years, Biden and his family are themselves likely corrupt, as their foreign business dealings in places like Ukraine and China would indicate.

Our outgoing president is no fan of justice.

Highways should simply not be named for those who have problems staying on the straight and narrow.

Given the sheer number of pardons and commutations Biden made — and his obvious cognition problems — it’s quite obvious that he didn’t know what he was signing. (So who drew up that list?) –TPR

Categories
Biden Pandemic Emotional abuse How sick is this? Reprints from others.

YAWN! Blue States Bring Back Mask Mandates Ahead of ‘Quad-demic’

YAWN! Blue States Bring Back Mask Mandates Ahead of ‘Quad-demic’

By Mark Swanson    |  19 December 2024

Multiple blue states are reinstating mask mandates ahead of a surge of four viruses that some are calling a “quad-demic” — flu, COVID, RSV, and Norovirus.

According to the Daily Mail:

  • RWJBarnabas Health, New Jersey’s largest hospital system, announced Monday anyone walking through their doors needs a mask, possibly a hospital-supplied covering.
  • Several counties in San Francisco began mask mandates last month that run through April 30, 2025.
  • New York City officials last month recommended masks on public transportation.

“We know these viruses are coming. We see them increase every year,” Dr. Joe Bresee, an infectious diseases expert, told DailyMail.com. “We are in store for increases in circulation in these four over the next couple of months and that would cause what we call epidemics.”

COVID activity is “low” nationally but on the rise, with 4% infections in early November rising to 5.4% during the week of Dec. 7. Hospital admissions for flu-like respiratory illnesses jumped 14% in a two-week period through the week of Dec. 7, according to the report.

Regardless, research has shown the efficacy of masks to reduce the spread of COVID infections is largely a myth.

The Cochrane Institute published results of a study in January 2023 that found “uncertainty about the effects of face masks.” Cochrane analyzed 78 global studies involving more than 1 million people.

“The pooled results … did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks. There were no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators in healthcare workers when used in routine care to reduce respiratory viral infection,” Cochrane’s study found.

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Karma’s a B*tch, Ain’t It, Fani?

Karma’s a B*tch, Ain’t It, Fani?

Fani Willis / Nathan Wade

A Georgia appeals court has disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her election-related criminal case against President-elect Donald Trump, although the indictment still stands.

Willis’s office charged Trump and his codefendants in 2023 for what they alleged was a scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia illegally. They pleaded not guilty.

However, Willis’s case hit a snag in early 2024 after it was revealed that she had a romantic relationship with the case’s then-special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. A Fulton County judge in March ruled that Willis could remain as prosecutor if Wade resigned, which he later did.

Trump and multiple codefendants appealed the judge’s decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which rendered its decision on Willis Thursday morning.

“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” the Georgia Court of Appeals’s majority wrote in its decision.

The court added that a “remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring.”

Earlier this year, Trump codefendant Michael Roman alleged in court papers that Willis and Wade were in a romantic relationship.

During a court hearing weeks later, both Wade and Willis admitted to being romantically involved, although the pair denied allegations that either of them benefited financially from the arrangement. They also disputed claims that their relationship started after Wade was hired as a special prosecutor and ended in the summer of 2023.

In rendering a decision to allow Willis to stay on the case, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee wrote that an “odor of mendacity” persisted in light of the allegations against the district attorney and Wade.

McAfee also admonished Willis for the “unprofessional manner” in how she conducted herself during the evidentiary hearing and showed a “lapse in judgment.” He also chided her for what he described as racially charged statements she made at a church in Atlanta after Roman made the allegations against her.

However, the judge said he was not able to conclusively establish that there was a conflict of interest.

Throughout the court battle, Willis has defended her own conduct and Wade’s qualifications. During a CNN interview earlier this year, Willis said she believes the appeals court proceedings were only an attempt to slow down the case.

“I do think that there are efforts to slow down the train, but the train is coming,” Willis said at the time, adding that she does not believe her relationship with Wade impacted the case.

The case against Trump and the others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, had been stalled for months as the appeals court considered the Willis removal petition.

The ruling Thursday now means that the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia will have to find another prosecutor to take over the case and decide whether to pursue it, though that could be delayed if Willis appeals to higher courts.

It appears unlikely that prosecution against Trump will continue as he prepares to be president for the next four years. But 14 other defendants still face charges.

Prosecutors dropped two federal criminal cases against Trump since he won the presidency in November.

Meanwhile, a judge in New York has said he would not throw out Trump’s conviction in May on the case alleging 34 counts of falsifying business records, though the future of that case is uncertain.

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Sore Losers: Senate Dems want to Eliminate the Electoral College Via Constitutional Amendment

Sore Losers: Senate Dems want to Eliminate the Electoral College Via Constitutional Amendment.

There’s a good reason why a jackass symbolizes the misnamed “Democratic” party!

I walked away too.

Senate Democrats, having failed to defeat President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election, want to change the rules.

Ironically, however, those same Senate Democrats do not seem to understand that their arguments for destroying a core principle of our federal republic would also justify eliminating the Senate itself.

Monday on the social media platform X, the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, announced a “bill to abolish the Electoral College, restoring democracy by allowing the direct election of presidents through popular vote alone.”

Durbin, who has also proposed arming illegal immigrants, joined two of his colleagues, Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, in introducing a proposed constitutional amendment that, if adopted, would abolish the Electoral College.

“In 2000, before the general election, I introduced a bipartisan resolution to amend the Constitution and abolish the Electoral College. I still believe today that it’s time to retire this 18th century invention,” Durbin said.

Fortunately, the authors of the Constitution understood the tyrannical threat posed by people like Durbin.

Hence, an amendment is required to eliminate something as fundamental to our federal republic as the Electoral College, which appears in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution.

Under Article V, two thirds of both houses of Congress, plus three fourths of the states, must approve said amendment.

In other words, Senate Democrats have no chance of abolishing the Electoral College, that perennial object of their unhinged fixation.

Still, their behavior requires explanation. And voters need to understand why they must never allow Democrats to succeed in their sinister quest.

First, the reason for Monday’s announcement seems obvious. Senate Democrats hope to change the narrative surrounding Trump’s victory.

According to the Associated Press, with all states finally having counted at least 99 percent of votes from the 2024 election, Trump will win the national popular vote by more than two million votes. Thus, Senate Democrats’ constitutional amendment would not have changed the outcome.

Still, Trump has generated significant momentum and stands poised to reenter the White House as popular as ever. Senate Democrats, therefore, needed to rally their own voters around their shopworn lie of defending “democracy.”

Moreover, recent history has proven that Democrats prosper amid the electoral chaos they create. And eliminating the Electoral College would sow unfathomable chaos.

Imagine how presidential elections would unfold if determined by the national popular vote. Imagine waiting on California, for instance, to finish counting its votes more than a month after Election Day.

As it stands, California awards 54 electoral votes — no more, no less. So we know in advance exactly the degree to which Californians will influence the election’s outcome.

But what if California Democrats had an incentive to find as many votes as possible? Would any Republican trust the outcome of elections conducted in that manner?

Second — one marvels at the irony — Senate Democrats’ argument for abolishing the Electoral College also applies to the Senate.

“I’m excited to partner with my friends and colleagues Senator Schatz and Chair Durbin on this important constitutional amendment, which will help empower every voter in every state,” Welch said, per The Hill.

But the Senate itself does not reflect the will of “every voter in every state” — far from it.

In fact, the Electoral College, which awards electoral votes based on a state’s population, comes exponentially closer to reflecting the will of “every voter in every state” than the Senate ever has or ever will.

Indeed, regardless of population, two senators per state hardly sounds like “democracy.”

And that is the point: America’s constitutional republic incorporates democratic principles, but it is not a democracy, and it must never become one, lest we endure the unbridled tyranny of electoral majorities.

Instead, America’s constitutional system provides for a meaningful division of power between the national and state governments. The Electoral College, by empowering the people of all the states to conduct their own elections and award their electoral votes as they see fit consistent with the Constitution, helps prevent the tyrannical consolidation of states into a single, omnipotent national government.

Thus, Democratic leadership must never succeed in eliminating the Electoral College. Should they do so, they would create a convincing argument for abolishing the Senate itself. At that point, the federal constitutional structure would have collapsed, and the Union would likely dissolve.