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2021-11-04 at 4:43 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sAP News
Military
Feds Seek Tougher Sentences for Veterans Who Stormed Capitol
During his 27 years in the U.S. Army, Leonard Gruppo joined the Special Forces, served in four war zones and led a team of combat medics in Iraq before retiring in 2013 as a lieutenant colonel.
During his six minutes inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Gruppo joined a slew of other military veterans as a mob of pro-Trump rioters carried out an unparalleled assault on the bastion of American democracy. He’s among dozens of veterans and active-service members charged in connection with the insurrection.
Now, cases like his are presenting a thorny question for federal judges to consider when they sentence veterans who stormed the Capitol: Do they deserve leniency because they served their country or tougher punishment because they swore an oath to defend it?
The Justice Department has adopted the latter position. In at least five cases so far, prosecutors have cited a rioter’s military service as a factor weighing in favor of a jail sentence or house arrest. Prosecutors have repeatedly maintained that veterans’ service, while commendable, made their actions on Jan. 6 more egregious.
The participation of veterans in the riot was particularly shocking because some of them apparently used training they received in the U.S. military against their own government to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Several veterans are among the far-right extremists charged with plotting coordinated attacks on the Capitol, including Oath Keepers members who marched up the Capitol steps in a “stack” formation used by military infantrymen.
Prosecutors’ arguments about rioters’ military service didn’t sway one of the first judges to hear them — at Gruppo’s sentencing hearing last Friday.
“I don’t view his military service that way. I just can’t bring myself to do that,” Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said before sentencing Gruppo to two years of probation, including 90 days of house arrest.
A prosecutor argued that Gruppo’s military service supported the Justice Department’s recommendation for a 30-day jail sentence. Assistant U..S. Attorney Hava Mirell said Gruppo, 56, of New Mexico, was trained to recognize the obvious danger at the Capitol and “to assist rather than to harm.”
“But the fact that he did receive that training and the fact that he intentionally overlooked his oath to commit one of the most destructive acts against our Constitution and our democracy, that does affect the government’s view of his conduct,” she said.
Defense attorney Daniel Lindsey argued his client’s service to the country shouldn’t be used against him. He said Gruppo initially wanted to keep quiet about his military service because he felt he had dishonored it.
“And he did,” Howell interjected. “Let’s not mince words.”
But the judge said she was surprised by the Justice Department’s position because she believes most Americans would have “enormous respect” for Gruppo’s service.
“And it’s not just because I grew up on military bases around the world,” Howell added.
In most criminal cases, judges typically view a defendant’s military service as a mitigating factor that favors leniency, said James Markham, a professor of public law and government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But he recognizes how the Justice Department could conclude that rioters with military experience should be held to a higher standard than those without it.
“It’s obviously not related to their military service directly, but it’s also not entirely conceptually unrelated that somebody who is a veteran or had military service could be viewed as having a more refined understanding of the importance of civilian control and electoral stability,” said Markham, a lawyer and Air Force veteran.
More than 650 people have been charged in the Jan. 6 attack. Some of the rioters facing the most serious charges, including members of far-right extremist groups, have military backgrounds. A handful of riot defendants were on active duty, including an Army reservist who wore a Hitler mustache to his job at at a Navy base.
More than 100 riot defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of six months of incarceration. Two dozen had been sentenced as of Friday. At least three of the sentenced defendants are veterans, according to an Associated Press review of court records.
In September, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg sentenced Air Force veteran Derek Jancart to 45 days in jail for joining the riot. Prosecutors had sought a four-month jail sentence for Jancart, an Ohio steelworker.
“He swore an oath to defend the country and instead he participated in an attack on democracy itself,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Goemaat.
Jancart said he loves his country and is ashamed of his actions. The judge told Jancart that he respects his military service, particularly his deployment to Afghanistan, but said it wasn’t the only factor to consider.
“You attempted with others to undermine one of our country’s bedrock acts, which is the peaceful transfer of power following a democratic election,” Boasberg said.
Another Air Force veteran, Thomas Vinson, was sentenced on Oct. 22 to five years of probation. Prosecutors had recommended three months of house arrest for Vinson, a Kentucky resident who served in the Air Force from 1984 through 1988.
Vinson, whose wife also was sentenced to probation for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, told U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton that he loves his country and joined the military to defend it.
“I took that oath to the Constitution, and I know I broke that oath that day by entering that building,” Vinson said.
At least two other rioters who served in the military are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming days.
Prosecutors have recommended two months in jail for Boyd Camper, who served in the U.S. Marines from 1987 to 1990. The Montana man told the FBI that he believed he was on the “front line” and entered a “combat” state of mind at the Capitol, where he used a camera with an extension pole to record himself inside the building, according to prosecutors.
“His voluntary decision to storm a guarded government building is nothing short of shocking in light of his former military service and training,” prosecutors wrote ahead of Camper’s Oct. 12 sentencing.
Prosecutors are seeking two months of house arrest for Air Force veteran Jonathan Ace Sanders Sr., who is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday. Surveillance video captured the Indiana man wearing a military-type vest as he walked through the Capitol, according to prosecutors.
“As an Air Force veteran, Sanders was well aware of the great jeopardy posed by the rioters’ violent entry into the Capitol,” prosecutors wrote. “His repeated assertions that he had done nothing wrong is not credible — his background shows he knew better.” -
2021-11-04 at 3:32 PM UTC in STICK IT, Damn It!POLITICO
Biden vaccine mandates will hit after holiday season, offering relief to businesses
By Rebecca Rainey
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The Biden administration’s forthcoming vaccine mandates for millions of private employers, certain health care workers and federal contractors will not be enforced until after the holiday season, following weeks of pressure from business leaders who complained the rules would wreak havoc on the supply chain and aggravate worker shortages.
Officials said the administration is pushing back the Dec. 8 deadline for federal contractors to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated, so that all three mandates will go into effect on Jan. 4.
The administration released two new rules on Thursday that will be enforced starting Jan. 4 — one setting up new vaccination-or-test requirements for businesses with more than 100 workers and another implementing a vaccine mandate for health care workers at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid. Together, the rules are expected to affect over 1 million workers.
“Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on workers, and we continue to see dangerous levels of cases,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said. “Many businesses understand the benefits of having their workers vaccinated against Covid-19, and we expect many will be pleased to see this OSHA rule go into effect.”
Officials also said the administration is pushing back the Dec. 8 deadline for federal contractors to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated, so that all three mandates will go into force on Jan. 4.
While employers were given a brief reprieve from immediately implementing the test and vaccine verification piece of the rule, the administration clarified that businesses must be in compliance on Dec. 5 with all other requirements, such as providing paid time off for employees to get vaccinated and requiring unvaccinated workers to wear a mask in the workplace.
Under the rules, workers at private businesses with more than 100 employees will have the option to wear a mask at work and submit to weekly Covid-19 testing in lieu of getting vaccinated. Health care workers and government contractors do not have the testing option.
Unvaccinated workers who claim they have a legally protected exception to getting the vaccine could be fired if their employer says it would be an “undue hardship” to offer remote work or some other accommodation.
Companies that fail to follow the vaccine-or-test rules can be fined up to $14,000 per infraction.
The temporary rules for private employers go into effect immediately and stay in place for six months, but can be directly challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Private employers will not be required to pay for weekly Covid-19 tests for employees who refuse to get vaccinated, according to the new emergency temporary standard released by the Labor Department on Thursday. Whether insurers will cover the cost of testing for unvaccinated workers is up to individual insurance plans, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jim Frederick.
Private employers subject to the emergency standard must also provide paid time off for workers to receive and recover from the Covid-19 vaccine, according to the rule.
'They work' - Biden touts vaccine mandates
Senior administration officials told reporters Wednesday that the vaccine-or-test requirement for private businesses alone “will protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of the Coronavirus” on the job and estimate that it will prevent over 250,000 hospitalizations.
The requirements, which President Joe Biden announced in September as part of his latest campaign to combat Covid-19, have already ignited a legal battle with conservative states over the government’s authority to impose such directives.
Nineteen states, including Florida and Texas, sued the Biden administration last month over the vaccine mandate for federal contractors, arguing the requirement was an unlawful overreach. And 24 state attorneys general and various business groups have warned the administration that it would face legal challenges if it moved forward with the vaccine-or-test rules for private employers.
Some Republican governors, including Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Alabama’s Kay Ivey, have tried to preemptively block private businesses from imposing mandates of any kind via executive order, although legal experts and the administration say those state rules are preempted by the new federal requirements.
“I expect to see battle royale in Texas, in Florida or anywhere else that wants to try to stop these” rules, David Miller of Bryant Miller Olive P.A., said. States are likely to argue the federal mandate violates the First Amendment, as applied to states through the 14th Amendment, Miller said.
“I really think that's where it's finally going to come to the nub in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. That's the only way this is getting settled,” he added.
The administration’s move to delay the federal contractor mandate comes after trade groups, businesses and Republicans complained that the requirements will force employers to fire workers who refuse to get the vaccine or lead to mass resignations among workers who don’t want to comply, leading to more disruption in the labor market and the supply chain ahead of the crucial holiday season.
"In response to similar state and federal mandates, many private companies have begun firing workers who refuse the Covid-19 vaccine,” said Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho), during a labor subcommittee hearing on the mandate for private employers last month. "This federal vaccine mandate will worsen the supply chain crisis, almost guaranteeing Americans will go without this Christmas.”
But unions, labor advocates, health officials and even some businesses have lauded the effort from the administration, calling the vaccine-or-test rules for private companies long-overdue and finally unifying a state-by-state patchwork of requirements.
“One of the biggest struggles of the last two years is that we are dealing with an ever-changing patchwork of health and safety regulations that, in many cases, have differed not just state to state, but county by county,” Richelle Luther, chief human resources officer at Columbia Sportswear Company, told lawmakers during a hearing in October.
“A federal mandate is needed,” she added. “We do not believe it is more regulation for business, but rather, less. A quilt of local laws and approaches created vastly more regulation of business, more uncertainty, risk and inefficiency.”
Some economists predict the federal vaccine mandates could have a positive effect on the labor force. Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in September that “an increase in vaccination and almost full vaccination at workplaces should encourage many of the 5 [million] workers that have left the labor force since the start of the pandemic to return.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is the federal agency that polices employment discrimination, has given employers the greenlight to mandate Covid-19 vaccination in their workplace, so long as they provide accommodations for workers who say they can’t get the shot because of their religious beliefs or a disability.
Last month, the EEOC clarified that “social, political, or personal preferences” are not considered protected religious beliefs under federal anti-discrimination law.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency tasked with policing worker safety, has the authority to issue emergency temporary safety rules that go into effect immediately if it determines that workers are “in grave danger” due to exposure to something “determined to be toxic or physically harmful or to new hazards.”
Emergency temporary standards are rarely issued by OSHA. Before an emergency Covid-19 workplace safety rule went into place for health care workers earlier this year, the agency hadn’t released an emergency standard since the 1980s.
OSHA has issued 10 emergency temporary standards in its five-decade history. Of those, at least five were stayed or blocked by the courts, according to the Congressional Research Service. -
2021-11-04 at 3:17 PM UTC in STICK IT, Damn It!Mandate
All
Get
A jab
ABC News
Vaccine or test: Biden advances sweeping new mandates for private sector
It’s likely to become President Joe Biden’s most hotly contested COVID policy yet: a sweeping nationwide safety standard for the American workplace that demands large businesses require their employees to either get the vaccine or test regularly.
The temporary emergency rule would apply to every U.S. private business that employs 100 workers or more -- from grocery clerks to meatpacking plant employees -- impacting some 80 million Americans.
It would be the first time Washington has set a federal standard that regards a respiratory virus as an occupational hazard outside of the health care sector, essentially putting COVID in the same category as other workplace safety concerns as asbestos and dangerous machinery.
Details were expected to be released as early as Thursday on the rule, drafted by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA.
"It’s the biggest thing OSHA has ever done in terms of the number of workers it will cover," said Jordan Barab, a longtime top official at the agency during the Obama administration.
Union and industry groups say they have yet to see a draft of the new rule. Among the most pressing questions is when employers would have to comply, with Republicans warning that mandates ahead of the holidays might exacerbate the nation’s worker shortage.
It’s also unclear how long the temporary standard would be in place and if it would apply to short-term "gig" workers, like freelancers and Uber drivers, or smaller franchises that are part of nationwide chains, like small restaurants or gyms.
How employers will be expected to enforce the standard is another question mark.
"We don’t know what they’re looking it. It’s a black box," said one industry official involved in recent discussions with the administration.
Since taking office, the Biden administration had avoided imposing nationwide vaccine mandates, focusing instead on incentives for businesses and individuals. But with the arrival of the delta variant, a surge in pediatric cases and pockets of the country remaining hesitant to get a shot, Biden’s COVID strategy shifted in recent weeks.
"We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us," Biden said of unvaccinated Americans on Sept. 9 when announcing his plan to draft the rule.
Federal contractors now have until Nov. 22 to become fully vaccinated, while contractors that work with the government have until Dec. 8.
Testing for these workers is not an option.
Biden also has required that health facilities like hospitals and nursing homes that accept federal dollars mandate vaccines for their workers, a total estimated at 17 million workers.
The latest OSHA rule would significantly expand that pool of Americans, putting two-thirds of the nation’s workforce under a kind of mandate.
Once divided on how to address the pandemic, Republican governors have united against the plan, insisting it represents dangerous federal overreach and would cripple business owners already dealing with worker shortages.
"Rest assured, we will fight them to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian," tweeted the South Carolina GOP Gov. Henry McMaster last September following Biden's announcement.
Supporters counter that many large businesses have already embraced vaccine mandates to both entice employees who want a safe workplace and end a pandemic that has hobbled the economy. They argue too that whenever employees have enacted mandates, the vast majority of workers comply.
"This is not a vaccine mandate. It’s a safe workplace mandate -- getting vaccinated or tested," said Barab, the former deputy assistant secretary of labor for OSHA.
"You want to do it as soon as you can to protect as many people as you can," he added.
A Labor Department spokesperson and the White House declined to discuss the specifics of the rule ahead of its release, other than to confirm that the White House’s Office of Management and Budget completed its regulatory review on Monday.
"The Federal Register will publish the emergency temporary standard in the coming days," a Labor Department spokesperson said.
As an emergency standard, the rule would take effect immediately. But the administration was widely expected to give businesses at least some time to comply, although it’s not clear how long. Several industry groups were pushing for a 60-day implementation period that would push any enforcement into 2022.
The rule was expected to call on employers to give workers time off to get the shot and recover from any side effects.
It’s unlikely that workers would be required to get booster shots -- at least as of now. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers a person "fully immunized" as one shot of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine or two shots of Moderna or Pfizer. CDC officials warn, however, that definition could change as new research develops.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that the rule also would allow employers to force workers who refuse to get the COVID shot to pay for any weekly tests and masks. -
2021-11-04 at 6:09 AM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sCHERING HER THOUGHTS
Newsweek
Cher Launches Tirade Against Republican Party—'Held My Tongue Long Enough'
Emma Nolan
Cher has launched a brutal tirade against the Republican Party, accusing its members of wanting a "whites only club."
The musical icon, 75, has long been a critic of the GOP and was a harsh critic of former President Donald Trump during his time at the White House.
Now the "Believe" performer has lashed out at the party on Twitter in a lengthy rant to her 3.9 million followers.
"HELD MY TONGUE,LONG ENOUGH,BUT FK IT‼️DO DEMS NEED A [house emoji] 2 FALL ON THER SISTERS, [bee emoji]4 THEY C WHATS COMING!?" Cher tweeted on November 3.
“🇺🇸TERRORISTS”YELLING HANG PENCE,KILL PELOSI, ISNT ENOUGH.IF GOP TAKE POWER IT’LL🐝 “TOTAL POWER”.ITS “WHITE’S”ONLY CLUB,& BLM,LGBT,jediS,ASIANS,MINORITIES,R IN🇩🇪STYLE PERIL
— Cher (@cher) November 3, 2021
She continued: "GUESS [American flag emoji] 'TERRORISTS' YELLING HANG PENCE,KILL PELOSI, ISNT ENOUGH.
"IF GOP TAKE POWER IT'LL [bee emoji] 'TOTAL POWER'. ITS 'WHITE'S' ONLY CLUB,& BLM,LGBT,jediS,ASIANS,MINORITIES,R IN [German flag emoji] STYLE PERIL."
In a later tweet, Cher praised Joe Biden saying that the president "works tirelessly with congress and passes bills to help every day Americans." [Edited for clarity.]
She also said that Biden is prevented from working because he is "hit" by Dems "left and right" which causes "gridlock."
"THEY CAUSE GRIDLOCK,WHILE GOP SIT & PLAN HOW2 PICK OUR BONES CLEAN IF WE FAIL," she said.
Cher then called the GOP "Nazis in lockstep" and added: "ITS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOCRACY& DICTATORSHIP."
JOE WORKS TIRELESSLY 2 WORK WITH CONG,& PASS BILLS 2 HELP EVERY DAY AMERICANS,& HE’S HIT FROM DEMS ON RIGHT,& LEFT.THEY CAUSE GRIDLOCK,WHILE GOP SIT & PLAN HOW2 PICK OUR BONES CLEAN IF WE FAIL. GOP ARE NAZI’S IN LOCKSTEP.ITS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOCRACY& DICTATORSHIP
— Cher (@cher) November 3, 2021
In another tweet, Cher said that Trump and his "flying monkeys" are set on destroying the Democratic party.
"2 TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE POOR & INCONSEQUENTIAL,& GIVE 2BILLIONAIRES.IF GOP GET IN AGAIN THEY'LL BREAK RULES THEY HAVEN'T YET BROKEN," she tweeted.
trump & HIS FLYING🐒🐒, HAVE ONLY 1 PURPOSE, THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.” 2 TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE POOR & INCONSEQUENTIAL,& GIVE 2BILLIONAIRES.IF GOP GET IN AGAIN THEY’LL BREAK RULES
THEY HAVEN’T YET BROKEN.WILL CATHOLICS BUDDHISTS🐝SAFE.WHO WILL JUDGE THEM trump
Cher previously accused Republicans of trying to "achieve the dream" of white supremacy in a rant about the new voting laws in Georgia in April.
"THIS IS NOT DEMOCRACY‼️ ITS GOP'S MANTRA 'WHITE IS RIGHT',& 'ONLY THE RIGHT PPL SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO VOTE' Why aren't Dems Quaking in Their Boots About The Browning of [American flag emoji]. I'm Excited.We Are Better Together," she said at the time. -
2021-11-03 at 9:04 PM UTC in Opinion……How will this end?Says the guy to whom Value Village completes his life.
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2021-11-03 at 8:59 PM UTC in If you could change 1-3 things about your job, what would it be?You stole that from your boss, didn't you?
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2021-11-03 at 8:57 PM UTC in MasterchefWhat you ate when you came home drunk or what you shit out the next day?
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2021-11-03 at 8:14 PM UTC in What are you doing at the momentHave a safe trip, darlin'.
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2021-11-03 at 8:10 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty's
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2021-11-03 at 8:08 PM UTC in What are you doing at the momentYou sober after drinking that 180 proof firewater yet?
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2021-11-03 at 8:04 PM UTC in Digital VaccineMore like Pocket Pool.
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2021-11-03 at 8:01 PM UTC in What are you listening to right now, space nigga?
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2021-11-03 at 7:59 PM UTC in Opinion……How will this end?
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2021-11-03 at 7 PM UTC in Ur the type of dude who puts oyster crackers in his chili...I don't believe those are oysters...or crackers.
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2021-11-03 at 6:58 PM UTC in What are you doing at the moment
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2021-11-03 at 6:46 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sThe bet was that Trump would be reinstated by such and such a date (probably 20 dates ago by now) or Weasel would leave NIS. He refused to honor his bet.
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2021-11-03 at 6:43 PM UTC in what's the last thing you bought?Bacon Helper?
I never thought bacon needed any help. -
2021-11-03 at 6:40 PM UTC in Digital Vaccine
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2021-11-03 at 6:37 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty's
Originally posted by Solstice They would never do that, they'll just move the goalposts again and say it's happening in December, or January, etc etc.
We will be three administrations into the future and these niggers will still be talking about Trump coming back
Polecat has already made that promise and then betrayed it.
That is why I have thereafter referred to him as "Weasel". -
2021-11-03 at 6:18 PM UTC in Opinion……How will this end?How old are you, child?
