NOTE: At some point, before bed, I read through 50+ news sources and share my findings here. If you like it, share it. If you don’t, share it. Follow my blog now to support my work or to find new reasons to complain about it. My opinions are my own. All tips are welcome as well as comments on my video series - The Jim Stroud Show.
The cure is proving to be worse than the disease!
On September 9, 2021, the Associated Press reported this…
In his most forceful pandemic actions and words, President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered sweeping new federal vaccine requirements for as many as 100 million Americans — private-sector employees as well as health care workers and federal contractors — in an all-out effort to curb the surging COVID-19 delta variant.
Speaking at the White House, Biden sharply criticized the tens of millions of Americans who are not yet vaccinated, despite months of availability and incentives.
“We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” he said, all but biting off his words. The unvaccinated minority “can cause a lot of damage, and they are.”
Republican leaders — and some union chiefs, too — said Biden was going too far in trying to muscle private companies and workers, a certain sign of legal challenges to come.
In response to President Biden’s mandates, and in anticipation of them, the effect on America has been devastating and not yet fully realized. Indeed, it looks like the cure is worse than the disease. Here are but a few headlines.
And if being jobless is not bad enough, workers fired for not showing New York vaccine passport will be denied unemployment insurance. Reclaim The Net reported this on September 26, 2021.
New York State employees who will get fired for not being able to show a vaccine passport will not access unemployment insurance, announced Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday, only two days before the deadline for all state workers to have to show a passport.
However, a judge temporarily halted the vaccine mandate for New York City workers on Friday.
New York state health workers in nursing homes and hospitals and teachers in New York City, were given up to Monday to show proof of at least one dose of the vaccine. While announcing contingencies to address a potential shortage of health workers, the governor said that those who could not show a passport and who lose their jobs will not be eligible for unemployment insurance.
The argument from the left is that vaccines mandates are necessary and should be implemented by any means necessary for the sake of the public good. Here is a quote from CNN, reported on September 14, 2021.
Millions of Americans still need to get vaccinated to slow or stop the spread of Covid-19 and getting the pandemic under control could take “many, many” more vaccine mandates, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said if more people aren’t persuaded to get vaccinated by messaging from health officials and “trusted political messengers,” additional mandates from schools and businesses may be necessary.
“I believe that’s going to turn this around because I don’t think people are going to want to not go to work or not go to college … They’re going to do it,” Fauci told CNN’s Jen Christensen during an interview at the NLGJA, the Association of LGBTQ Journalists, convention Sunday. “You’d like to have them do it on a totally voluntary basis, but if that doesn’t work, you’ve got to go to the alternatives.”
The combination of the highly contagious Delta variant and the vaccine holdouts has put the United States in a “very difficult period” of the Covid-19 pandemic, Fauci said.
The right sees this as medical tyranny and a means for the government to exert control over your body. In essence, your body, their choice. In a now infamous rant, on July 31, 2021, Tucker Carlson condemned the inaction of the Republican Party over this issue.
Ironically, not too long ago, President Biden and several other Democrats told the American public that they would not enforce federal mandates and that it was not the role of the government to do so.
Does the American government have the legal power to federally mandate vaccines? That is something for lawyers and judges to decide. There is speculation though that the Biden administration is conning America. While the Biden administration may have influence over federal workers, they do not have the power over private sector workers and as such, have to get private companies to do their bidding for them. How? By simply stating that a mandate is coming, whether it actually manifests in a legal way or not. At least, that is the compelling theory from the conservative website – The Last Refuge. Here is a quote. [September 27, 2021]
There are three elements: (1) Federal worker mandate; (2) Federal contractor mandate; and the big controversial one, (3) a national worker mandate for companies with over 100 employees.
Focusing on #3, the big one. The only material from the White House on the BIG CONTROVERSIAL national worker mandate is a small paragraph on the WH COVID PLAN section:
That’s it folks. Three weeks later, and that’s the sum total of everything about the biggest economic and workforce disruption in the history of the nation. That one paragraph posted on September 10th.
Why is this important?
Well, the U.S. Department of Labor website has ZERO mentions of this national mandate. ZERO, nothing… nada, zilch. [SEE HERE]
Looking at the OSHA COVID information portal, used by employers and legal execs, will show you the exact same result. Nothing. [SEE HERE]
Notice there’s no date for DoL or OSHA delivery of any employer guidance or details. Nothing.
Think about this. This is the largest nationwide change to employment eligibility requirement in U.S. history. Nothing else is even close… and yet, if you didn’t watch the Biden announcement or read the media discussion about the Biden announcement, you wouldn’t be able to find a single detail about it – anywhere.
This is not normal; not even close to normal… even for the federal government.
If you are in the HR field in America then, you may remember when the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was first announced. Here is a glimpse backwards courtesy of a custom date range search of Google. There was PLENTY of employer guidance and resources available for review. So to have something be announced so momentous, with no official guidance for employers three weeks after making the announcement, is simply incredible.
Whether President Biden’s moves show an inadequacy of leadership or a Machiavellian shrewdness by those advising him, neither option gives me a sense of comfort. This is especially true when I see headlines like this.
Sigh.
THANK YOU!
Thanks for reading (and subscribing)! $$$ All tips are welcome. By the way, click here to check the archives and discover what you’ve missed. More content tomorrow.
Follow me on Social Media:
