Wednesday Morning Breakfast For The Brain

Good morning Deplorables, today is the first day of the rest of your lives.

What to Expect in 2021: Madness, Mayhem, Manipulation, and More Tyranny

By John W. Whitehead

“Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”―George Orwell, Animal Farm

What should we expect in 2021?

So far, it looks like this year is going to be plagued by more of the same brand of madness, mayhem, manipulation and tyranny that dominated 2020.

Frankly, I’m sick of it: the hypocrisy, the double standards, the delusional belief by Americans at every point along the political spectrum that politics and politicians are the answer to what ails the country, when for most of our nation’s history, politics and politicians have been the cause of our woes.

Consider: for years now, Americans, with sheeplike placidity, have tolerated all manner of injustices and abuses meted out upon them by the government (police shootings of unarmed individuals, brutality, corruption, graft, outright theft, occupations and invasions of their homes by militarized police, roadside strip searches, profit-driven incarcerations, profit-driven wars, egregious surveillance, taxation without any real representation, a nanny state that dictates every aspect of their lives, lockdowns, overcriminalization, etc.) without ever saying “enough is enough.”

Only now do Americans seem righteously indignant enough to mobilize and get active, and for what purpose? Politics. They’re ready to go to the mat over which corporate puppet will get the honor to serve as the smiling face on the pig for the next four years.

Talk about delusion.

It’s so ludicrous as to be Kafkaesque.

A perfect example of how farcical, topsy-turvy, and downright perverse life has become in the America: while President Trump doles out medals of commendation and presidential pardons to political cronies who have done little to nothing to advance the cause of freedom, Julian Assange rots in prison for daring to blow the whistle on the U.S. government’s war crimes

You’d think that Americans would be outraged over such abject pandering to the very swamp that Trump pledged to drain, but that’s not what has the Right and the Left so worked up. No, they’re still arguing over whether dead men voted in the last presidential election.

Either way, no matter which candidate lost to the other, it was always going to be the Deep State that won.

And so you have it: reduced to technicalities, distracted by magician’s con games, and caught up in the manufactured, highly scripted contest over which beauty contestant wears the crown, we have failed to do anything about the world falling apart around us.

Literally.

Our economy—at least as it impacts the vast majority of Americans as opposed to the economic elite—is in a shambles. Our infrastructure is falling apart. Our government has been overtaken by power-hungry predators and parasites. And our ability—and fundamental right—to govern our own lives is being usurped by greedy government operatives who care nothing for our lives or our freedoms.

Our ship of state is being transformed into a ship of fools.

We stand utterly defenseless in the face of a technological revolution brought about by artificial intelligence and wall-to-wall surveillance that is re-orienting the world as we know it. Despite the mounting high-tech encroachments on our rights, we have been afforded a paltry amount of legislative and judicial protections. Indeed, Corporate America has more rights than we do.

We stand utterly powerless in the face of government bureaucrats and elected officials who dance to the tune of corporate overlords and do what they want, when they want, with whomever they want at taxpayer expense, with no thought or concern for the plight of those they are supposed to represent. To this power elite, “we the people” are good for only two things: our tax dollars and our votes. In other words, they just want our money.

We stand utterly helpless in the face of government violence that is meted out, both at home and abroad. Indeed, the systemic violence being perpetrated by agents of the government—inflicted on unarmed individuals by battlefield-trained SWAT teams, militarized police, and bureaucratic government agents trained to shoot first and ask questions later—has done more collective harm to the American people and their liberties than any single act of terror or mass shooting.

We stand utterly silenced in the face of government and corporate censors and a cancel culture that, in their quest to not offend certain viewpoints, are all too willing to eradicate views that do not conform. In this way, political correctness has given way to a more insidious form of group think and mob rule.

We stand utterly locked down in the face of COVID-19 mandates, restrictions, travel bans and penalties that are acclimating the populace to unquestioningly accede to the government’s dictates, whatever they might be (as long as they are issued in the name of national security), no matter how extreme or unreasonable.

We stand utterly intimidated in the face of red flag laws, terrorism watch lists, contact tracing programs, zero tolerance policies, and all other manner of police state tactics that aim to keep us fearful and compliant.

We stand utterly indoctrinated in the collective belief that the government—despite its longstanding pattern and practice of corruption, collusion, dysfunction, immorality and incompetence—somehow represents “we the people.”

Despite all of this, despite how evident it is that we are mere tools to be used and abused and manipulated for the power elite’s own diabolical purposes, we somehow fail to see their machinations for what they truly are: thinly veiled attempts to overthrow our republic and enslave the citizenry in order to expand their power and wealth.

It is a grim outlook for a new year, but it is not completely hopeless.

Read the entire article HERE.

Large numbers of health care and frontline workers are refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine

Via The Blaze

Despite having been prioritized as the first recipients of the coronavirus vaccine, a large number of health care and frontline workers are passing on the vaccine. Early reports from across the country show that health care and frontline workers are refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

In Ohio, 60% of nursing home employees decided not to take the coronavirus vaccine. Last week, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) reacted to the low participation numbers by saying, “We aren’t going to make them but we wish they had a higher compliance.” He added that he was “troubled” by how many nursing home workers rejected the vaccine.

DeWine warned frontline workers that they soon would no longer be in front of the line, “Our message today is: The train may not be coming back for awhile. We’re going to make it available to everyone eventually, but this is the opportunity for you, and you should really think about getting it.”
Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, is frustrated that over half of the nurses in his unit will refuse to get the vaccine.

“Yesterday I had a — not a fight, but I had a friendly argument with more than 50% of my nurses in my unit telling me that they would not get the vaccine,” he told NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

“Some of those nurses have had family members admitted to the hospital, gravely ill with COVID-19,” NPR reported. “But he said some nurses and hospital staff members — many of whom are Latinx or Black — are skeptical it will work and are worried about unfounded side effects.”

In California, an estimated 50% of frontline workers in Riverside County turned down the COVID-19 vaccine, Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari told the Los Angeles Times.

“At St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County, fewer than half of the 700 hospital workers eligible for the vaccine were willing to take the shot when it was first offered. At Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, one in five frontline nurses and doctors have declined the shot,” the LA Times reported. “Roughly 20% to 40% of L.A. County’s frontline workers who were offered the vaccine did the same, according to county public health officials.”

Dr. Nikhila Juvvadi, the chief clinical officer at Chicago’s Loretto Hospital, surveyed the hospital staff right before the coronavirus vaccine came out, and 40% of the employees said they would not get vaccinated, according to NPR.

In an early December survey of New York Fire Department members, approximately 55% of uniformed firefighters said they would opt to not get the shot, according to WNBC-TV.

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation published on Dec. 15 found that 29% of those who work in a health care delivery setting probably would not or definitely would not get the shot. The poll also found that 33% of essential workers would pass. Overall, 27% of Americans are “vaccine-hesitant.”

There is a stark divide among Americans who are willing to get vaccinated depending on their political affiliation. According to the survey, 86% of Democrats say that they will definitely or probably get the coronavirus vaccine, compared to 56% of Republicans who said the same.

Read the entire article HERE.

New York Bill Would Let Governor Imprison, Forcibly Medicate People Suspected Of Illness

Via The Federalist

The New York assembly is considering a bill that would allow government officials such as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and health commissioners to “detain or remove” individuals that they deem a risk to public health.

The bill, first introduced by Democrat New York State Assemblyman N. Nick Perry, grants power to Cuomo and state health officials to forcibly confine any individual who is considered a danger due to a contagious disease or a suspected case of that disease to either a medical facility or another type of space appointed by the governor.

“The governor or his or her delegee may, in his or her discretion, issue and seek enforcement of any other orders that he or she determines are necessary or appropriate to prevent dissemination or transmission of contagious diseases or other illnesses that may pose a threat to the public health,” the bill states.

The proposed legislation does not name COVID-19 specifically. Instead, it claims that, in addition to being detained, individuals who are exposed or infected by a “communicable disease” resulting in “severe morbidity or high mortality” may also be subjected to tests, medical examinations, treatment, preventative medication, and vaccination by the state while being held.

Requirements for this legal detention include the production of “clear and convincing evidence” by the state as well as a court order if the custody prolongs 60 days. Judicial review is required if an individual is detained for more than 90 days.

Individuals may be released only after subjective scrutiny from health departments, which will determine “that the person is not infected with the disease or that such contact no longer presents a potential danger to the health of others.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Impossible Foods cuts wholesale prices by 15% for second time in one year

Via Reuters

Impossible Foods Inc, maker of the plant-based Impossible Burger, said on Wednesday it would cut prices for foodservice distributors in the United States by about 15% amid increasing demand for its burgers.

The price cut is its second in a year and the California-based company is asking distributors to pass on the savings to restaurants and consumers.

The Beyond Meat rival has tied up with several restaurants including Burger King, Starbucks and White Castle, and expanded its retail footprint to thousands of stores across the United States last year.

With the latest cut, the lowest possible price to distributors for the Impossible Burger would be $6.80 per pound, but it is still significantly higher than ground beef prices which range from about $2 to $3 per pound for low fat and non-organic varieties, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Impossible Foods Chief Executive Officer Patrick Brown in a statement noted the price cut is “not the last”.

The company, known for its vegan patties that taste and cook like real meat, said it is also lowering prices for distributors in Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau, with varying cuts based on the region.

Read the entire article HERE.

Top U.S. Media Outlets “Compromised” by Communist China

Via The New American

A huge list of left-wing establishment media outlets have troubling ties to the mass-murdering Communist dictatorship ruling over mainland China, according to newly released documents. One leading commentator who first broke the story argued that it showed Western media was “compromised.” The outlets involved in the scandal include powerhouses such as CNN, the New York Times, Fox News, the Washington Post, Bloomberg, MSNBC, and many major newspapers across the country. Millions of dollars have been paid by the regime to top U.S. media outlets, too.

According to documents obtained by the National Pulse, a shadowy Beijing-backed outfit known as the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) has been treating key U.S. media personalities and “journalists” to exclusive private dinners and even trips to Communist China. Among other major concerns, CUSEF was founded by the vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which U.S. authorities have identified as a critical part of the Chinese Communist Party’s “United Work Front.”

The regime’s “United Work Front” department is a crucial branch of the regime handling its overseas influence operations. The U.S. government’s U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission (USCSERC) noted in an official report that the CCP uses United Front work “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party.” This would be completely in line with efforts to manipulate the American media, which, aside from being naïve, has a bizarre soft spot for communism.

Using United Front, the CCP selects a wide range of targets for manipulation — especially those in a position to support or oppose the mass-murdering regime’s objectives, such as media outlets. “The United Front strategy uses a range of methods to influence overseas Chinese communities, foreign governments, and other actors to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies,” the 2018 U.S. government report on China’s Overseas United Front Work continues.

Read the entire article HERE.

Newsom Issues Double Stay-at-Home Order Where You Have To Stay In A Smaller House Inside Your Original House

Via the Babylon Bee (Satire)

SACRAMENTO, CA—In an attempt to fight another spike in COVID-19 infections in California, Governor Gavin Newsom has issued the first ever double stay-at-home order. With the new order, people aren’t only ordered to stay in their homes no matter what, but also aren’t free to wander around their homes. Instead they have to stay inside smaller houses inside their regular homes.

“If staying home makes you safe,” Newsom told the press. “Then staying inside an even smaller home inside that home would make you double-safe. This is just basic science, as any scientist would tell you.” This statement got a nod of approval from scientist Scruffy who stood beside Newsom, though it was possible that man was just a hobo who got a lab coat at Goodwill.

With the new order, people were told to bring a bunch of snacks and a bottle to pee in to reduce the need to ever leave the smaller house. People are also ordered to wear masks while alone in their own tiny houses because, “Why not?”

Police will be going house to house and looking through the windows to make sure everyone is in their tiny houses inside their houses, though some sheriff’s offices say they won’t comply because of something called the “Constitution.” Newsom reiterated, though, that there are no exceptions to this double stay-at-home order other than if you’re a governor and really want a fancy dinner.

Check out all of the Bee’s takes on politics and culture HERE.

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