The White House fearmongering over the Omicron variant appears to have influenced a judicial review of the federal vaccine mandate. Perhaps, this explains part of the fear-porn motive.  [Court Opinion pdf Here]

More than two dozen legal challenges to the federal vaccine mandate for employers over 100 employees were consolidated into the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio.  That federal appeals court has reinstated Biden vaccine mandate for U.S. workers.

OHIO – A federal appeals court has reinstated the Biden administration’s vaccine and testing requirement for private businesses that covers about 80 million American workers.

The ruling by the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati lifted a November injunction that had blocked the rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which applies to businesses with at least 100 workers.

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This is interesting. On December 14, TechnoFog noted the FDA gave approval to vaccine boosters amid 16 and 17-year-olds without consulting the medical advisory panel on safety and efficacy of the policy shift {SEE HERE}.

As correctly noted at the time, “This is the FDA making a cost/benefit calculation without knowing the costs or benefits. It doesn’t know the real risks, because it didn’t study the potential for adverse reactions in kids aged 16 – 17 years,” yet, the FDA did it anyway.

The issue is actually quite alarming considering there are multiple studies showing that specific age group, especially young males, were negatively impacted by vaccine created heart damage.  Then again, adverse vaccine outcomes may have been the reason why the FDA never wanted to convene a medical advisory board before giving the approval for a vaccine booster to the group most at risk for the adverse outcome.

Regardless of FDA motive, the Washington Post is now following-up on the issue pointed out by Techno Fog and calling out the Biden administration for having the FDA ignore medical community advice:

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The South African government reports today that the Omicron variant is widespread yet not creating any medical issues.  “Only 1.7% of identified Covid-19 cases were admitted to hospital in the second week of infections in the fourth wave, compared with 19% in the same week of the third delta-driven wave, South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said at a press conference.”

At the same time, the White House COVID crisis response team is driving the fearmongering around Omicron at staggering levels of propaganda and fear porn.  During a public broadcast of the White House position, COVID response coordinator Jeff Zients is again claiming that Omicron will kill millions of Americans if rapid action is not taken to shut down human activity.

Zients claims today that a “severe winter of illness and death” awaits anyone who does not adhere to the political propaganda they are pushing. WATCH (01:06):

This is the same coordinated fear messaging Joe Biden was pushing yesterday.   Obviously, the White House has made the decision to double down on the fear porn.

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As Reuters reported last month {LINK}, the Italian government “extended mandatory vaccination, already in force for healthcare workers, to all school staff, police and the military, beginning from Dec. 15.”  The enforcement mechanism comes from the Arma dei Carabinieri, the state police agency that falls under the military and carries out all domestic policing duties.

On the exact same day the Carabinieri vaccine mandate was scheduled to begin, this happens:

https://youtu.be/LlGTyIks2SI

(Italy) – Alarm at the Salvo d’Acquisto carabinieri barracks in Tor di Quinto in Rome: at 12.50 a fire broke out in the military citadel.  The very high flames broke out in the building of the Lazio Regiment, started from a room used as a guesthouse but then covered two floors of a single building. (read more)

Italian suspicious cat, remains, well, suspicious… (more…)

The medical community has continued to say the Omicron variant, to the extent there is such a thing, is akin to a traditional head cold.  Symptoms include sniffling, sneezing, coughing and a stuffy head.  However, that said, the Omicron is also being used as a justification for shutting down human activity.

One way to look at the motives of Omicron as a tool to control behavior, is a method to stop travel, work, transportation services and other economic activity that involves the use of gasoline.  In essence, Omicron becomes a tool to target the demand side of higher gas prices.  If the proles would just stay home and lock down, then demand for energy would slow, and the citizens would not notice the negative effects of energy policy.

Enter Joe Biden today, to tell everyone the Omicron variant will fill up the hospitals with the unvaccinated and unboosted during a time when the winter cold and flu season generally does the same.  The White House fear mongering is in direct proportion to the drop in White House approval ratings. WATCH:

BIDEN – […] “Omicron has not yet spread as fast as it would’ve otherwise done and as is happening in Europe. But it’s here now, and it’s spreading, and it’s going to increase.  For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.” (read more)

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First things first… If the governor responsible for organizing the state response to a massive crisis is still incapable of controlling his emotions, and cries in front of the media five days after the damage, I guarantee you he/she is a Democrat.  I don’t mean to be brutal or insensitive about it, but the emotional inability of effeminate Democrat Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is embarrassing to watch.   Cowboy the f**k up, and get on with the job.

That said, it is obvious the White House political communications team are not planning to let a crisis go to waste.  The opportunity provided by the devastating tornadoes that tore through Kentucky, is an opportunity for Biden to rebrand himself and attempt to get his collapsed polling numbers to reverse.

That’s the reason for the heavily engineered presser yesterday, and that’s the reason for the federal response.  On the positive side, the flood of help is good for Kentucky; however, cynically that benefit is mostly possible because the Biden White House is desperate and needs positive PR.

Traditionally, when there’s a FEMA-level crisis in a red state or region, and Democrats are in the White House, the federal response is weak.  It’s just how they roll.  However, fortunately for Kentucky, this time the crisis coincides with the White House occupant desperately needing to rehabilitate his image. And it’s a Democrat governor holding office over a Red state, so the White House producers, script writers and narrative directors have massive latitude.

It was smart of Ron Klain to send Jill Biden to Wisconsin on the same day he sent Joe to Kentucky.  After a few words from Klain to coordinate with the CNN crew, Kate Bennett delivered the conflated article brilliantly for the Google search engines.   It now looks like the faux-President visited Wisconsin [ SEE FOR YOURSELF, read it carefully ]. Obviously he didn’t, but when you know the intent is to manipulate and give the illusion that he did, well, the way Kate Bennett constructed the outline is brilliant.

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West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin appears to be done with the badgering and pressure over the Build Back Better legislation.

Politico reports the discussions between Senator Manchin and the White House are at a stalemate, with the White House saying “things are going poorly.”  Meanwhile, the New York Post is reporting that Manchin finally exploded on communist stenographers who have been continually hounding him for the past two months.

Senator Joe Manchin on Wednesday angrily shouted at reporters to go away — telling one, “You are bulls–t!” and “I’m done!” after he was peppered with questions about his reluctance to support President Biden’s mammoth social spending bill.

“I’m not negotiating with any of you, OK?” the West Virginia Democrat said as reporters followed him around Capitol Hill. 

Eventually Manchin added, raising his voice: “You guys, let me go. This is bulls–t. You are bulls–t! OK? I’m done! I’m done! God Almighty.” (link)

The communist guerillas never relent, they just modify their attack angles to keep pushing forward.

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The Commerce Department November retail sales data was release today [DATA HERE] – [DETAIL pdf HERE].  The top line issue is a shocking drop in retail sales for November in key categories that align with previous discussion of inflation spending priorities for all U.S. consumers.

Before getting to the data, one point is critical to remember.  The commerce department sales figures are based on dollars spent. This point is important, because the items being purchased have inflation within them.  When prices are higher due to inflation, sales figures should be higher due to higher prices.  Ex. If there is an 8% increase in retail price, but only a 4% increase in retail sales, that means less stuff is being sold.  [Less units sold at a higher price gives the illusion of an increase in sales.]

Despite the start of the traditional holiday sales and shopping period, the total sales growth in November was 0.3% over October [Column A].  Factoring in inflation during the same month to month comparison at 0.9%, you can tell that overall in November there was a drop in units sold across the total of retail sales outlets.

A drop in sales at a time when holiday shopping should be taking place is concerning.  However, the sales reality aligns with the employment data last week showing a drop of 20,000 workers in the retail sector for November.  Put them together, and the picture shows retailers did not need employees, because consumers are not spending.

If we look deeper into the November sales figures, we can see that a contraction in discretionary spending is the primary issue. Electronics (-4.6%), Department Stores (-5.4%) and even online sales at ZERO.  We can also see a direct correlation in comparative inflation impact within the sales data for November 2021 when compared to November 2020 [Column B].

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Reuters is reporting on an interesting dynamic within the vaccine mandate as it pertains to Amtrak.  Reading between the lines tells us something very specific about this vaccine mandate that we have discussed here, and it’s starting to show.

The article itself points to how Amtrak is suspending their vaccine mandate as a result of the federal courts blocking enforcement of any mandate pending litigation.  From their perspective as a federal contractor, Amtrak is now in a position to cease the vaccine requirement until the legal issues are resolved.  However, there’s an element touched upon that needs to be considered.

First the article (the emphasis is mine):

WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) – U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak said on Tuesday it will temporarily suspend a vaccine mandate for employees and now no longer expects to be forced to cut some service in January. In a memo seen by Reuters, Amtrak Chief Executive Bill Flynn said the railroad would allow employees who were not vaccinated to get tested.

Currently, fewer than 500 active Amtrak employees are not in compliance. Last week, the railroad told Congress it anticipated “proactively needing to temporarily reduce some train frequencies across our network” because of the mandate.

Flynn said 95.7% of Amtrak’s 17,000 employees are either fully vaccinated or have an accommodation — and including employees with one dose 97.3% of employees are in compliance.

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This is a little interesting.  According to The Telegraph [Tweet Link], the ‘scientific data’ is showing that young vaccinated people are the source carriers for the latest Omicron variant.  {Telegraph Article, Paywall}

What makes this interesting is both the timing and sequence.

The “Delta” variant surfaced and spread during the vaccination program for people over 40 years old.

The “Omicron” variant surfaced and spread during the vaccination program for people under 40 years old.

It’s almost as if… the vaccination and boosters are what creates the variant.

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