Does Vaccine Refusal Pose a Threat?

Biden has based his new vaccine mandate rules on the idea that vaccine refusal poses a tangible threat to the general public, stating, “your refusal has cost all of us.”

…vaccine resisters carry on about violations of their freedom, ignoring the fact that they don’t live in a bubble, and that their decision to stay unvaccinated infringes on everyone else’s freedom — the freedom to move around the country, the freedom to visit safely with friends and family, the freedom to stay alive.

Unvaccinated people are about 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than those who are fully vaccinated… The new study, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, also found that unvaccinated people were nearly five times more likely to be infected with Covid than people who got the shots.

To justify his sweeping and constitutionally dubious employer vaccine mandate, President Joe Biden is claiming his order is necessary to “protect the vaccinated.” If that’s the case, what’s the point of vaccination in the first place?

What’s Next for the Recall Election?

On the morning of California’s highly anticipated recall election, here are three final takes on the campaign to unseat Governor Gavin Newsom.

…if the recall is defeated, the governor’s first thank you cards should go to Elder and to the GOP governors of Texas and Florida, who helped California’s embattled chief executive turn this recall campaign from a referendum into a choice.

What the recall does tell us is that California — one of the bluest states in the country — is not so different from other places in being subject to the gravitational tug of partisan forces.

Their lord and master Donald Trump has already, after all, “predicted” a “rigged” election. And since this is an election conducted by a Democratic-controlled state widely deploying mail ballots… the Big Lie more or less requires them to contest the fairness or legality of any election they lose.

Can the Colorado River Be Saved?

The Colorado River, a major source of water for California and other states, is running out of water due to drought and poor management.

The Colorado River is essential to the social, economic and environmental vitality of the American West — supplying water to more than 40 million people, irrigating millions of acres of farmland and providing thousands of megawatts of low-carbon energy.

Scientists and water policy experts say that the science is clear: The Colorado River’s supply will likely shrink further as the planet warms. Given what we know, many say we will have to use even less water in the future.

I look at the Colorado River basin and there’s a lot of water still to work with, and there’s so much inefficiency. There is an enormous opportunity to recalibrate how that water is used and make it last a whole lot longer without having the devastating impacts on people’s lives in that region that many people are afraid of now.

What Does Judaism Have to Say About Abortion?

Texas’ recent six-week abortion ban has some Jews reflecting on the different Jewish approaches to this subject. Here are three takes on Jewish approaches to the issue of abortion:

Just as it is untrue to claim the Jewish view of abortion is entirely in line with how some progressives view it, it is also untrue to claim that Judaism’s view of abortion is in line with the Catholic or the so-called “pro-life” community.

Judaism teaches that potential life is sacred. Nevertheless, our religion also teaches that potential life is not the same as actual life, that a fetus is not a human being. This is directly derived from Scripture.

In contemporary Jewish debate there are stringent opinions adopting the attitude that abortion is homicide – thus permissible only to save the mother’s life. And there are lenient interpretations broadly expanding justifications based on a women’s well-being.

Did Occupy Wall Street Accomplish Anything?

A decade after the Occupy Wall Street protests divided public opinion in America, here are three takes on the legacy of the movement:

Occupy is 10 yrs old this week. Since then income inequality has only increased. Minimum wage is exactly the same. Trillions of $$ has been sucked into Wall Street’s ponzi scheme. And 15 million people face eviction.

In the years since, a cascade of social movements influenced by Occupy have altered the national conversation, including Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the Women’s March, Indivisible, and March for Our Lives. On a fundamental level, “we changed the way that people hear and see and understand and process a narrative of resistance,” the former Occupy activist Dana Balicki said.

Critics who called Occupy a failure — noting it never agreed on that “one demand” as called for in the Adbusters meme — missed the offshoots and alliances that continued working to re-energize a once moribund progressive movement in the U.S.

Twitter Talk: Was AOC’s Dress Hypocritical?

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez showed up to the Met Gala in a white dress emblazoned with the words “Tax the Rich.” Here’s what Twitter has to say:

@AOC is wearing a Tax The Rich dress at a $33,000/person event, exclusively attended by Hollywood elites.

She understands irony almost as well as she does economics.

sorry but i thought AOC’s dress was cool and kinda daring

When AOC was a bartender demanding that we tax the rich, people said that she was just jealous of them.

And now that AOC IS amongst the elite and STILL advocating to increase their taxes, those same people are dismissing her as a hypocrite.

Today’s Hot Issues

Does Vaccine Refusal Pose a Threat? What’s Next for the Recall Election? Can the Colorado River Be Saved? What Does Judaism Have to Say About Abortion? Did Occupy Wall Street Accomplish Anything? Twitter Talk: Was AOC’s Dress Hypocritical?