Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 531 | Oh NOmicron, Here We Go Again

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

Starting point is 00:00:19 We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week. So today we are going to talk COVID.

Starting point is 00:00:57 We're going to talk about a couple of the latest news stories as it pertains to COVID. And it'll be a big episode. We're going to look at the data and all of that. But before we start on that, I do want to talk about this abortion case that is being argued before the Supreme Court today. That is Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Center. And this is about a Mississippi abortion law that would restrict abortion. It actually went into place three years ago that would restrict abortion after 15 weeks with limited exceptions. There are exceptions for medical emergencies, but there are no exceptions for rape and incest. And this case is monumental because if this Missouri or Mississippi law is upheld, then it essentially overturned Roe v. Wade.

Starting point is 00:01:51 Now, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, that's the case that, of course, legalized abortion in the 1970s and under which tens of millions of babies have been murdered in the last several decades. if that is overturned, that does not ban abortion outright. Abortion doesn't suddenly become illegal, unfortunately. What that means is that the states will be able to decide how much they want to restrict abortion. Right now, it's very difficult, if not impossible, altogether to very strictly restrict abortion in a state, but the overturning of Roe v. Wade would allow a state whose voters want abortion to be banned in their state to be able to then ban abortion. And so this is a big deal. This could possibly get us one step closer to making abortion illegal in many states.

Starting point is 00:02:49 You will always probably still be able to get an abortion in liberal states, but it will become even harder to do in Republican states where the majority of voters don't want abortion to be legal. So this is a very historic day, no matter what the outcome is, we won't know the outcome for a while, but Christians should be praying. We should be praying today every hour on the hour if you can, maybe put alarms in your phone to pray, to pray for the attorney. I think his name is Scott G. Stewart, who is arguing in favor of the Mississippi law, pray for the justices. Of course, we know that Sotomayor and Breyer are going to be, they're the liberal justices that are going to, they're definitely going to want to strike down

Starting point is 00:03:44 the Mississippi abortion ban. And then we've got some swing votes, if you will. We've got Kavanaugh and Roberts. Roberts is often considered a conservative, but he's really not. He's the chief justice, and he very often either just, uh, he kind of off the skates in some way and he decides not to take decisions that or take cases that the Supreme Court very well could take or he sides with the liberal justices very often in Kavanaugh, like I said, is kind of the swing. We know how Alito, we know how Thomas are going to decide and we probably know how justices Barrett and Gorsick are going to decide as well. but pray for justice to prevail, for truth to prevail, for godly wisdom to reign, and just pray.

Starting point is 00:04:37 Pray for a decision that would recognize the inherent human rights of babies. And it's incredible that the Supreme Court is even hearing this case. The legislation that has made its way to the Supreme Court is the product of a lot of work. of pro-life advocates and activists and politicians who have been pushing for this change for decades. I mean, this is such a great example of effective torch passing from the 1970s to today. There are, this is a generational effort that hopefully will accomplish a generational win. And I absolutely believe that our sovereign and omnipotent God can do it. And so let's pray for that today.

Starting point is 00:05:30 Let's pray for God's will to be done. Let's pray that no matter the outcome, that we keep on loving moms, that we keep on loving their babies, that we work towards not just making abortion illegal, which is important to recognize the inherent dignity of unborn children, but also to make abortion unthinkable, that we would love and support moms and their babies so much that abortion wouldn't be the first option that women think of in times of crisis. All right. I just wanted to mention that today. We'll talk more about it. I'm sure in the coming weeks and in the coming months, but like I said, today we're going to talk about COVID. There's some big news involving COVID, Omicron variant,

Starting point is 00:06:15 y'all, Omicron, Alpha Delta Omicron, the sorority. that no one wants to be in. Yeah, everyone is being forced to join with like the worst initiation period ever. Also, Biden's mandate for health care workers has been put on hold by a federal judge in Louisiana. So praise God. Remember, his mandate for corporations has already been put on hold by the Fifth Circuit of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. We'll talk about why your corporation may still be trying to mandate it at the end of the episode and what to do about that. But we're going to talk about these things today. We're also going to look at. the numbers, how the vaccines are holding up, the restrictions that are put in place, where we think

Starting point is 00:06:54 this whole thing is headed. So let us first talk about Omicron. And I did read that apparently, so if you know when you think about the Greek alphabet, I think that I had to know and memorize this in middle school, I believe, but I know I had to learn and memorize it when I was joining a sorority in college. You literally had to do like this quiz. I don't really remember very much. I know Alpha and Omega from my Christian school church upperc. upbringing, but I don't remember all of the order of all of the Greek alphabet, but apparently they skipped over. Do you pronounce it, Zai, X, I know that it's when you're talking about to the head of the Communist Party in China, it's Xi Jinping, which is spelled XI, but apparently

Starting point is 00:07:40 scientists skipped over XI in the Greek alphabet in order to avoid stigmatizing. the head of the Chinese Communist Party in China because his name is spelled XI. So we skipped over XI and we named this particular variant Omicron. If that is true, that is, what a global, what a global embarrassment, our continual capitulation to a most brutal communist regime. Okay, let's talk about this variant, though. This is according to dw.com. B-11-529 is the scientific name of the new coronavirus variant discovered last week in South Africa.

Starting point is 00:08:26 It has since been detected in several other countries with Germany, Portugal, Great Britain, Israel, and Canada, for instance, all reporting Omicron infections. The variant has been found, like I said, in the UK, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Australia, Hong Kong has not yet been found in the United States. it's probably here. It probably just hasn't been detected yet. Biden said this, quote, sooner or later, we are going to see new cases of this variant here in the United States and we're going to have to face this new threat, just as we have faced the ones that came before it. Biden said, one thing that he did say that I actually appreciated. He said that the variant is cause for concern, but it's not cause for panic. That's good. Let's put action behind those words because a lot of what this administration, I think, is done in the way of draconian mandates has looked

Starting point is 00:09:17 a lot like unscientific panic, but I am glad that he is at least saying people don't need to panic. The Biden administration, though, has blocked travel from several Southern African countries where the Omicron variant is said to be spreading. And people are pointing out in light of this that last year, President Biden tweeted calling Trump xenophobic after Trump restricted travel from China. He also tweeted in March of 2020 that banning travel from any part of the world will not stop the coronavirus. Kamala Harris tweeted that Trump's extended on American travel ban undermines our nation's core values. And now they are restricting travel from several countries in Africa. And the funny thing about Biden's restriction is that the variant isn't actually isolated in

Starting point is 00:10:09 Africa. It was just identified and warned about by South African science. So we don't know that it originated there or that it's even more pervasive there. It's in lots of countries and yet we've only restricted so far travel from these African nations. Interesting. Interesting. At least when Donald Trump talked about restricting travel from China, we thought at the time that it was only in China. So it made sense for him to try to impose that travel ban. This doesn't make any sense.

Starting point is 00:10:37 And while I personally don't buy accusations of xenophobia, I think that's silly. It does look more like xenophobia in light of the facts than Donald Trump's more logical restrictions. Biden tweeted this yesterday. He said, quote, we're going to fight the Omicron variant the way we've been fighting COVID-19 since the beginning with scientific and knowledgeable actions and speed. Not chaos and confusion. Except that this is totally chaotic and confusing and it's not very scientific. Very little about Biden's approach to mitigating. getting the spread and severity of this virus has been rooted in science, as we will see when we

Starting point is 00:11:17 talk about the vaccine mandates in just a few minutes. And now, even Trevor Noah, who is, I think, I think he's supposed to be a comedian and I'm not even, I'm not trying to be snarky. But I never know because I don't watch him if he's supposed to be a comedian or if he's just supposed to be like a talk show host. I don't know. But he is a leftist. He's from South Africa. And he is even criticizing Biden over the travel ban. According to Yahoo Entertainment, he says, quote, as a South African, Trevor Noah said, I think this travel ban is total BS. Noah spoke with Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital, and he is opposed, Dr. Hotes, apparently is opposed to travel bands of any sort.

Starting point is 00:12:02 He says, quote, that is always my first talking point when leaders are wringing their hands about the Omicron variant. Dr. Hotes said, they are saying, oh my gosh, but it's in multiple. European countries, Australia and Canada, maybe in the U.S., and I say that is true of every variant. By the time we identify it, it is almost always all over the world. According to Yahoo Entertainment, Noah also warned the issuing travel restrictions towards countries that report new variances could have negative repercussions. He said, quote, you do realize that other countries are paying attention and they realize if they are going to get punished for telling the world

Starting point is 00:12:39 about new variants, they're going to stop telling the world whenever their scientists discover new variants. And I think that that is a very fair point. Southern Africa is basically being punished for sounding the alarm about this. And apparently, the alarm doesn't even need to be that loud because apparently this variant isn't any more serious or isn't any more deadly than the other variants. And I'll get to that in just one second. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Alley, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles,

Starting point is 00:13:18 faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. So this is according to the New York Post, quote, the South African doctor who first sounded the alarm on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus said that its symptoms are unusual but mild

Starting point is 00:13:54 in healthy patients. But she's worried the strain could cause complications in elderly and unvaccinated. Dr. Angelique Coatesi, a practicing doctor for 30 years who chairs the South African Medical Association said she believed she had found a new strain of the virus after COVID-19 patients at her private practice in Pretoria. I don't know if that's how you pronounce that, exhibited strange symptoms. So far, she's had two dozen patients who tested positive and showed symptoms of the new variant, mostly young men. About half of the patients were unvaccinated, she said. None of those infected lost their scent of smell or taste. She said it presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well.

Starting point is 00:14:40 So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected, some are currently being treated at home. So you'll notice that no one, not even the fearmongers here, no one is actually saying that the science shows this to be deadlier or more serious than other variants. I don't even know if it's more transmissible. They might be saying that.

Starting point is 00:15:06 I haven't seen that. Maybe they're saying that it's more contagious. We're just hearing that it exists. And the word variant sounds really scary. You know, there are different variants. There are different strains of the flu. But when we are in this COVID-histeric world, the word variant seems to carry with it this implicit sense of, you know, increased severity when the science isn't actually showing that.

Starting point is 00:15:30 But you hear of this word variant. and people think that freaking out is justified. And if you just watch or read much of the mainstream news, at least in the United States, you would think that you have every reason to go back inside and hide for fear that you are going to die imminently by Omicron. On CNN, former Planned Parenthood CEO, Leanna Wynn, says that every state and local government needs to re-implement mask mandates. On ABC, Dr. Fauci said lockdowns are not out of the question. But the truth is neither of those things are going to happen. Neither of those things are going to happen in firmly Republican states like Texas and Florida. States like that are not going to go back. They're just not. You know why? Because these things aren't proven to work. They're not only unpopular, but they haven't been proven to be effective. Now, you might remember because we've talked about unscientific nature of mask mandates so much on this episode. We've looked at so much of the data and compared so many of the charts. of different states that have implemented mask mandates versus those who don't.

Starting point is 00:16:33 You might remember the Federalist article, excuse me, from October of 2020, that showed the lack of effect of mask mandates that mask mandates had on states and countries rise in numbers. And so I'll pull up some of those charts from that article. We'll put the link in the description to this episode. The source for these numbers are some of them are our world and data. Some of these are the New York Times. some of these are Johns Hopkins. Some of these are the COVID tracking project.

Starting point is 00:17:02 If you look at the state of California, you will see the trajectory of the virus since March of 2020. And like I said, this article is October of 2020. You'll see where they required the mask mandates in June, or required the masks in June of 2020. And you'll see that the case is spiked directly after that. And then if you look at Hawaii, the same thing happened. They mandated indoor masks in April of 2020. They mandated outdoor masks.

Starting point is 00:17:35 In July of 2020, when did the biggest spike in COVID cases happen? It happened after both of those mask mandates went into place. Then if you look at this comparison of Texas versus Georgia, Texas, required masks in June of 2020, Georgia never required masks, at least at the time that this particular article came out in October of 2020, and you will see that's a trajectory of both states, of their COVID cases, it was almost identical, except that Texas actually had higher spikes than Georgia did with their mask mandate. And then if you look at this comparison that the author of this article put together between New York, Sweden, Texas, Georgia, Sweden has about the population size of Michigan. You will see New York. You will see New York.

Starting point is 00:18:24 they have a mask mandate. Texas had a mask mandate started in June. Georgia never had a mask mandate. If you look at the trajectory, you do not see really any difference between Sweden, between New York, between Texas, and between Georgia, who all had varying mask mandates. The trajectory is the same. If you look at the UK last year, you'll see that they required masks starting in about July of 2020. Their spike still came just like everywhere else.

Starting point is 00:18:54 in about January of 2020 when that mask mandate was in place. There seems to be no effect whatsoever on the case rate when there are mask mandates in place. I do think that there are studies showing that certain kinds of masks, there was a University of Waterloo study, for example, that showed that certain kinds of masks are proven to be effective in stopping virus particles that might come out of your mouth and land on someone else, that certain kinds of masks, K-N-95, in-95, when they are, properly fitted when they're worn for a specific amount of time that they can be effective in

Starting point is 00:19:30 stopping virus or viral droplets from landing on someone else and then possibly infecting them. The problem is most people don't have access to those kinds of masks. They're not wearing those kinds of masks. Most people are wearing cloth masks or maybe those flimsy blue masks that say on the box that they're not intended to stop any kind of spread of the virus. They're not effective in that. they have all kinds of gaps. Plus you wear it for a while.

Starting point is 00:19:56 It gets wet. Once a mask gets wet, it's almost completely ineffective. And so I'm not saying that no mask is effective. Maybe if every single person were wearing a KN95 mask perfectly fitted to their face with no gaps whatsoever and we're changing it about every 25 minutes, then maybe mask mandates if they were followed to a T would actually be effective. but mask mandates implemented the way that they are. With the mask wearing that we have,

Starting point is 00:20:28 they're not proven to be effective at all. So anyone that's saying, you know, wearing your cloth mask is loving your neighbor, well, actually it's not because it's not actually proven to be effective. Some of the places that are seen, some of the lowest case in hospitalization rates right now, are the states that have had the least restrictions throughout the pandemic like Texas in Florida.

Starting point is 00:20:48 This is according to Fox Business, quote, as of Monday, Michigan has the highest daily rate of new cases per 100,000 residents with 85, according to the New York Times, followed by New Hampshire was 73, New Mexico was 67, and Vermont and Minnesota, both with 61, all the states in the top five voted for President Biden in the 2020 election. Now, typically that correlates to more restrictions surrounding coronavirus. Michigan, however, does not have a mask mandate in place right now. They did for a long time, but apparently Governor Whitmer said that she's not going to put it back in place, which is interesting. So Michigan did have some of the strictest lockdowns this year, according to Fox Business. Vermont has the highest vaccination rate with nearly 72% of its residents being fully vaccinated. New Mexico, Governor Grisham extended the state's indoor mask mandate twice this fall,

Starting point is 00:21:37 and yet, again, has some of the highest cases in the country. When looking at that statistic over a week-long period ending this past Sunday, Fox Business says, Minnesota leads the nation with 426 cases per 100,000 residents, followed by Michigan with 388.6. Wisconsin with 387. North Dakota with 361.5 and New Hampshire with 360.2 data from the CDC shows all of the states in the top five voted for President Biden in the 2020 election, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Hawaii, and Florida round out the states with the lowest daily rate of new cases per 100,000 residents, with numbers ranging for. from 8 to 3. The New York Times reports all but one of the states in the bottom five voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Florida hospitalizations are down by over 92% since August with no restrictions put in place. You'll remember in August when the cases were really high in DeSantis.

Starting point is 00:22:34 He was being called Death Santos on Twitter because he advocated for individual freedom and for parents to be able to make the right decision for their kids. And he was a, You know, shutting down, shutting down businesses and requiring businesses to require vaccine verification in order to enter, in order to enter the business. And so because he advocated for freedom, people were saying that he wanted people to die, that he was so terrible. Of course, they said the same thing about every Republican governor. You're not hearing the same thing about Democratic governor, Governor Whitmer, who

Starting point is 00:23:13 is not put in a mask mandate in place, even though Michigan's number. are really high right now. So that's interesting. It's because viruses are seasonal, as we've talked about. They spread based on human behavior, how much time we're spending together indoors. Lots of people are soaking in the vitamin D in Florida right now outside. Remember, the big piece in New York Magazine as well that dissected the CDC study that showed that mask mandates in schools had no effect on case or mortality rate. And in light of all of this, England is still re-implementing their mask mandate according to Reuters. Just a reminder, your unvaccinated kids' chance of dying from COVID is far less than 1%. There's no reason for you to be more scared of

Starting point is 00:23:57 COVID for your kid than the flu or pneumonia or RSV. Non-R-SV is still very serious. It was very serious for a lot of kids over the summer, which was very strange. That was probably enabled and exacerbated by a lot of the policies that were put in place for kids over the past year and a half. If you look at this chart, and this should comfort you as a parent, no matter what side of the aisle you're on, look at this chart by the New York Times of the hospital emissions over time by age group. If you're watching on YouTube, you will see this flat yellow line. You'll see this flat yellow line that represents kids under the age of 18 and their hospitalization rate. It's low. It's flat line pretty much the entire time. Maybe there was a tiny, there was a tiny, there was a tiny, bump in about August to October that there were more hospitalizations, but that represents about one child per 100,000 people. And so it has remained at one per 100,000 or zero per 100,000

Starting point is 00:25:01 for kids this entire pandemic. So you don't need to be afraid. We have no scientific indication whatsoever that this Omicron variant is going to be more serious for children. So if you remember, all of those headlines a few months ago about how kids are dying in droves and hospitals. It literally just wasn't true. Like I said, there were a lot of kids who had RSV. There were not a lot of kids going to the hospital and dying of COVID. It was not true. Your kid is wearing a cloth mask to school every day for political reasons, not scientific reasons. I know that you are doing it because you feel like it's the more compassionate thing. It's the safer thing to do. But there's no science proving that your kid's damp cloth mask is doing anything positive for anyone. And it might actually be

Starting point is 00:25:42 doing a lot of negative things, possibly. There was a study that came out a few months ago and that is now recirculating online, saying that there are developmental and speech delays that are being demonstrated, that are being found in kids largely because of these masks, of course, because God made us to be able to express ourselves and to be able to speak and listen and understand by using our faces and seeing faces. And now, as for the vaccine for your kids, of course, that's your choice as a parent. Just know the numbers. Know that most children are simply not at risk of any

Starting point is 00:26:17 kind of serious illness when it comes to COVID and then do your cost-benefit analysis using that. Don't do it based on fear-based propaganda that in a few months might not even prove to be true, as we saw with the scare that the media was trying to fan into flames over the summer. What's also amazing is that many states and countries are seeing higher case in hospitalization rates right now than they did last year. despite the vaccines. And that's crazy. So we'll get into that. So here's an interesting tweet from the Wall Street Journal. Quote, U.S. COVID-19 deaths this year surpassed the known toll from 2020, with the Delta variant and low vaccination rates, important factors in the higher count, infectious disease experts say.

Starting point is 00:27:02 Now let's think about that. Let's think about that for a second. How is that possible? 70% of the country, the United States right now, has had at least one. dose of these vaccines that we have been told work really well. We were originally told they work well in keeping people from getting it and spreading it. Joe Biden said that you're not going to get it and you're not going to spread it if you have the vaccine. We now know that that's not true. Now, it may slightly reduce transmission, but people are still getting sick and spreading the virus regularly who are vaccinated. That's a fact. We just heard that LeBron, so Lecovid was trending on Twitter last night. And it was because LeBron James, who is reportedly vaccinated, he tested positive

Starting point is 00:27:43 for COVID. And we know the press secretary several weeks ago, tested positive for COVID. Of course, what you hear is that, you know, these are just rare breakthrough cases and that the reason they don't have severe symptoms is because of their vaccine. Maybe. Maybe so. It may reduce severity in the likelihood of death, but this is still, for most people, a mild sickness. Yes. Yes, people have died from it. Absolutely. It may absolutely be serious. But for most people who are under the age of 50, it's going to present mild cold symptoms.

Starting point is 00:28:16 The New York Times data, I mean, they have done a lot of work in tracking all of this stuff. The New York Times data says that the vaccine does dramatically reduce the possibility of hospitalization and death. But it's just hard. To be honest, it's just hard to understand. how we can be calling these shots effective if the death toll is higher this year than last year when we had zero vaccines. I mean, look at this map from the CDC's COVID tracker. And we've talked about this map before. You will see the darker the color, that deep purple color and the dark red, that that represents the counties that have the highest vaccination rates and the highest case rates.

Starting point is 00:29:03 That's all the Northeast and other parts of the north, north and even in the southwest. And so that's interesting. And Newsweek is also reiterating this interesting fact. The headline is COVID cases are surging in the five most vaccinated states. The five most vaccinated states in the United States, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, Connecticut, and Massachusetts are all experiencing surges in new COVID-19 cases. As the Biden administration urges people over 50 to get their booster. jabs. Vermont, which is the most vaccinated state, with 73% of its population fully jabs, saw an 18% rise in new daily COVID cases over the past 14 days before November 24th,

Starting point is 00:29:45 according to the New York Times. Rhode Island, which is 72% vaccinated, saw a 69% rise in new cases during that same 14-day period. Maine. Also, 72% vaccinated, saw a 35% rise, while Connecticut, which is 72% vaccinated, saw 120% spike in daily. COVID cases, Massachusetts, which is 71% vaccinated, so a rise of 81% during the last 14 days before November 4th. And so these are the biggest spikes in cases. Like it would be one thing if, okay, yeah, they're getting some breakthrough cases. That's normal. That's going to happen. But we're talking about the biggest spikes in case rates throughout the country are also happening in the states that are most highly vaccinated. So that's just a little bit odd, right? That's a little

Starting point is 00:30:33 bit odd. This is according to ENMSC on Twitter, and he compiles all this data. We've talked about his page before. He has a good follow if you want to know what's going on with COVID. He assizes that hospitalizations in Michigan are the highest they've ever been, despite 93% of seniors, having had at least one vaccination dose while exceeding Fauci's 50% target. But the good news is that it's not the governor's fault because she isn't Ron DeSantis. of course that sarcasm. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see that chart that he puts up and his sourcing is from, it says it in really small letters at the bottom. It's from health data.gov plus the CDC. He also tweets about Germany. He says somehow, despite Germany's

Starting point is 00:31:20 endless media praise for their commitment to the science TM with mask mandates in 95s and vaccine passports, they just reported the equivalent of over 300,000 cases in the U.S., the more the science fails, the more we need it. More sarcasm there. And so you see that huge spike in cases in Germany and the chart that he tweeted out. He also recently tweeted on November 29th, with about 80% of the entire population fully vaccinated in a mask mandate with 99% compliance, cases in South Korea are the highest they've ever been. But the good news is that experts and politicians are bringing back mask mandates and vaccine passports to stop COVID. And so, In the highly vaccinated, highly mask compliant South Korea, they are seeing an unprecedented rise in cases.

Starting point is 00:32:09 France also 91% fully vaccinated is seen a very high spike. They've got vaccine passports that were put into place in the summer, July 23rd of 2021. And now they are seen yet another spike in cases. Singapore, almost 90% fully vaccinated. not only the biggest surge in cases they've ever seen, this is according to Johns Hopkins, but also the biggest surge in deaths that they've seen. And we're already hearing that vaccines may not be effective against Omicron. Meg Terrell, who is a senior science reporter at CNBC, she tweeted,

Starting point is 00:32:49 the vaccine makers are talking about tweaking their vaccines to combat Omicron. So Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson, and Johnson are all talking about tweaking a booster shot that would be tailored specifically to Omicron. That's convenient. So here's the question. With so much of, so much we don't know and everything we do know about these mandates really being largely or about these vaccines really being seemingly ineffective in stopping transmission and maybe even in reducing the death count, does it really make sense to mandate them to the point of people, even people who have natural immunity losing their jobs because they don't want to take it? Does it make sense that nurses who sacrificed everything over the past two years almost would be fired or that servicemen and women who put their lives on the line for this country would be fired?

Starting point is 00:33:43 The working class moms and dads who have already worked so hard just to make ends meet over the past 20 months that they should be at risk of losing their jobs if they refuse to get a shot that they don't want or in need, that whether we want to acknowledge it or not, they do come with at least some risk of side effects? Like, does that sound just or moral or scientific or health-centric to you? If it does, then I would argue that your compass is severely off. Yeah, we're seeing some leaders double down. Western Australia, for example, is implementing vaccine mandates for virtually all occupations. You need a vaccine passport to enter pubs, cafes, and shops in Victoria.

Starting point is 00:34:23 New Zealand has mandated vaccines for at least 40% of their workforce. Germany is seeking to make vaccines mandatory by early next year. But here in the United States, we have seen some successful pushback to vaccine mandates, and that's good news. All right. So as we talked about a couple weeks ago, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals halted Biden's vaccine mandate. The court said that the mandate goes way beyond OSHA's intended function and has a lot of constitutional problems. I will link the interview that I did with Ben Shapiro about this a few weeks ago. That'll kind of give you a back. background on all of this and what's really been going on. And his predictions, really in that

Starting point is 00:35:02 interview have come true. He predicted that this wouldn't actually be implemented in January, as the Biden administration said that it was going to be because of the legal issues with it. A federal judge, like I said, halted his mandate for health care workers. This is according to the New York Post. U.S. District Judge Matthew Shelp issued a preliminary injunction on Monday in a scathing 32-page order in which he called the requirement a politically and economically vast federalism-altering and boundary-pushing mandate. It's the latest blow to the federal vaccine requirements under President Joe Biden while more legal challenges pile up. Shelp, Donald Trump, appointee, said in his ruling that the states who sued the administration were

Starting point is 00:35:42 likely to succeed in the argument that Congress hadn't given the federal centers for Medicare and Medicaid services the authority to create the mandate. He also said the mandate could put facilities in a bind without adequate staff to provide services. particularly in rural areas. The injunction affects the states behind the lawsuit, Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. All of the states either have Republican attorneys general or governors. So good job, good job. But that's not it.

Starting point is 00:36:13 That's not it. It's not only about those 10 states. CNBC reported this, quote, U.S. District Judge Terry Dowdy in Monroe, Louisiana, temporarily blocked the center for Medicare and Medicaid services from enforcing its vaccine mandate for health care workers until the court can resolve legal challenges. Dowdy's ruling applied nationwide except in 10 states where the CMS was already prevented from enforcing the rule due to a prior order from a federal judge in St. Louis. Dowdy said that the CMS lacked the authority to issue a vaccine mandate that would require more than 2 million unvaccinated health care workers to get a coronavirus

Starting point is 00:36:47 shot. There is no question that mandating a vaccine's 10.3 million health care workers is something that should be done by Congress, not a government agency, wrote Doughty. Separately, U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Taitenhove and Frankfurt, Kentucky, blocked the administration from enforcing a regulation that new government contracts must include clauses requiring that contractors' employees get vaccinated. More good news. The contractor ruling applied in three states that had filed the lawsuit, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee one of at least 13 legal challenges nationwide against the regulation. It appears to be the first. first ruling against the contractor vaccine mandate, the White House declined to comment.

Starting point is 00:37:30 And so, and we already know, as we mentioned, that the mandate for for private employers with 100 employees or more has already been halted. And this legal battle, there are many legal battles that are unresolved right now. It is likely to reach the Supreme Court. And that's good news. it's probably not going to go into place. And this means that your voice matters. Like you writing to your representative,

Starting point is 00:38:00 writing to your state representatives, trying to get in touch with your governor, trying to get in touch with your local and state leadership, you pushing back, you peacefully protesting, you posting online, you trying to inform your friends and the public about this, that all matters. Like your voice, our cumulative, collective voice absolutely matters.

Starting point is 00:38:20 Politics matter because policy matters, because people matter. how do we affect policy? How do we affect politics by raising a respectful ruckus? You guys have done that. You guys have been equipped. You've been informed and you have been bold and speaking up for what is good and right and true. And so we are seeing the effects of that and praise God. Let's continue to push forward peacefully, peacefully, respectfully, but ruckusfully and prayerfully as we push for people's right to be able to live and work and and move without being forced to have a medical procedure and make a medical choice that they don't want or that they don't need.

Starting point is 00:39:01 Here's what I will tell you. Here's a piece of advice. So your company may still be trying to mandate vaccines and they may be able to do that in your particular state. Do not make that easy for them. Don't make it easy for them. The reality is that they are not required right now by the federal government to do so, but they may be using the fact that there was a mandate that Biden announced that is

Starting point is 00:39:28 kind of in limbo right now. They may be using that as covered to say, well, we don't really know what's going to happen here. So we're just going to start requiring you anyway. So just go ahead and get the vaccine. Of course, that is a ploy to simply try to get people to get the shots. You may not want to get the shots. And they are going to try to threaten you with your job or with the ability to go into the office or whatever, and they're going to try to threaten to take that away in order that you will get the shot. Don't make it easy for them. Do not quit. That is the one piece of advice. I talked to a very prominent attorney about this, the advice that he said to give you guys is don't quit. Don't quit in protestation. That's just making it easier for your employer. Do not

Starting point is 00:40:16 quit. If they are going to fire you, force them to fire you. But don't give them the option of just not worrying about you anymore because you quit because they're probably not going to think about it. Don't quit. Make them fire you if they're going to fire you. If you want to try to apply for a religious exemption, then I encourage you to do so. You do not have to lie. You should not lie. You should not lie on the religious exemption. So if you are not someone who has a problem with, the use of aborted fetal cells in the research for the development of the vaccines, then you shouldn't put that on there because the religious exemption form might tell you that parts of these cell lines from an aborted baby are used in the development for lots of common

Starting point is 00:41:06 medications that we use. So if it is not true for you that you have a sincere objection to that, then don't put that as your reason. You can simply put that you have prayed about this and you feel convicted that this is not the right choice for you. And the person that is reading your exemption is not really allowed to theologically contend with you. They do not have to believe it to be rational. It just has to be a sincere religious objection to getting this vaccine. And they pretty much, and I know a lot of corporations aren't following this, but they pretty much have to accept your religious objection.

Starting point is 00:41:46 your religious exemption. You can also file a complaint with the EEOC. The EEOC is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. You can file a complaint if your religious exemption is not granted or if they threaten to fire you or they do fire you. That is a form of religious discrimination if you have a sincere religious or a medical objection and they fire you because of that. And that is a form of discrimination.

Starting point is 00:42:11 You might be successful in filing a complaint with the EEOC. and when I've said that in the past, people ask me, what's the EEOC? How do I do that? All you got to do is type it into Duc. Go and they will show that to you very easily. Most people don't have the resources to be able to sue their company that obviously takes a lot of money. You might be able to band together with other people in your company and get good representation

Starting point is 00:42:37 and see your company that might absolutely be a possibility. File a complaint with the EEOC. Don't make it easy for them. try to rally other people who have the same beliefs that you do and try to push back against your employer who is mandating this. And that's my advice to you. All right. That's all we have time for today. Tomorrow, like I said, I think we're going to talk about the Julius Jones case. And we're probably going to talk about Waukesha and what happened there and the media coverage of it. And so it'll be a big episode. We'll be back here tomorrow. See you guys then.

Starting point is 00:43:12 Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts.

Starting point is 00:43:54 I hope you'll join us.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 531 | Oh NOmicron, Here We Go Again

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