As much as people might wish it otherwise, the coronavirus pandemic is still a thing.
People are still getting sick.
Hospitals are being pushed to and past their capacities.
People are still dying.
A lot of this is attributable to the delta variant of COVID-19.
And the delta variant is attributable to people not getting the damn vaccine.
And remember how we were all worried about grandma and grandpa dying but the kids were supposed to be all right because their young and healthy? Well, guess what?
Last week, President Joe Biden said he has had enough.
Mandatory vaccinations (or weekly testing) for all federal employees.
An employer mandate that will apply to American businesses with more than a hundred employees, impacting as many as 80 million American workers. That's about 2/3 of the workforce in this country.
Biden has avoided pushing for these kinds of mandates for months, hoping appeals to common sense would motivate people to get vaccinated.
Well, here's a surprise. It didn't work.
With conspiracy theorists working overtime on why the vaccine is a bad idea and with Republican governors working really hard to resist any and all efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 by working against calls for masks and social distancing, people are still getting sick and still dying.
If everyone had just fucking cooperated with masks, distancing and getting the goddam vaccine, the worst of the pandemic would be in our rearview mirror by now instead of roaring back to life in these waning days of summer.
With too many people not choosing to do the right thing, President Biden had little choice towards to curbing the pandemic but to compel people to do the right thing.
Immediately, the Republican party came out in force to denounce Biden's efforts.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem: “South Dakota will stand up to defend freedom. Joe Biden, see you in court."
Hey, Kristi, you know who can't stand up? The patients in overwhelmed hospitals dying of COVID-19 thanks to your fanatical resistance to masks and social distances.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: “Biden’s vaccine mandate is an assault on private businesses. Texas is already working to halt this power grab.”
Well, if anyone knows anything about a "power grab", it's fucking Greg Abbott who has busied himself grabbing power away from women over their own bodies and grabbing power away from minorities to participating in democracy and grabbing power away from individuals, schools and businesses who want to protect themselves in this pandemic with masks and distancing.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson: “The Biden Administration’s recent announcement seeking to dictate personal freedom and private business decisions is an insult to our American principles of individual liberty and free enterprise.”
Hey, Mike, what about the insult to my individual liberty to not fucking die from a fucking pandemic because I am surrounded by fucking morons who fucking refuse to do the right fucking thing and get the fucking vaccine?
South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster: "I will fight to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian.”
Hey, Henry, what about the liberty of not getting COVID? Pretty fucking hard to earn a fucking livelihood if you're fucking dead, you fucking moron!
Indiana Rep. Jim Banks: “Unvaccinated Lives Matter!”
Oh, this goddam fucker thinks he's being clever. Well, unvaccinated lives do matter in that it's what propelling the current surge in the pandemic which is why Biden has to issue a fucking mandate.
Here's why Biden had to say about these reactions: “I am so disappointed that particularly some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities. This isn’t a game.”
But here's the thing, Joe. To these fuckers in the Republican party, it is a game.
For all their ranting about "protecting liberty" and "defending freedom", these pronouncements have fuck all to do with any conservative ideology or policy and it's all about jockeying for positions of power with their political base.
Republicans have long been following a strategy of automatic resistance to anything any Democrat might want. Democrats are not fellow Americans with whom Republicans must find some common cause to work together. No, Democrats are the ENEMY who HATE America and must be contested at every turn.
Trust me, if their lord and master Donald Trump had issued a mandate for vaccinations for all federal employees, these same Republicans would be falling all over themselves praising him for his bold and forceful leadership.
But instead it's a Democrat who has issued a mandate for vaccinations for all federal employees so these Republicans are falling all over themselves to show who can be the toughest in fighting this threat.
As people seek to try to navigate life in these times of coronavirus, trying our damnedest to stay safe, healthy and alive, it is important to remember which leaders are trying their damnedest to keep us safe, healthy and alive and which so called leaders are trying their damnedest to win their own political Game of Thrones, our safety, health and lives be damned.
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