Blaze News original: Let us never forget the left's reprehensible behavior toward fellow Americans who refused COVID jabs



After COVID-19 vaccines became available in early 2021, not everybody in America was down with the getting the jabs. Typical vaccines take years of testing prior to approval, but since the COVID vaccines were produced with lightning speed, lots of folks were concerned and resisted getting the shots.

Readers of Blaze News won't soon forget what happened next. Vaccine mandates and steadily growing pressure to get the jab turned into an all-out assault on "anti-vaxxers" by the government, businesses, the mainstream media, celebrities, politicians, and the medical community.

'If you ask me what’s my first reaction to you if you’re not vaccinated, and you don’t have any medical reason not to be, you’re a piece of s**t, OK? I just want to punch you in the goddamned face.'

In September 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order requiring federal workers to be vaccinated; that same month, he announced a sweeping vaccination mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees, which the Supreme Court later blocked.

In October 2021, Biden said he believed police officers and first responders who refused the jab should be fired.

Widespread firings indeed happened. Teachers were terminated for not getting vaccinated. Businesses and hospitals fired employees who refused the jab. A viral video showed a nurse being escorted out of a hospital after her religious exemption was denied, and a UCLA doctor suffered a similar fate.

An October 2021 New York City vaccine mandate required all city employees — including police and firefighters — to get the jab or lose their jobs. Indeed, 1,400 city workers were canned for refusing vaccinations, but incredibly Mayor Eric Adams (D) in March 2022 exempted city-based athletes and performers from the mandate. That came after the awful optics of then-Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who was unvaccinated, being barred from playing in Brooklyn's home games — but somehow being allowed to watch those games from the seats in the Nets' arena.

Want more bad looks? How about an unvaccinated Coast Guard member who, after rescuing Hurricane Ian victims, faced termination for not getting the jab? Biden managed to personally thank the hero days before his scheduled dismissal. Or Washington, D.C., Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser announcing no virtual instruction options for unvaccinated students? Turns out 40% of black students were in that mix. Or a trio of unvaccinated Air Force Academy cadets who were denied their commissions? Or the Navy barring a destroyer from setting sail because its commander wouldn't get the jab?

How about a hospital pulling the plug on a lifesaving kidney transplant because the donor wasn't vaccinated? Or a health care system denying an organ transplant to a dying unvaccinated woman? Or another hospital removing a dying man from its heart transplant list because he was unvaccinated?

Along with the aforementioned gut-punches from those in power against the unvaccinated, further bolstering the cause were the seemingly daily insults — which arguably were dangerous in some cases — from the left against those who refused the jab.

A number of your favorite usual suspects show up below, and you may even remember some of their astonishing declarations. A number of them called for shaming and shunning the unvaccinated. Others wanted to make life a "living hell" for them. One even wanted to punch them in the "goddamned face." You get the idea.

Let's not ever forget.

Sunny Hostin declares 'we need to shun those that refuse to get vaccinated' — specifically 'white evangelicals' and 'Republicans'


Sunny Hostin of "The View" tore into Americans who indicated they wouldn't get the COVID-19 vaccine by saying we should "shun" them — and the co-host specifically called out "white evangelicals" and "Republicans."

Hostin said during the show's May 3, 2021, episode that "when you look at the folks that are not getting vaccinated — because it's a quarter of Americans that aren't getting vaccinated — white evangelicals: 45% say they won't get vaccinated according to ... Pew Research ... almost 50% of Republicans are refusing to get the vaccine. So we won't reach herd immunity because of those particular groups."

Then the co-host lowered the boom: "So I say we need to shun those that refuse to get vaccinated."

She added that unvaccinated Americans should be refused entry into certain places: "I think if you have not been vaccinated, no entry. You want to get on a plane? You gotta be vaccinated, show proof of vaccination. And those people who don't want to get vaccinated ... that's fine for you, but you can't spread it to other people. ... You don't get those other liberties that come with immunity. Something has to break. If that's your personal choice not to get vaccinated, you don't then get to infringe on the rights of those who have chosen to protect their fellow citizens."

You can view Hostin's comments here just after the 3:30 mark.

James Carville wants law passed that allows him, others to punch 'piece of s**t' unvaccinated Americans in the 'godd**ned face'


"I wish what they’d do is pass a law to make you immune from liability if you punch some unvaccinated person right in the face, which I’d really like to do," Carville — a famous Democratic operative — said during a February 2022 episode of the "Politics War Room" podcast.

He also said, "If you ask me what’s my first reaction to you if you’re not vaccinated, and you don’t have any medical reason not to be, you’re a piece of s**t, OK? I just want to punch you in the goddamned face."

Carville added, "That’s the way I look at these people."

Jimmy Kimmel says unvaccinated Americans who have taken ivermectin should be denied ICU beds and left to die: 'Rest in peace, wheezy'


Kimmel in a September 2021 monologue took potshots at Americans who have refused the COVID jab — particularly those who have taken the drug ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

"I leave you people alone for two months, and you start taking horse worm medicine?" he asked the crowd in reference to ivermectin.

"Dr. [Anthony] Fauci said that if hospitals get any more overcrowded, they're gonna have to make some very tough choices about who gets an ICU bed," Kimmel also said, before adding a witty gut-buster.

"That choice doesn't seem so tough to me," he continued. "Vaccinated person having a heart attack? Yes, come right on in, we'll take care of ya. Unvaccinated guy who gobbled horse goo? Rest in peace, wheezy." You can watch the segment here.

Far-left NY Gov. Kathy Hochul actually preaches COVID jab gospel from church pulpit: 'Smart' vaccinated people must 'be my apostles' and evangelize unvaccinated who 'aren't listening to God'


Far-left New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) gave a sermon of sorts to a Brooklyn megachurch on the last Sunday of September 2021 — and the Democrat preached the gospel of getting COVID-19 vaccines. You can view Hochel's homily here.

Speaking about the trials of the pandemic to the Christian Cultural Center, Hochul told listeners that she "prayed a lot to God during this time, and you know what? God did answer our prayers. He made the smartest men and women — the scientists, the doctors, the researchers — he made them come up with a vaccine!"

Hochul added that the COVID-19 vaccines are "from God to us, and we must say, 'Thank you, God! Thank you!'" She then held aloft not a cross but her "vaccinated" necklace, telling congregants that she wears it "all the time" to announce to the world that "I'm vaccinated!"

Hochul also gave a sacred mission to the "smart ones" who've been vaccinated: to be her "apostles" and spread the Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J gospel to the unvaccinated heathen who "aren't listening to God."

Tucker Carlson was taken aback by "high priestess" Hochul and discussed during his Fox News show the following night the growing "cult of coronavirus" that possesses "its own sacraments" and "its own sacred texts" — just like other religions.

MSNBC's Joy Reid says conservatives who defy COVID jab are 'angels of death' — and asks, 'How many more people have to die before these ghouls are satisfied?'


In late November 2021, Reid ripped into conservatives who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine: "It's about power and spreading lies and fake outrage so the MAGA squad wins elections. They are today's angels of death. Refusing to get vaccinated and urging fellow Americans to remain exposed even as their own parents, grandparents, and children die of COVID. The numbers prove it. Red America has the highest rates of COVID death, but the lowest rates of vaccinations. They are literally killing people."

She also asked, "How many more people have to die before we say what we have all known for quite some time? This faction of the right is a death cult. Six unvaccinated members of a Florida family dead after contracting COVID, mothers dying shortly after giving birth, parents of young children wiped out. And then the harrowing news that more than 140,000 U.S. children have lost a caregiver due to the pandemic. Almost two years in, the trauma is irreversible. It's a trauma that has crossed generations. It is permanent and unforgiving. And so we ask again, how many more people have to die before these ghouls are satisfied?"

Keith Olbermann calls unvaccinated people 'snowflakes,' 'morons,' 'losers,' 'cowards' in video rant


Leftist Keith Olbermann called unvaccinated people "snowflakes," "morons," "losers," "cowards" — among other descriptors — in a Twitter video rant posted on Oct. 1, 2021. He added that that they're "afraid" of getting the shot and that vaccinated people should stop "coddling" them.

Here's his word-for-word diatribe:

It is time to stop coddling them — the ones who won't get the damn shot already. And our first step, you and I, is symbols. The language we use. We call these people "vaccine-hesitant." "Vaccine skeptics." "Anti-vax." We say they're "protesting mandates and passports." They're "making a personal choice." They're "waiting for more information." They're "making a medical decision." Bulls**t! They're afraid! They're afraid to get vaccinated. Stop feeding their egos about what they're doing. Stop legitimizing it. "Vaccine-hesitant"? They're afraid! "Vaccine skeptics"? They're afraid! "Anti-vax"? They're afraid! They're "protesting mandates and passports"? They're afraid! They're "making a personal choice"? They're afraid! They're "waiting for more information"? Afraid! They're "making a medical decision" — to be afraid! The snowflakes are afraid! Afraid of the vaccine. Afraid of being proved wrong. Afraid of doing what anybody else in the world tells them to do. Afraid of needles! So no more pleasant euphemisms about what's going on here — apart from the people who have legitimate medical complications about vaccines — we have to stop coddling the morons who will not get the shot. We start by calling them what they are. They are all snowflakes. And cowards. And idiots. And losers. And most importantly, they are afraid!

Don Lemon on unvaccinated Americans: They're 'stupid' and 'harmful to the greater good,' and we should 'start shaming them or leave them behind'


In September 2021, the now-former CNN host ripped into "stupid" unvaccinated people and demanded that Americans stop "coddling them."

"The people who are not getting vaccines, who are believing the lies on the internet instead of science, it's time to start shaming them," Lemon declared. "Or leave them behind, because they're keeping the majority of Americans behind."

He then screamed at the unvaccinated for not trusting the COVID vaccine while having no problems with other vaccines — which he failed to point out have been around for decades and have been proven safe for generations of Americans: "You didn't feel that way for the polio vaccine, you don't feel that way about measles, mumps, rubella when it comes to your children. And all of a sudden this vaccine is different? What's different about it?" He added, "The only different thing about it is because of your politics today."

Lemon last year doubled down on his views, calling those who didn't get the COVID jab "selfish."

Ana Navarro says she does not want to know any unvaccinated people: 'Your "personal freedom" is holding the rest of us hostage'


Ana Navarro on Dec. 21, 2021, posted on Twitter that she doesn't want to be around or even know anyone who remains unvaccinated against COVID-19 unless they have a medical reason.

"Unless you have a LEGITIMATE medical reason, if you’re not vaccinated, I don’t want to see you, talk to you, work w/you, socialize w/you or know you. It’s enough. Your 'personal freedom' is holding the rest of us hostage. It’s selfish and stupid," she wrote.


CNN medical analyst Leana Wen likens unvaccinated people in public to drunk drivers


In September 2021, CNN medical analyst Leana Wen — the former head of Planned Parenthood — likened unvaccinated people in public to drunk drivers.

"You have the option to not get vaccinated if you want, but then you can't go out in public," she noted to then-CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. Wen added: "Just like you can choose to drink in private if you want, but if you get behind the wheel of a car and can endanger other people, there is an obligation by society to prevent you from doing that."

Wen also insisted around that time that life "needs to be hard" for unvaccinated Americans.

But would you believe she was singing different tunes later on?

In December 2022, Wen admitted that natural immunity from COVID-19 is optimal — and a month later she warned that officials have been overcounting COVID-19 deaths.

Joy Behar implies unvaccinated COVID patients don't deserve medical help since they've 'chosen to listen to the lies' on Fox News


Leftist Joy Behar implied during a September 2021 episode of "The View" that unvaccinated COVID-19 patients don't deserve medical help because they've "chosen to defy the science" and have "chosen to listen to the lies on Fox [News]" — all while patients with other needs can't get hospital beds.

Former Utah Rep. Mia Love — a Republican — sat at the table as a guest and argued that it's a "slippery slope" for doctors to say they won't treat unvaccinated patients since that declaration could lead to them saying they won't treat people for other illnesses.

Behar at first agreed with Love that doctors denying health care to smokers and the morbidly obese could be problematic — but Behar then declared that such patients have developed "long-term" habits compared to the one-time decision by unvaccinated people to reject thea COVID-19 shot "based on false information."

She added — as if she were speaking to unvaccinated COVID-19 patients — they should "go to [Fox News host] Tucker Carlson and make your case. Because he's telling you lies. He and other people on Fox and on some parts of Facebook are telling you lies about the vaccine."

Baltimore's Democrat mayor tells unvaccinated citizens to 'shut up': 'It's your fault that we're going back to having an indoor mask mandate'


Democrat Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott in August 2021 left no doubt about whom he blamed for the spike in COVID-19 cases in his city and the subsequent resumption of mask mandates.

"For anyone that's frustrated about wearing a mask — and you're not vaccinated — then look in the mirror. It's your fault that we're going back to having an indoor mask mandate," Scott said. "Make sure that folks get vaccinated. If you're not vaccinated, shut up. Don't complain."

You can view a video report here that includes Scott's remarks.

5-year-old boy reduced to tears as NYPD officers tell his mother they have to leave restaurant because they don't have their COVID vaccination papers


An Instagram video posted on Christmas Eve 2021 shows a 5-year-old boy reduced to tears at a New York City restaurant as police officers tell his mother they have to leave because they don't have their vaccination papers.

Police told the boy's mother that anyone without proof of vaccination could be charged with trespassing: “If you leave voluntarily, there will not be charges pressed against you; otherwise you will be arrested for trespass. This is your only warning."

Several angry bystanders could be seen recording the incident and yelling at cops about their rights being infringed. “Scaring a child, traumatizing a child. I hope you feel good about yourself, NYPD,” a woman says. "This is disgusting. This is gross."

The video went viral as New York City began enforcing the strictest private-sector vaccine mandate in the nation at the time. The mandate, enacted by far-left Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio, required everyone age 12 and up to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to patronize businesses with indoor spaces — including restaurants, gyms, music venues, movie theaters, and other indoor public spaces.

'It’s time to make life a living hell for anti-vaxxers,' Washington Post columnist writes


A Washington Post columnist lambasted the vaccine-hesitant and praised French President Emmanuel Macron in a January 2022 piece titled, "Macron is right: It’s time to make life a living hell for anti-vaxxers."

James McAuley, global opinions contributing columnist for the Post, recounted Macron's headline-grabbing statements from the prior week saying he wanted to push the unvaccinated out of public life in France until they get the jabs.

"The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we're going to continue doing so, until the end. That's the strategy," Macron told newspaper Le Parisien in an interview, Reuters reported.

McAuley noted that "the English translation hardly does the comment justice. In French, the verb he used is 'emmerder,' which means, quite literally, to cover in excrement."

He added that Macron "happens to be totally right. There is no justifiable excuse for refusing vaccination, which is the only way the pandemic will ever come close to ending. Macron has set a fine example for other world leaders to follow in refusing to kowtow before ignorance or honor selfishness."

CNN medical guest and ethics 'expert' declares America must increase punishments for the unvaccinated: 'Condemn them,' 'shame them,' 'blame them,' 'penalize them more'


In January 2022, Arthur Caplan — then head of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine — said during a CNN segment that America must increase punishments for the unvaccinated.

Caplan said that though he wants Americans to "act as a team" and doesn't want to "reject those who still haven't done the right thing" by getting the jabs, he will gladly "condemn them" and "shame them" and then "blame them."

"We can penalize them more," he added. "We can say, 'You've got to pay more on your hospital bill if you weren't vaccinated. You can’t get life insurance or disability insurance at affordable rates if you aren’t vaccinated.' Those companies should not treat us as equals in terms of what the financial burdens are that that disease imposes."

"I can think of a number of ways in which we should say, 'Here's the stick. Get on board,'" he concluded.

'Let hospitals quietly triage emergency care to serve the unvaccinated last,' writer from the Atlantic declares


David Frum, a staff writer at the Atlantic, in December 2021 wrote on Twitter that hospitals should be permitted to place those who haven't taken the COVID jab at the bottom of emergency care priority.

In the face of negative reaction to his post, Frum doubled down: "Reading the reactions to this tweet, I am impressed by the immense self-pity of the anti-vaxxers — who see themselves as bottomless victims, even as their own bad choices deny hospital care to so many others in desperate need."

He added: "If, at this point, you are still unvaccinated, you are not a victim. You are a cause of the victimization of vulnerable others."

Obama's education secretary compares 'anti-mask,' 'anti-vax' Americans to suicide bombers


Arne Duncan, secretary of education for most of Barack Obama's presidency, in late August 2021 compared terrorist suicide bombers to "anti-mask and anti-vax" Americans.

Duncan in a now-deleted social media post said Americans opposed to face masks and vaccines are "strikingly similar" to terrorists who carried out an attack outside a Kabul airport the previous week: "Have you noticed how strikingly similar both the mindsets and actions are between the suicide bombers at Kabul's airport, and the anti-mask and anti-vax people here? They both blow themselves up, inflict harm on those around them, and are convinced they are fighting for freedom."

Middle school teacher says we'd be 'lucky' if the unvaccinated die — and adds that could 'cut out 30% of the population that votes the wrong way'


A middle school teacher in Washington state reportedly said on social media that America would be "lucky" if unvaccinated people are denied health care and die from COVID-19.

The teacher, who reportedly works at Wy'East Middle School in Vancouver, boasted on Facebook that she's "ready to say let them die," referring to unvaccinated people, KTTH-AM reported in August 2021.

"You made a choice to not get your shot for any reason other than a doctor's note, you should not be allowed health care. You are like the brats in class that ruin it for everyone," the post read.

The teacher even suggested that allowing the unvaccinated to die also solves another issue for her: "If we're lucky we can cut out 30% of the population that votes the wrong way." The teacher added, "Plus less people using up all the resources. Let the hunger games begin."

According to KTTH, the teacher deleted her Facebook account after her post began circulating among local parents. KTTH, however, preserved a screenshot of the shocking comments.

Obama-era official says the unvaccinated should be placed on a no-fly list


Juliette Kayyem — a former assistant secretary for Homeland Security who served under Barack Obama — argued in an August 2021 piece published in the Atlantic that "a no-fly list for unvaccinated adults is an obvious step that the federal government should take."

"The public debate about making vaccination a precondition for travel, employment, and other activities has described this approach as vaccine mandates, a term that, to conservative critics, suggests that unvaccinated people are being ordered around arbitrarily. What is actually going on, mostly, is that institutions are shifting burdens to unvaccinated people — denying them access to certain spaces, requiring them to take regular COVID-19 tests, charging them for the cost of that testing — rather than imposing greater burdens on everyone. Americans still have a choice to go unvaccinated, but that means giving up on certain societal benefits," Kayyem wrote. "Amid a global health crisis, people who defy public-health guidance are not, and do not deserve to be, a protected class."

New York Times gets torched after singling out 'white evangelical resistance' as 'obstacle' in COVID-19 vaccination effort


The New York Times' headline in an April 2021 story spelled it out plainly: "White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort." The Times' piece indeed singled a giant swath of humanity as an enemy of COVID-19 vaccines — using race and faith as its sole parameters.

The story also claimed that white evangelical "opposition is rooted in a mix of religious faith and a long-standing wariness of mainstream science, and it is fueled by broader cultural distrust of institutions and gravitation to online conspiracy theories."

After the Times posted a link to its story on Twitter, a number of commenters backed the paper's premise. In fact, one person said white evangelicals should be placed in "one big arena. Let them pray or sing or whatever they do. Let the virus run rampant throughout the venue. Let science decide their fate."

But others took issue with the Times' report. One commenter shot back, "Bravo @nytimes, I think you have really outdone yourself with this one. You have found another way to be decisive and to further divide the country. Take the vaccine or else it's your fault and be seen as an outsider who does not belong in our society."

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GOP Senators Object To Proposal To Label Mask Objectors ‘Terrorists’

Earlier this month, Delata Air Lines' CEO Ed Bastian asked the feds to add travelers convicted of 'unruly' conduct to a new 'no-fly' list.

'The View' co-host expresses shock that she agrees with Ted Cruz on an issue: 'I feel kind of creeped out'



Sunny Hostin, co-host of "The View," expressed shock Wednesday after learning that she actually agreed with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — and claimed she was "creeped out by it."

What is the background?

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the nation's largest flight attendant union, is advocating for unruly passengers to be placed on a national no-fly list. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian agrees and sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland last week requesting the DOJ prosecute unruly passengers and place them on a no-fly list.

But Republican lawmakers are pushing back.

A group of eight GOP senators wrote Garland this week condemning the request. They explained that placing unruly passengers, including those who become agitated over the federal mask mandate for transportation, on the federal no-fly list "would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland."

What did Hostin say?

Speaking about the issue on "The View," Hostin explained that, in agreement with Cruz, she opposes taking such dramatic actions against unruly airline passengers.

"It scares me, though. I never thought there would be a day when I kind of agree with Ted Cruz, so I feel kind of creeped out by it. I feel very weird about this," Hostin admitted.

Noting the possible repeal of the federal mask mandate on airplanes, Hostin then explained why she opposes the push to expand the no-fly list.

"The mask mandate is gonna be, I think, overturned on March 18th, and it's not even going to be a TSA mandate anymore. And now you'll have people on the no-fly list for a law that's not even in place," Hostin said. "And it deputizes flight attendants. They have a very hard job, but who decides which passenger gets put on that no-fly list?"

Sen. Ted Cruz Opposes No-Fly List For Unruly Passengers | The View www.youtube.com

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg, however, expressed support for adding unruly passengers to no-fly lists, saying the government must "become nannies" to handle unruly passengers.

"We have to become nannies because people don't do the right thing," Goldberg said.

Meanwhile, co-host Joy Behar compared the issue to other developments on airlines, like smoking being banned and flight desks being locked because of Sept. 11. Behar then claimed, without evidence, that Cruz and other Republican lawmakers who wrote to Garland do not actually care about the issue, but are just playing politics.

Pete Buttigieg says federal no-fly list for unruly, violent airline passengers should be considered



Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday the Biden administration should consider placing unruly airline passengers on the federal no-fly list.

What are the details?

During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," host Dana Bash asked Buttigieg whether the federal government should place unruly or violent airline passengers on the federal no-fly list.

In response, Buttigieg agreed the option "should be on the table."

"Look, it is completely unacceptable to mistreat, abuse, or even disrespect flight crews," Buttigieg said. "These flight attendants have been on the frontlines of the pandemic from day one. And they're up there, as the announcement always say, for your safety."

"There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of treatment of flight crews in the air or any of the essential workers, from bus drivers to air crews who get people to where they need to be," he continued.

"The FAA stands strongly with flight crews. It's why you're seeing some really harsh penalties and fines being proposed," Buttigieg explained. "And we will continue to look at all options to make sure that flight crews and passengers are safe."

Bash presses Buttigieg on paid family leave youtu.be

As travel volume has returned to pre-pandemic levels, the FAA has recorded nearly 5,000 "unruly passenger reports." The FAA has also documented nearly 3,600 "mask-related incident reports."

In one shocking incident last week, an American Airlines flight attendant suffered broken bones when she was assaulted by an angry passenger.

The Washington Post reported:

A flight attendant for American Airlines suffered broken bones in her face and had to be hospitalized after a passenger allegedly attacked her Wednesday in an incident the company's chief executive called "one of the worst displays of unruly behavior we've ever witnessed." The incident occurred on a flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif. It prompted the pilots to divert the flight to Denver, where the passenger was temporarily detained.

The flight attendant apparently bumped the passenger while moving through the first-class cabin, according to Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents those who fly for American Airlines. The flight attendant apologized, but the passenger left his seat, confronted her as she stood in the aircraft's galley, then punched her in the face, Hedrick said.

The FAA has a zero tolerance policy for unruly and dangerous behavior. The agency is legally permitted to levy fines of up to $37,000 per violation of the FAA Reauthorization Act.

The question becomes, then, what exactly will government classify as behavior qualifying of being placed on the no-fly list, and will there be due process? Those are questions the Biden administration will have to answer if they truly consider moving forward with such a plan.

Rand Paul: A 'no-fly list' for the unvaccinated is 'obscene' and 'authoritarian'



Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday responded to a former Obama administration official who is calling for a federal "no-fly list" for Americans who have not had a COVID-19 vaccine, calling the idea "obscene."

"If we now disagree in our personal medical decision with the left they're going to declare that we're a terrorist and that we can't fly," Paul said on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" Thursday morning.

"Even the CDC says you're not supposed to get vaccinated if you've been infected within three months. So what are you going to do? Tell people they can't fly for three months even according to the CDC?" he asked.

Writing in an op-ed for The Atlantic this week, former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem said that since the White House has refused to implement a nationwide vaccine mandate, "a no-fly list for unvaccinated adults is an obvious step that the federal government should take."

Kayyem argued that existing Transportation Security Administration rules have created a precedent for prohibiting certain individuals from flying.

"When you go to the airport, you see two kinds of security rules. Some apply equally to everyone; no one can carry weapons through the TSA checkpoint," Kayyem wrote. "But other protocols divide passengers into categories according to how much of a threat the government thinks they pose. If you submit to heightened scrutiny in advance, TSA PreCheck lets you go through security without taking off your shoes; a no-fly list keeps certain people off the plane entirely. Not everyone poses an equal threat. Rifling through the bags of every business traveler and patting down every preschooler and octogenarian would waste the TSA's time and needlessly burden many passengers."

She further said that "flying is not a right" and that the "same principle" behind TSA regulations should animate the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"The federal government is the sole entity that can regulate the terms and conditions of airline safety," she wrote, adding that requiring air passengers to show proof of vaccination would be a "minor inconvenience."

But Paul pointed out that under such a policy individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 and who the CDC recommends should not get a vaccine dose until three months after their infection would be prohibited from flying.

The senator, an ophthalmologist, said that he and other doctors believe an individual's natural immunity from COVID-19 infection will "last a lot longer" than three months, so barring people who have recovered from COVID from flying is unreasonable.

"This idiot would have us not flying for three months, so it makes no sense," said Paul. "It's complete collectivism and all of these people are the same people who hooted and hollered and said, 'Trump is leading us to authoritarianism.'

"What could be more authoritarian than a no-fly list for people who disagree with you?"

What could be more authoritarian than the no-fly list for people who disagree with you? https://t.co/R7sv9imMkJ

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) 1628173541.0

Obama-era official calls for the unvaccinated to be placed on a no-fly list



A former assistant secretary for homeland security who served under President Obama is suggesting that unvaccinated people should be placed on a no-fly list by the federal government.

Juliette Kayyem argues in a piece published on The Atlantic that placing the unvaccinated on a no-fly list would serve to curb the spread of the coronavirus and could lead more people to get vaccinated.

She wrote that "a no-fly list for unvaccinated adults is an obvious step that the federal government should take. It will help limit the risk of transmission at destinations where unvaccinated people travel—and, by setting norms that restrict certain privileges to vaccinated people, will also help raise the stagnant vaccination rates that are keeping both the economy and society from fully recovering."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 58.3 percent of the U.S. population ages 12 and over has been fully vaccinated, while 67.9 percent has received at least one dose.

"The public debate about making vaccination a precondition for travel, employment, and other activities has described this approach as vaccine mandates, a term that, to conservative critics, suggests that unvaccinated people are being ordered around arbitrarily. What is actually going on, mostly, is that institutions are shifting burdens to unvaccinated people—denying them access to certain spaces, requiring them to take regular COVID-19 tests, charging them for the cost of that testing—rather than imposing greater burdens on everyone. Americans still have a choice to go unvaccinated, but that means giving up on certain societal benefits," Kayyem wrote. "Amid a global health crisis, people who defy public-health guidance are not, and do not deserve to be, a protected class."

According to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government website, Kayyem "is currently the Senior Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where she is faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects."

Conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey, host of "Relatable," commented about the idea of banning the unvaccinated from flights: "This has nothing to do with a virus with a 99% survival rate & everything to do with people looking for an excuse for authoritarianism and finally found it," she tweeted.

“Unvaccinated people belong on the no-fly list.” This has nothing to do with a virus with a 99% survival rate & eve… https://t.co/On8beFyuMb

— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) 1628108105.0

Top House Democrat says 'no question' Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley may be added to 'no-fly' list if found liable for Capitol violence



A top House Democrat said Monday that Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) should be added to the "no-fly" list — which prohibits individuals from traveling on commercial airlines into, out of, or within the United States — if they are found liable for instigating violence at the U.S. Capitol last week.

What's the background?

Democratic lawmakers have partially blamed Cruz and Hawley for last week's deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol, claiming their efforts to oppose the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden's win sowed legitimacy into claims that the election had been "stolen" from President Donald Trump.

Although Cruz and Hawley have not been accused of criminal acts, Democratic senators and representatives have increasingly called for both men to resign, alleging they have violated their oaths of office.

What is being said now?

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Monday there is "no doubt" that Cruz and Hawley should be placed on the no-fly list as a way to hold them liable for "inciting" the violence.

"There's no question about it," Thompson said on SiriusXM's "The Joe Madison Show."

"There's no exemption for being put on the no-fly list," Thompson added. "Even a member of Congress that commits a crime, you know, they're expelled from the body. There are ethics charges that can be brought against those individuals. And people are looking at all of this."

Thompson went on to include freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) among those who may need to be punished.

"What Hawley did and what Cruz did was horrible," Thompson said. "What the new member from Colorado — who basically tweeted directions and everything that was going on — that's not something you do. Somebody said, 'Well she's new.' Well the point is ignorance of the law is no excuse. So if you don't know, you've still done something wrong."

What about the protesters themselves?

Thompson made it clear what he thought of those who participated in the Capitol riots, calling them "domestic terrorists."

"First of all, these folks, in my opinion, can be classified as domestic terrorists because of the actions they participated in on Wednesday," he said, as TheBlaze reported Monday.

"Now under normal circumstances international terrorists are out on no-fly lists. These are domestic terrorists — same thing. A terrorist is a terrorist, no matter who you are," Thompson added.

Democrats are, in fact, doing everything in their power to ensure that those who participated in the violence on the Capitol face any and all consequences.

While many of the rioters have been identified and arrested, two members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration this week demanding the agency do everything in its power to ensure the protestors, and future agitators, are prevented from traveling to violently disrupt President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.

Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) told FAA administrator Stephen Dickson:

We write, therefore, to urge you to take every appropriate action within your statutory authority, and to work with air carriers to persuade them to take complementary action, (1) to prevent civil unrest from jeopardizing aviation safety and leading to injury or worse during flight, and (2) to limit the chance that the Nation's commercial airline system could be used as a means of mass transportation to Washington, D.C., for further violence in connection with the inauguration.

There is no indication that any participants in last week's riots have been added to the federal no-fly list, CNN reported.