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GOP lawmaker suggests Amish have no COVID problems anymore because 'they've culled the herd'
February 24, 2021
On Wednesday, during a debate in the Ohio House of Representatives on a bill to allow lawmakers to veto pandemic orders from the state health department, GOP state Rep. Diane Grendell defended a hands-off approach to public health, by arguing that Ohio's Amish community was able to "cull the herd" by letting the virus infect them.
"The Amish in our community ... they refused to wear masks. They refused to because they believe in God, they have that faith in God," said Grendell, who has previously spread conspiracy theories that the state health department's COVID-19 death statistics have been "corrupted."
<p>"They had, initially, I think seven Amish died initially," said Grendell. "And many of them were older, and they have their other problems. But now they don't have it anymore. They've culled the herd, so to speak. And we still aren't doing it, we're taking vaccines now."</p><p>Ohio Republicans have attempted multiple times to <a href="https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2021/01/27/ohio-senate-republicans-want-veto-power-over-covid-health-orders/4265615001/" target="_blank">restrict</a> the state health department's powers. Gov. Mike DeWine, himself a Republican, <a href="https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/12/03/dewine-vetoes-anti-health-department-bill-lawmakers-double-down/" target="_blank">vetoed</a> a similar bill in December.</p><p>
Watch below:
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Improved child care could boost US employment: Fed's Jerome Powell
February 24, 2021
The US has lagged behind other advanced economies in providing child care options, and improvements could help more women return to the job market, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.
"I do think that's an area that's worth looking at," Powell told lawmakers when asked if helping families find affordable child care could help the economy get back to full employment more quickly.
<p>Other advanced economies have built up child care and as a result "they wind up having substantially higher labor force participation among women," Powell told the House Financial Services Committee.</p><p>"We used to lead the world in female labor force participation, a quarter century ago, and we no longer do, and it may just be that those policies have put us behind."</p><p>The unemployment rate for women over 20 was 6.0 percent in January, below the national rate but close to double what it was a year earlier, according to official data.</p><p>However, 2.4 million women left the workforce altogether during the pandemic -- about a million more than men -- dropping the labor force participation rate to 57 percent. </p><p>Powell attributed that to child care duties falling more heavily on women at a time when many schools are closed.</p><p>The central banker's response was remarkable in that in two days of testimony Tuesday and Wednesday he steadfastly dodged any attempt by legislators to extract a comment on what policies the federal government should pursue.</p><p>As Congress moves towards approving President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion aid package -- which provides direct funding and tax credits for child care -- Powell said "those are decisions that lie in your hands."</p><p>"But I do think it's worth looking at these as the United States falls behind in labor force participation, we need to be asking why that is the case and what are the ways we can do more."</p>
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'Dangerous' law enforcement leaders refuse to recognize the legitimacy of Biden's government: Ex-FBI agent
February 24, 2021
As Capitol attackers are slowly being identified and indicted, Americans are learning that many of them were former military or current and former police officers.
During her Wednesday show, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace cited a Justice Department indictment for former Marine Thomas Webster, who used his Marine flag to beat a police officer. When the officer took the flag, Webster came after him with clenched fists.
<p>Webster's "lawyer says Webster attended the rally at the behest of the president of the United States," Wallace explained.</p><p>Former FBI special agent Clint Watts explained that Webster and others like him who served in the military or in law enforcement truly believed that it was acceptable to go in and attack the Capitol. </p><p>"It's just strange. I don't understand that sort of thinking and I think this really speaks to what four years of President Trump politicizing the military and law enforcement can do," said Watts. "We have a significant problem right now in a couple of different ways. The Department of Defense coming in after four strange years going through many secretaries of defense. Their first priority seems to be cleaning out their own ranks, trying to make sure they don't have extremists or people that are anti-government in the ranks of the military which is paid for by the government."</p><p>In the world of law enforcement, he said another issue is that there are community law enforcement members who don't believe that President Joe Biden is the president and don't recognize his authority. </p><p>"They are essentially not going to believe in the rule of law from the federal level, and I think that's an incredibly dangerous phenomenon we have in this country, both between federal, state and local law enforcement, but who are you as a citizen, as an American citizen if you're not on that team whenever you go into their jurisdiction? How are you going to be treated? will you fairly be meted out in terms of what the law is?"<br/></p><p>See the discussion below: </p><p><br/></p>
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