Free Speech is Being Silenced

Free Speech is Being Silenced

Biden says cops, first responders should be fired if they refuse COVID vaccination, mocks Americans' 'freedom' — and receives raucous applause



President Joe Biden on Thursday said he believes police officers and first responders who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 should be fired over the decision.

What are the details?

During a CNN Town Hall event Thursday night , Biden told moderator Anderson Cooper that it's unacceptable for emergency services workers to remain unvaccinated.

Noting that as many as 1 in 3 emergency responders in cities across the country are balking at city vaccine mandates, Cooper asked, "I'm wondering where you stand on that. Should police officers, emergency responders be mandated to get vaccines? And if not, should they be, stay at home, let go?"

Biden responded, "Yes and yes."

Cheers and applause broke out in response to the president's remarks.

Biden responded to Cooper's question by stating that he and his administration decided to hand down vaccine mandates because he didn't feel there was any other reasonable choice. He also added that he highly doubts there will be mass revolts against required vaccines, or that employees will stage large-scale walkouts over the requirement.

"I waited until July to talk about mandating because I tried everything else possible," he said. "The mandates are working. All the stuff about people leaving and people getting it, you have everyone from United Airlines to Spirit — all these airlines, we're not gonna get ... Ninety-six, 97% of the people have gotten the vaccine. All the talk about all these folks who are gonna leave the military if they are mandated, not true. You got about a 90-some percent vaccination rate. I mean, so the idea is that, look. The two things that concern me. One, are those who just try to make this a political issue."

He then mocked those who are against COVID-19 vaccines on the basis of personal choice.

"'Freedom! 'I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID,'" Biden joked, and was met with applause, laughs, and cheers. "No, I mean, come on, freedom."

He continued, "Number two, the second one is that the gross misinformation out there."

“...should police officers, emergency responders be mandated to get vaccines and if not should they be, stay at hom… https://t.co/KF7ctZG2dI

— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) 1634869694.0

Anything else?

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) appeared on Fox News Friday morning, where she slammed the president for his remarks on police and first responders as well as for mocking the American public, much of which prides itself on freedom of choice.

"My reaction is this is absolutely absurd and sadly it's very typical of Joe Biden and the Biden administration to attack Americans' everyday freedoms," she said. "First of all, they're turning their backs on law enforcement officers and first responders who put their lives and their health on the line every single day, particularly during the COVID pandemic. ... These mandates are unconstitutional and it's an attack on our very freedoms in this country and to have the President of the United States mock freedom, frankly, that's un-American."

You can listen to the rest of Stefanik's remarks in the video below.

Biden bizarrely asks if Republicans 'think we're sucking the blood out of kids' when questioned if Democrats support defunding the police



President Joe Biden raised eyebrows this week after bizarrely making two references regarding a conspiracy theory about Democrats "sucking the blood out of kids." The latest mention of the conspiracy theory was in response to a question about Democrats wanting to defund the police.

BlazeTV personality and host of "Slightly Offens*ve" Elijah Schaffer shared a video of Biden flagrantly changing the subject when asked about Democrats wanting to defund the police. Which is a valid question since progressive members of the Democratic Party, including popular Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.), have publicly voiced their intentions to defund the police.

Daily Caller senior White House correspondent Shelby Talcott asked Biden on the South Lawn, "Are there people in the Democratic Party who want to defund the police?"

Biden employed a whataboutism tactic and responded, "Are there people in the Republican Party who think we're sucking the blood out of kids?"

A befuddled Talcott replied to the peculiar and unrelated answer by saying, "I...I'm...I'm not sure."

Love that @ShelbyTalcott was able to get Joe Biden to admit he’s aware people think he drinks the blood of children… https://t.co/EhNvSTbJ53

— ELIJAH SCHAFFER (@ElijahSchaffer) 1627013069.0

Strangely enough, this isn't the first time President Biden has publicized the morbid conspiracy theory. During a CNN town hall event Wednesday, Biden made a similar comment about the falsehood of Democrats "sucking the blood of children."

CNN anchor Don Lemon asked Biden about the lack of bipartisan support for a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot, "If Republicans and Democrats can't come together to investigate the biggest attack on our Capitol in 200 years, what makes you think that they can come together on anything?"

Biden responded, "These people. No, I mean it. I'm not being facetious. Democrats and Republicans. I don't care if you think I'm Satan reincarnated. The fact is, you can't look at that television and say nothing happened on the 6th. You can't listen to people who say this was a peaceful march."

"No, I'm serious. Think about it. Think of the things being said," Biden continued. "I've been through the other end of this when the Democrats 35 years ago were way off to the other side. Think about it."

"Look, I sometimes get myself in trouble for what I'm about to say. Not that I get in trouble," Biden said. "As you've heard me say before, no one ever doubts I mean what I say. The problem is I sometimes say all that I mean."

"But all kidding aside, I have faith in the American people – I really do – to ultimately get to the right place," Biden added. "And, by the way, many times Republicans are in the right place. I don't mean it's always Democratic point of view."

President Biden then highlighted the conspiracy theory, "But some of the stuff – I mean, QAnon, the idea that the Democrats or that Biden is hiding people and sucking the blood of children and – no, I'm serious. That's – now you may not like me, and that's your right."

Biden was referring to a QAnon conspiracy theory that claims that some Democrats are practicing Satanism and are involved in the sex trafficking of children.

"The QAnon conspiracy also claims that figures like Clinton sometimes literally eat children as part of a Satanic ritual and to gain vitality by harvesting the substance 'adrenochrome,'" according to Newsweek.

'I don't care if you think I'm Satan reincarnated': Biden says no excuse for downplaying riots youtu.be

CNN fact check nails Biden on numerous lies and exaggerations during town hall event



CNN fact-checked President Joe Biden on numerous statements he made during a town hall event on their own network and found him wanting.

Hosted by CNN host Don Lemon, the president responded to questions from the audience at the town hall event Wednesday in Cincinnati, Ohio.

On Thursday, CNN refuted many of the claims Biden made during the event.

Coronavirus vaccination

Biden made contradictory statements about the efficacy of vaccination against the coronavirus event.

"If you're vaccinated, you're not going to be hospitalized, you're not going to be in the ICU unit and you're not going to die," said Biden at one point.

Later, he added that even if vaccinated people were to become infected with the virus that they were "not likely to get sick."

In a third statement, he assured the audience that "you're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations."

CNN noted that the second statement was the most accurate statement about the efficacy of vaccinations.

Inflation

CNN noted that Biden dismissed a question about the increasing price of cars over inflation, saying, "The cost of an automobile, it's kind of back to what it was before the pandemic."

But that is not true, and prices for used and new automobiles have skyrocketed during Biden's term.

Biden's vaccination goal

Biden bumbled the numbers on what he initially promised to succeed in relation to the rate of the coronavirus vaccinations.

"Now, by the way, remember when I first got elected," he said, "the issue was, well, I said I was going to do a million shots a week, and people said, 'Biden can't do that' or 'Biden team can't do that.' And it was 2 million."

CNN pointed out that Biden had promised to meet the rate of a million vaccinations per day, not a million per week.

CNN reported that Biden was able to achieve another goal of 200 million vaccinations by 100 days, but the network neglected to note that this goal was made after Biden was ridiculed for having such an easily achievable previous goal.

How many is that?

Biden was confused about how many Americans would be affected by his proposal to end the practice of noncompete agreements.

During the town hall he said, "You have over 600,000 people out there signing -- 6 million people signing a -- I better check the number..."

But CNN noted that White House press secretary Jen Psaki has put the number at more than 30 million people, and another estimate used by the White House put it at between 36 to 60 million workers.

Biden also failed to remember how many Republicans signed on to a letter he was discussing and the facts on his own child tax credit bill, CNN reported.

Here's more about Biden's CNN town hall event:

Biden 'rambles' whether or not there's 'a man on the moon'www.youtube.com

Biden calls CNN's Don Lemon 'one of the most informed journalists in the country' during town hall



President Joe Biden recently called partisan CNN anchor Don Lemon — who has argued that Americans don't see black people as "human beings" and that parents against critical race theory are just being selfish — "one of the most informed journalists in the country."

What happened?

The president made the remarks while responding to a question about how to restore faith in the American system of government during a town hall on Wednesday night.

"How do you change the mistrust in the system among some members of the black community?" the question said.

Biden began his response by reciting a commitment he made to take responsibility for his mistakes by publicly owning up to them. Then he went on to say that generally, it's about "raising confidence in elected officials."

But confidence in government is at all an all-time low, Biden explained, as evidenced by the scoffing that ensued after he declared on the campaign trail that he wanted to "unite the country." According to Biden, Lemon remembered the criticism he received because he is well-informed.

Joke Biden is a liar.1) "I made a commitment, that when I made a mistake, I'd tell ya." Border Crisis, low unempl… https://t.co/7Z38K77Ftk

— Andrew @ Don't Walk, RUN! Productions (@DontWalkRUN) 1626914882.0

"I know this is going to sound like a non-answer to you, but part of this is that — you know because you're one of the most informed journalists in the country," Biden said.

"You know the criticism I got when I said I want to unite the country, 'You can't unite the country,'" he continued. "And if you can't unite the country, we can never get some of these problems solved. And that goes to trust. Why can't you unite the country? Why isn't there a willingness to trust?"

What else?

Lemon has insisted in the past that he is a "journalist" and "not a political person" despite his clear and obvious political leanings.

Earlier this year, Lemon made claims of nonbias while in the same breath trashing the Republican Party as "obsolete" and the Democratic Party as the only one "operating in reality."

"Perhaps Americans who want this country to be a country that is sane and rational and equitable and equal ... need to challenge the Republican Party more," he added.

Don Lemon: “I’m not a political person...I’m a journalist”Sure. https://t.co/0jksg15Y92

— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) 1621619716.0

Lemon and fellow CNN anchor Chris Cuomo routinely use the handoff time in between their shows to ruminate on the political happenings of the day from a progressive perspective.

Even so, Lemon has expressed that he doesn't understand why people view his network, CNN, as biased.

Weather Disaster in Texas and Biden's Moral Relativism on China | Ep 371

Weather Disaster in Texas and Biden's Moral Relativism on China | Ep 371

Town hall attendee asks Biden how he will make $50K of student debt disappear for Americans. He responds, 'I will not make that happen' — and says he has better plans in store.



President Joe Biden says that he will not go along with Democrats' proposal of canceling student loan debt beginning at $50,000.

What are the details?

During a Tuesday night town hall event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Biden — attending his first public event outside Washington, D.C., since taking office in January — said that he would prefer to redirect that money to early childhood education and that he has no plans to forgive student debt for people who attended Ivy League or other affluent colleges.

A young woman asked the president, "[Student] loans are crushing my family, friends, and fellow Americans. The American dream is to succeed, but how can we fulfill that dream when debt is many people's only option for a degree? We need student loan forgiveness beyond the potential $10,000 your administation has proposed. We need at least a $50,000 minimum. What will you do to make that happen?"

Biden answered, "I will not make that happen."

"It depends on whether or not you go to a private university or a public university. It depends on the idea that, I say to a community, I'm going to forgive the debt of billions of dollars ... for people who have gone to Harvard and Yale and Penn. ... Is that going to be forgiven rather than use that money to provide for early education for young children who come from disadvantaged circumstances?"

He then went on to say that he'd rather provide free education at the local level.

"Everyone should be able to go to community college for free," he insisted. "That costs $9 billion and we should pay for it. And the tax policies we have now, we should be able to pay for it. You spend almost that much money as a break for people on race horses. And I think any family making under $125,000 whose kids go to a state university ... that should be free as well."

Elsewhere during the event, Biden said that he is also in support of expanding debt forgiveness programs for students who enter public service positions like teaching.

In early February, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and other Democrat lawmakers proposed a resolution calling on the president to wipe out $50,000 in federal student loan debt for all borrowers.

New - Biden completely rejects Schumer/Warren proposal to cancel $50K of student loan debt per borrower: “I will… https://t.co/3U5WjozkYT
— Michael Stratford (@Michael Stratford)1613534224.0

Biden doubles down on 'shoot them in the leg' advice for police to 'de-escalate' situations with dangerous criminals



During Thursday night's town hall on ABC News, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden once again repeated the dangerous suggestion that police officers should be trained to shoot offenders "in the leg" instead of in the chest when they are being charged.

This time around, the former vice president touted the advice as a way to "de-escalate" a dangerous situation.

What did he say?

In a muddled response to a question about criminal justice reform, Biden said, "There's a lot of things we've learned, and it takes time, but we can do this. You can ban chokeholds ... but beyond that, you have to teach [the police] how to de-escalate circumstances, de-escalate."

"So, instead of anybody coming at you and the first thing you do is shoot to kill, you shoot them in the leg," he added.

.@JoeBiden says police should try shooting dangerous criminals “in the leg" https://t.co/u3phk3MHSq
— Tom Elliott (@Tom Elliott)1602808989.0

Amazingly, Thursday was not the first time that Biden has pitched the suggestion. Earlier this year, he told a a group of black leaders at Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Delaware, that aiming at the leg instead of center mass is way that law enforcement could reduce potential fatalities.

"Instead of standing there and teaching a cop when there's an unarmed person coming at him with a knife or something to shoot him in the leg instead of in the heart," he said.

TheBlaze pointed out at the time that an attacker wielding a "knife or something" is not exactly "unarmed."

But remember, this is the same guy who once argued that firing a shotgun into the air or through the door is a safe and effective way to ward off would-be attackers.

It's still a bad idea

Of course, it was pointed out then, and should be pointed out again, that shooting a charging suspect in the leg rather than in the chest is obviously a bad idea.

In his report on the news, Hot Air's Ed Morrissey explained why:

This is not just nonsense, it's dangerous nonsense. Police shouldn't fire weapons at all unless they are facing an imminent lethal threat to themselves or others, but when they do use firearms, they have to do so in the safest and most effective manner possible. Police (and everyone else who takes firearms courses) are trained to aim at center mass for a number of reasons, primarily because it has the best percentage of not missing. Aiming at moving limbs (and heads) is difficult even under calm circumstances, let alone the high-adrenaline situations of lethal threats. When bullets miss, they keep going for a long way and can kill other people, even on ricochets. Instead of killing an actual lethal threat, this policy would increase the potential for killing or wounding bystanders.

Furthermore, Reason's Robby Soave points out the obvious: Even if police successfully hit a charging suspect in the leg, that doesn't mean he or she will go down.

If an officer's life is actually threatened, hitting the suspect in the leg is no guarantee the threat will be neutralized. People who have been hit in the leg or arm are not immediately incapacitated, which is why the police keep firing until a suspect is down. Real life is not like an episode of 24, or a Mission: Impossible movie!

Biden, to his credit, did reject the increasingly popular liberal notion that defunding police is a good idea.

"We shouldn't be defunding cops," Biden said. "We should be mandating the things that we should be doing within police departments and make sure there's total transparency."

Unfortunately, the nominee believes that training cops to aim for the legs and sending psychologists to lethal threat situations are some of the "things we should be doing within police departments" instead of cutting their budgets.