Author: Spocko

Earlier this year the FEC was presented with evidence that the NRA illegally coordinated with GOP campaigns to use the same personnel and vendors to run ads for GOP candidates, claiming the vendors were “functionally indistinguishable.” That’s illegal. But the FEC didn’t act. So a federal judge granted the Giffords’ nonprofit the right to sue the NRA.

It calls for the court to prevent the NRA from “violating the law in future elections” and for the gun rights group to pay a fine to the Treasury Department equal to the alleged total in the donation scheme.

The lawsuit alleges as much as $35 million in “unlawful” and “unreported in-kind campaign contributions” went toward a scheme that goes back as early as 2014, with $25 million allegedly going toward Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. 

NRA ran shell companies to illegally fund Trump and other Republicans, Giffords group alleges in suit Washington Post 11/3/2021

This is an important development, because it shows what can be done when one of the institutions that is supposed to keep the blatant corruption in check, fails to act. I’m a big fan of civil lawsuits because in America money is power.

And when you get in the way to a group’s revenue, you reduce their power. My fedora is off to my old friends at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and my new friends at Campaign Legal Center Action for this lawsuit and this strategy.

The story about how the NRA used shell companies and vendors to coordinate is in the lawsuit.

The races at the heart of the lawsuit include the following (with the candidate receiving the NRA’s support in bold):

2014: Thom Tillis in the race for Senate in North Carolina (vs. Kay Hagan); Tom Cotton in the race for Senate in Arkansas (vs. Mark Pryor); Cory Gardner in the race for Senate in Colorado (vs. Mark Udall)
2016: Ron Johnson in the race for Senate in Wisconsin (vs. Russ Feingold); Donald Trump in the presidential race (vs. Hillary Clinton)
2018: Josh Hawley in the race for Senate in Missouri (vs. Claire McCaskill); Matt Rosendale in the race for Senate in Montana (vs. Jon Tester)

Giffords Sues the National Rifle Association for Violating Campaign Finance Laws

When a group is busted for illegally obtaining or using money, there should be penalties. But if the agency that is supposed to impose those penalties is rendered weak or ineffectual, we need to figure how to fix the agency.

If the FEC failed to act on this very clear violation of the law, what else are they failing to act on? For example, WHERE did the money that the NRA used for these campaigns come from?

If the FEC doesn’t act on the issue of money coming from Russia and being funneled via the NRA to campaigns, there needs to be another lawsuit. Maybe the people who lost the elections could get the Campaign Legal Center Action to file on their behalf.

I’m mentioned the Russian money because it gives me a chance to show the cool animation I made in 2018.

What did Chris Cox, Josh Hawley & Tom Cotton know about the source of NRA’s funding?

What will show up in the discovery of this lawsuit? What happens if the source of the funding is traced to foreign entities? New York’s attorney general said in August that the NRA had failed to root out rampant internal corruption. What else will show up?

Who at the NRA knew? Surely Chris Cox, the head of the NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF, knew. Who else knew and when did they know it?

Which of the vendors working for the candidates knew?
Which of the candidates knew? Hawley? Cotton? Who on their staff knew?

Because there are so many different ways to LEGALLY get money from outside groups, I’m always astonished when someone violates the bright lines of FEC laws on foreign contributions. Frankly it just feels lazy on their part.

Breaking FEC laws has become “Just the cost of running for office” for the GOP

For Trump and the modern GOP, violating FEC laws is like cheating on your taxes, it’s “just smart business.”

For GOP candidates to NOT accept money from foreign entities would be “leaving money on the table.” To them getting caught and paying a tiny fine is “just the cost of running for office” in an election.

Part of the problem is that violations of FEC laws currently results in small fines and “Don’t do that again!” administrative warnings. The candidates are likely doing a cost/benefit analysis of getting busted compared to the huge financial/power benefit of winning an election.

The business mentality of “Do the crime, pay the fine” works for them. But prison terms don’t.
When the chance for prison isn’t one of the penalties, the fine should be bigger. In this case, the NRA would have to “pay a fine to the Treasury Department equal to the alleged total in the donation scheme.” Making the NRA pay $35,000,000 would be cool.

But if it can be shown the candidates knew money was coming from Russian, and didn’t report it, that needs to be more than a fine. It needs to be identified as a TREASONOUS act. There should be criminal penalties.

“Here is the evidence showing you KNEW this money was from Russian via the NRA. Why didn’t you report it? What kind of “patriot” does that?”

The Framers of the Constitution had something to say about those who commit treason. Check it out in your pocket Constitution. It’s on page 13.

Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain

My niece works at a hospital. The day that they announced on the intercom that every employee had to get a vaccine or would be terminated, she said a cheer went up that could be heard throughout all the corridors.

Don’t feel bad about cheering when one of these crackpots gets sacked. It’s only human to want to survive.

sandyhh, Oct 24 Crooks & Liars

I love to hear stories like this. It more accurately expresses how the vast majority of the public feels toward anti-vaxxers than what you see in the media.

In Eric Boehlert‘s excellent newsletter Press Run titled, Sorry Chuck Todd, America is not hopelessly “divided” over Covid he pointed out that the press continues to push the nonsense 50/50 split narrative about the vaccinations and support of vaccine mandates. We are not.

The press uses fuzzy math and headlines that focus on a tiny percentage who are embracing rabbit-hole conspiracies about a vaccine that nearly 200 million Americans have safely taken.

For example, on October 13, 2021
United announced that 99.7% of its 67,000 employees were vaccinated, the 232 who weren’t were going to be fired. Now check out the headline used by Forbes, Newsbreak, Business Insider and NY Post.

United Airlines Firing 232 Employees Who Refused Covid Vaccine, CEO Says

United CEO confirms 232 employees are being fired for not complying with its vaccine mandate,

232 United Airlines workers will be fired for not getting vaccine: CEO,

Headlines are hard, I suck at them myself, but these have no context & focus on the 232 who won’t get vaxxed, not the 66,768 who have been vaccinated. I flipped that headline around to focus on the happy, vaccinated employees.

66,768 vaccinated United Employees Happy To See 232 Selfish, Jerks Fired.
Those would be fun interviews @suekroll.
"You know what? I'm going to say it. I'm GLAD they fired those people! Where do they get off putting my life in danger? Jerks." https://t.co/9XGTkKYDVP

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) October 14, 2021

In his latest post Boehlert writes about this Wall Street Journal story. Headline:
Why Some Healthcare Workers Would Rather Lose Their Jobs Than Get Vaccinated

The sympathetic, 2,000-word Journal piece focused on a minuscule portion of the workforce that has irrationally decided not to take a free, safe, and effective vaccine. Instead of presenting these actions as delusional, the press often frames the quitting as being principled or even heroic. (The “resistance” is “unwavering,” the New York Times announced.)

The continued, hand-holding coverage — “brainwashing” is virtually never used — represents the latest example of the press helping to normalize irrational, nihilistic behavior by Trump followers.

Who cares if anti-vaxxers quit their jobs?

At Biden’s CNN Town Hall in Baltimore he mocked the BS idea that people have the freedom to kill with their COVID.

People have been retweeting stories about cops and 1st responders who wouldn’t get vaccinated, got sick and died, like Stan Wilson the 59 year-old EMT from Bartlesville, Oklahoma who died September 27 from COVID-19.

The mainstream media doesn’t really like to run the “HA HA! Idiot anti-vaxxer got COVID and died!” karma stories, but they will run stories of people who get fired after being required to get vaccinated and choosing not to . The press should make sure the headlines for those stories have context, like including how many are vaccinated in the entire company. But they won’t–so we need to add it before retweeting. It’s important to do because as Eric adds,

The anti-vaxxer coverage also creates the false picture that Americans are deeply divided over vaccines, and that the inoculation push under President Joe Biden has been a failure. Neither are true. 

Who cares if anti-vaxxers quit their jobs?

During the Town Hall Anderson Cooper said that in ‘as many as 1 in 3 emergency responders in cities like Chicago, LA and Baltimore are refusing to comply with city vaccine mandates. ” and asked Biden about vaccine mandates for them.

Biden said that cops and first responders should be mandated to get the vaccine and if not, they should stay at home or be let go. The audience cheered and applauded.

What media won’t do is return to the “1 in 3 first responder refusing to comply” story after the requirement date passes, but they should, since it will show that mandates work. That’s the time to get stories from the first responders who are pissed at their colleagues and happy they were required to be vaccinated or tested daily. I want to hear from the vaccinated who believe in protecting and serving.

Fox News HR says: We’re 90% Vaxxed!
Employees will either get vaxxed or test daily.

Biden finds it mildly fascinating that Fox News has mandated a vax or daily test requirement. More than 90 % of Fox’s employees are vaccinated.

I wonder how many of the 8,100 Fox Corp employees cheered when they heard of the vax or test requirement? We’ll never know. We’ll only hear from the ones (likely vaxxed!) who want to make this a political issue.

You know what I find mildly fascinating?
News Corp is allowed to ask about a worker’s vaccination status, which is not protected by HIPAA. The law, which protects a patient’s confidential health information, applies only to companies & professionals in the healthcare field. pic.twitter.com/IMcwpV82sN

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) October 23, 2021

Brainwashed Covid zombies will continue to walk away from good paying jobs and put their families at risk, economically. But that doesn’t mean we have to care. And that doesn’t mean it’s news.

Who cares if anti-vaxxers quit their jobs?
It’s not news

Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain.When anti-vaxxers get fired employees cheer

The right wing harasses, intimidates and threatens people online. They aren’t going to stop, because it works for them.

When you watch someone screaming and punching a flight attendant when they are asked to wear a mask, it changes what you might do when you see someone not wearing a mask.

When people show up with guns at school board member’s house they aren’t there using their 1st Amendment rights. it’s not a conversation about an issue. It’s a threat. 

In today’s Justice Department oversight committee hearing, AG Merrick Garland was asked to re-edify Jamie Raskin’s colleagues on what the 1st Amendment protects and what it doesn’t protect. He said,
“What they are not allowed to do is threaten people with death or serious bodily injury.”

I admire the school board member who spoke out about her death threats, but how many people think, “I’m not going to be on a school board if it means getting death threats & people coming to my house with guns.”?

I’ve noticed that the media is very reluctant to push for any consequences for threatening speech. They get all balled up into questions of, “What is free speech?” and bend over backwards to give people the benefit of the doubt for their threatening speech.

The media never want to be seen as being against people’s speech.  But threatening speech is not protected speech.  When I use that phrase, it starts questions of definitions. What is the definition of a threat? What is “true threat”? What is actionable by law enforcement? What was the intent?

The justice system is slow. Social media & TV news is fast. When the media run threat stories, they usually can’t show any immediate legal consequences to the ones making the threats. Occasionally they can show people getting fired. Or kicked off social media. But often there are no negative consequences at all.

People are rewarded for their violent rhetoric with likes and shares. In some cases it leads to donations, electoral votes and political power.

If people are arrested, tried and punished for their threats, those cases can take years to be resolved. I think that the resolution of those cases should be widely publicized, but they are not.

I’ve been following up on cases of death threats to public health officials in Colorado, Idaho, California and Oklahoma from the start of the pandemic. Cases are still pending. The public hears NOTHING about what happened to the people doing the threatening until months or years later. But the impact on those threatened lingers, especially with no resolution.

There was a recent story saying that COVID lockdowns have made things worse.

Following the killing of Sir David Amess, there have been renewed concerns about whether lockdowns have created the conditions for a surge in hate, as frustrated extremists or people vulnerable to radicalisation hunkered down over their laptops and mobile phones.

‘Nastier than ever’: have Covid lockdowns helped fuel online hate? Guardian. 10-21-2021

Intimidations and threats to election workers, health care officials and politicians is all part of Trump’s legacy. I’ve seen multiple stories on Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes & Lawrence O’Donnell’s shows about this, but because they just happened, we can’t see the negative legal consequences to the people making the threat.

One way to address the slowness of the justice system regarding threats would be when the media runa a story about a NEW death threat, they could look at similar cases that have already made it through the legal system.

For example, do you remember the guy who called Rep. Ilhan Omar’s D.C. office on March of 2019 and threatened to shoot and kill the congresswoman? It made the news with the line that someone, “ought to put a bullet in her skull.” but few people know what happened next. I wrote about it here in May of 2019

What should people do about on-line death threats?

Patrick W. Carlineo, 55, of Addison New York spent a year in prison. He was released in March of 2021. The sentence could have been longer, but it wasn’t because of a request for leniency from Rep. Omar.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr., she had urged leniency and a restorative justice approach at sentencing, writing: “The answer to hate is not more hate; it is compassion.”

She said a lengthy prison term or a burdensome fine would “only increase his anger and resentment” while restorative justice would let him “make amends and seek redemption.”

In death threat case, court nixes penalty Rep. Omar urged, AP May 21, 2021

What has happened to all the men and women who have threatened AOC, Omar and others BEFORE 1/6? What about the people who threatened Dr. Fauci and multiple health care officials? How many have been charged? Are any in prison? How many were given a slap on the wrist? 

When I’ve brought up the need for consequences for those making death threats and violent rhetoric I’ve suggested multiple responses. My preferred method is to cut their revenue streams. Others have contacted their employers and licencing boards.

Another way is to alert the people in their community and social groups they belong too. The key is to find the groups whose opinion they care about and who publicly will come out against death threats.

Is Carlineo Catholic? Get his parish priest to condemn the death threats to Rep. Omar. Make it clear that what Carlineo said was not protected free speech and they will condemn it. Does he call himself a Christian? Find his minster and ask what Jesus had to say about threatening to kill others.

“But Spocko, what’s the point? He was probably a member of a nutball church, Oath Keepers & Proud Boys! They love it when someone attacks a member of the Squad!”

Sure, it’s possible all the groups he belongs to are extremists, but most groups publicly condemn violent rhetoric, death threats and threats of physical violence. In fact, many of them have by-law’s and organizational rules against threatening speech. Until Trump became President, the Republican party would publicly condemn threats of violence.

Why bother getting statements condemning violence from the groups people like Carlineo belong to? To RE-NORMALIZE that making death threats is wrong.

Yesterday Stephanie Grisham was on CNN pushing her new book. She said she thought it was a coup. That Trump was fomenting violence. Jake Tapper asked her if she had talked to the 1/6 commission. She said no, but that she would if they, “reached out.”

Grisham thinks Trump was trying to stage a coup. She's ready to say this under oath. She might have hard evidence of that.
The 1/6 committee should have her testify under oath against the mobsters she worked with. @BennieGThompson @AdamSchiff pic.twitter.com/UUTj0rXgxT

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) October 7, 2021

Brazilians of books are being written by former Trump staff. They’ll be careful not to incriminate themselves, but they might incriminate others. If they didn’t commit the crime, they might have witnessed others committing them.

People like Grisham and Omarosa aren’t experts on the law. They likely witnessed multiple crimes. They might have been told what was happening was legal. Or, they knew it was illegal, and looked the other way hoping the entire admin would never be prosecuted.

I think the DOJ, state AGs and various committees investigating the Trump White House should get early copies of the books.

Someone should be reading these books looking for crimes and prosecution worthy information.
The publishers can send advance copies to former US attorney’s like Preet Bharara, Barb McQuade or former prosecutors, like Glenn Kirschner to review them on their podcasts.

Stephanie Grisham is ready to testify, under oath, against the mobsters she worked for. She can verify Trump's intent for 1/6 insurrection & MULTIPLE other crimes.
I don't want to buy her book. I WANT law enforcement agencies & committees to interview her. #inners pic.twitter.com/kOGYQJPLuD

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) October 7, 2021

People complain that journalists like Woodward have withheld critical info for their books so they could make headlines and sell more books. If they want bigger headlines, the publisher of the book should send early copies to the various committees and the DOJ in appropriate states. They could say:

“Hey, based on our reporting it looks like Trump’s staff might have committed crimes in your state. You might want to check it out. People could have lied to our authors, since they weren’t under oath when we talked to them. The book is coming out in 2 weeks. You might want to subpoena some people

This would have been great for Carol Leonnig’s books. For example, when Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker wrote their books on the Secret Service and Trump, I spotted actions taken by Trump’s staff that were violations of Oklahoma’s COVID-testing reporting laws and New Jersey’s mask laws, but Leonnig & Rucker didn’t know it was a violation of specific testing laws. They couldn’t, since they weren’t allowed access to private data. But a state Attorney General getting the book and told to check it out, could. The committee that oversees the Secret Service could investigate. But only if they knew where to look for the info.

Great news! Chairman @BennieGThompson: Will there also be an investigation into the Secret Service's violations of COVID-19 requirements at Trump's Bedminster Golf Club, located in @RepMalinowski district? Here's @CarolLeonnig reporting violations on 5/24.https://t.co/QzCL8vtyYW https://t.co/5aPt14ceL1 pic.twitter.com/v8fOylC3rm

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) May 27, 2021

I”ve read these books. I know what will make the ears of the TV producers stand up. But I don’t know all the laws. I can’t read a story about a meeting and, based on the account they are giving, realize that the people were probably breaking laws. A prosecutor can say, “This needs to be investigated to get hard evidence and hear from witnesses under oath.”.

For example, in this disappointing interview by Brian Williams he refers to Trump’s “mishandling” of the pandemic. I think what he did was more than “malpractice.”

I found the word choices from Brian Williams for his question to Grisham to be incredibly weak.
Saying "malpractice at the handling of the pandemic" makes it sound like Trump slipped up during surgery & one person died.
"Mishandling" of the pandemic? Come on man! pic.twitter.com/J0kRc3dffO

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) October 7, 2021

We now have several books by insiders and journalists about what the Trump admin was doing during the pandemic. Someone needs to read those together with the goal of identifying the crimes committed, so they can be investigated.

The people promoting the book are looking for “newsworthy” stories when setting up interviews for the book like, “Trump was getting a colonoscopy but didn’t want late night comedians to make him the butt of their jokes!” That was covered by all the major late night comedy shows.

In the future when I see Trump-era books come out, I want more than juicy “newsworthy” items. I want to know who in the book is being investigated and prosecuting for the crimes they committed!

On Chris Hayes’ show he discussed how the Republicans are fighting Biden’s vaccine requirements and why.

Incentives don’t work. Mandates work. …These people are behaving like irrational children and therefore what do you do with children? You have to do what’s best for children.

Now a right winger watching this will say, “Look at that paternalistic, tyrannical person on MSNBC!” But that is the reality in a public health crisis going all the way back to George Washington.

Mehdi Hasan, All In with Chris Hayes 9-20-2021

I’ve developed 6 steps people can take to help make the vaccine mandates happen using the power of social media, existing national corporate HR policies, Federal OSHA reporting methods and local news coverage of the conflict over mandates.

1) Find videos and social media stories of people publicly saying, “I won’t get vaccinated!”
Look for them at school board meetings, protests or of people in public places telling others about their intent.

2) Alert their employer via email, Facebook and Twitter.
Let the company know you will be filing a complaint with *OSHA
(I’ll do a piece on the process and issues of contacting OSHA later, but from OSHA.gov/workers. “anyone who knows about a workplace safety or health hazard may report unsafe conditions to OSHA, and OSHA will investigate the concerns reported.”)

3) After the mandate deadline is reached, resend the video or story to the company and ask for confirmation that the person(s) is vaccinated, is testing weekly, has quit, or was fired.

4) Share on social media what happened with that employee and employer

5) If the company doesn’t act, contact OSHA.
Fines are about $13,000 per violation, and go up to $139,000 to the companies that willfully don’t follow the safety regulations.

6) Share the stories of big fines on social media.

What are the reasons behind these steps?
1) It uses the anti-vaxxed own public statements against them.
2) It avoids retaliation for reporting against an individual they know who could attack them.
Corporate HR policies and OSHA procedures are designed to handle issues of confidentiality, retaliation and due process.
3) These stories are designed for cable TV news, so hosts can talk about enforcement issues.

4) It uses the power of the national corporate HR systems already in place for enforcement in states with bad governors.

5) It uses the power of the Federal government in states with Governors that don’t want to enforce the rule and financial consequences for companies that don’t want to enforces the rule.

The deadlines and the details of the vaccination mandate aren’t out yet, when they are there will be a flurry of new stories. When that happens it will be an opportunity to use existing stories and develop new ones to help enforce vaccination mandates.

Help Vaccine Mandates Happen

Below is an example of me using my 6 steps based on this tweet I saw last week. I contacted the author, discussed her concerns and then followed my 6 step plan. Here’s the letter I sent to Home Depot via email.

Omg. I just left Home Depot. They have sign saying “Wear A Mask”. No one is. I go to checkout and I ask cashier how she’s handling it. She says their choice. She had Covid 2020 and her husband died from it but, “ I’m not letting them spear me with vaccine”. I cried and left.

— Susie (@Homeoffree61) September 16, 2021

OSHA COVID-19 safety rule compliance complaint in Home Depot’s Marietta Georgia store

Craig Menear
Chairman, CEO and President
The Home Depot, Inc.
Dear Craig:

Thank you for signing the Business Roundtable letter supporting the vaccine mandate. Although it hasn’t been implemented yet, I’d like to alert you to a potential employee compliance problem in your Marietta Georgia store that I read on Twitter.

I contacted the author of the tweet who said the clerk got angry when discussing the vaccination mandate and dropped her mask to say, “I’m not letting them spear me with vaccine.”

The author was concerned that other employees might feel the same way and local store managers won’t enforce the vaccination mandate when it is implemented.

I hope they will, but I’ve taken the liberty of copying OSHA’s Region 4 Office on this letter so when the rule goes into effect, they can confirm that all employees have attested to being vaccinated or will test weekly to meet the requirements of the new rule.

Your customers know what can happen when you don’t follow safety rules on the jobsite. Injury and death. You and your shareholders should know the financial cost of willfully ignoring COVID-19 safety rules. 

For example, earlier this year Marietta manufacturer FBS Manufacturing was cited for exposing workers willfully to preventable fall hazards that led to employee’s death.  

“FBS Manufacturing Corp.’s failure to implement legally required safety procedures led to tragedy for a worker and his family,” said OSHA Area Office Director Jeffery Stawowy in Atlanta-West. “The fact that this incident was preventable only deepens their loss. This case should remind all employers that prioritizing production or profits over safety is never an acceptable choice.”

The author has built 3 homes in East Cobb County with Home Depot as her primary source of materials. She was very frightened after the incident and will not return until she reads about the 100% vaccination compliance at your Marietta Georgia store.

You have 90 stores in Georgia. An average of 118 Georgians are dying of COVID-19 everyday. The sooner you act, the more lives will be saved.

As you say in your values statement, do the right thing, take care of people and you’ll increase your shareholder value. 

Keeping your employees alive is good for business. 

LLAP,
Michal Spocko
P.S. The author sent me a copy of the receipt with the date and exact time of the interaction which I have linked to here. 

cc: Eric R. Lucero, Public Affairs, Department of Labor, OSHA, Region 4, Atlanta-West 

The Home Depot
Teresa Roseborough, EVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Chair Compliance Council
Travis Lawrence, Vice President Human Resources
Kathleen Eaton, Vice President Safety
Chris Peters, Senior Manager Human Resources – COVID Strategic Response
Sue Dorsey, OSHA Regulatory Compliance Specialist

——————— # # # —————–

I hope others will try this. I want to learn from what works, adapt based on the reactions, and respond to issues that develop along the way. I expect that there will be a lot of, “But what about…” scenarios. I learned a lot about the HR process in big corps by talking to friends and family. The process for employees to report is another issue to address, they pointed out that most companies have an ethics hotline that can be used for reporting violations of health and safety rules. I’m very grateful for their expertise and time.

If you want to know more, I suggest you read some of the articles below. If you want to discuss this I’m at michalspocko @ protonmail com or you can DM me at @spockosbrain.

*OSHA.gov/workers

Can someone file a complaint for me?

“Yes, a compliant can be filed on your behalf by: an authorized representative of a labor organization or other employee bargaining unit; an attorney; any person acting as a bona fide representative, including members of the clergy, social workers, spouses and other family members; government officials or nonprofit groups; and organizations acting upon specific complaints and injuries from you or your coworkers. In addition, anyone who knows about a workplace safety or health hazard may report unsafe conditions to OSHA, and OSHA will investigate the concerns reported.”

Background on mandates, the law, OSHA rules, and corporate implementation of the rules.

I read dozens of stories about the issues and practicalities of the vaccination mandate, Here are 6 of the best.

OSHA’s Planned Covid Vaccine Rule Has Firms Asking, What’s Next? Bloomberg Law, September 10, 2021
Robert Iafolla, Fatima Hussein, Erin Mulvaney, Ben Penn

EXPLAINER: Employers have legal right to mandate COVID shots AP, July 27, 2021
by Mae Anderson And Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

Federal Court: Anti-Vaxxers Do Not Have a Constitutional or Statutory Right to Endanger Everyone Else,
By Andrew Tauber on September 23, 2021

How OSHA Will Enforce Biden’s New Vaccine Mandate for Businesses, Healthline, September 16, 2021
by Brian Krans  Fact checked by Dana K. Cassell

From McDonald’s to Goldman Sachs, here are the companies mandating vaccines for all or some employees,
NBC News, Aug. 3, 2021 By Haley Messenger

Is Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate a law? What happens to those who don’t get the shot?, USA Today,
by Scott Gleeson on September 10, 2021

“Abramson said OSHA will not specifically fine or focus on people who are unvaccinated but more so frame it on the company’s responsibility.“

Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain

I’ll admit it. I’m angry at anti-vaxxers and anti maskers. They are messing up our lives and plans. Yet only their anger is covered by the media? We get stories about how our officials are “frustrated” and “saddened” by their failure to get vaccinated. Where are the stories of our anger toward these “vaccine deniers and right wing loonies”?

What is bizarre to me is that the Anti-maskers are the ones showing rage. What are THEY so angry about? We are the ones whose lives they are f***ing up.
I'm having a hard time finding stories of successful prosecutions of these anti-vaxers who threaten violence against others.

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) September 8, 2021

I don’t want to be like the right wing, screaming and threatening those who aren’t wearing masks or getting a vaccine. And I don’t want to inappropriately use the law like they have been doing with their Texas abortion ban. But I’m pissed and I want people punished for the harm they are causing.

What can I do to satisfy my need for an emotional catharsis without becoming a screaming banshee?

I’ve been watching Unforgotten, a British murder mystery show about police solving crimes that happened 40, 30 or 20 years ago. It’s excellent.

In the UK they call these cases historic crimes. Because they happened so long ago sometimes the person who committed the crime is dead. An arrest can’t deter a dead person.

While the detectives try to solve the crimes, we see the stories of the pain the victims’ family have suffered over the years. We learn all the ways people were damaged and when it comes time for justice, the detective asks the question: “What helps the families now?”

The lead, played by Nicola Walker, wants to solve the case. But unlike other murder mystery shows, she doesn’t talk about finding out who did it for “closure.” She wants to punish the people who did the crime.

Does punishment of the killers help the families now?

I want to find who caused a pain that’s very much alive today–who took his life, who took hers–and I want to punish them.

DCI Cassie Stuart, Unforgotten, written by Chris Lang

On the Majority Report a few weeks ago Emma Vigeland and Matt Lech were talking about enforcement and punishment of those breaking public health laws. Matt said we should avoid going after individuals who didn’t get vaccinated who then infected someone in your family.

I listened to this and noted the difference between “punching down” at individuals and “punching up” at those whose intentional actions have led to infections of large groups of people.

On another episode of Majority Report I called in to discuss enforcement and punishment when Brandon Sutton made an excellent point. He pointed out how historically law enforcement in America it is often unequally applied. POC are incarcerated. Rich white people aren’t.

Also, incarceration during a pandemic is a bad idea. But that’s not the only way to enforce the law.

For example, citing and arresting suppliers of fake or stolen vaccine cards and individuals who buy and use them is a good thing to do. Both of these types of stories need to be publicized.

Even Fox “News” ran the stories of arrests of fake vaccination cards being supplied and used by individuals because breaking the law has consequences. Showing the arrests to the target audience can act as a deterrent. But arrests only happen if the laws are enforced. No one is arrested for failing to follow a recommendation.

I think that the federal government should spend resources NOW to arrest people for violating public health laws.

Why Enforce Public Health Laws?

My logical Vulcan side thinks enforcing public health laws will deter others from breaking them.

I think publicizing the charging and sentencing of people who break public health laws helps prevent future deaths.

Most people change their behavior when they see and/or experience personally the negative consequences to breaking the law

My human side hopes that enforcing public health laws will scare people into not breaking the law. Fear should act as a deterrent, because most people fear being arrested.

I want to hear them cry about how they learned their lesson and wish they wore a mask or got vaccinated. I believe that most people would get the point from watching that and get vaccinated.

But I’ll admit my human side also wants people who intentionally broke laws to feel pain similar to the pain and suffering they caused others. As user Crathsor said on Reddit about Americans, “We don’t care about justice nearly as much as we care about retribution.”

Yep. There it is. I realize that I want others to be afraid, to feel pain, to suffer & be punished for their lawbreaking. I’m hoping that the fear, pain, suffering and punishment will act as a deterrent and a motivator.

I need to acknowledge I want people punished for intentionally acting in ways that harmed others and broke the law doing it. But since I don’t want to end up like them, using anger to satisfies a desire for retribution, I tried to figure out how to not fall into gleeful retribution.
To do that I’m doing these four things.

1. Ensure that the punishment fits the crime (Don’t send people to jail during a pandemic!)
2. Work to get the laws applied equally with a focus on intentional violators and high level abusers
3. Push for appropriate next steps after enforcement
4. Focus on enforcement of intentional actions that have led to infections on large groups of people

I feel anger when there are no consequences for people intentionally harming others. I always endeavor to help the families first, but seeing appropriate consequences for the people breaking public health laws helps me by giving me some sense of peace. What is the chant? No justice, no peace? So let’s be specific:

An example of me seeking consequences for those breaking public health laws is my push to prosecute Trump and those in his campaign who intentionally helped spread COVID during their rallies.

Trump’s rally in Tulsa happened in June of 2020. In today’s news cycle that’s an historic crime.
It led to pain and suffering for Oklahoma families and 100’s of thousands of others. If you want to see the individuals who suffered and died from COVID in Oklahoma read this great series, Oklahomans’ We’ve Lost from Frontier.

The people in Trump’s campaign who committed those violations of public health laws in Tulsa are still alive. Would an arrest now act as a deterrent to others? Would it stop future superspreader rallies? I hope so.

On August 21, 2021 President Donald Trump held the largest political rally in Alabama history. The U.S. Secret Service estimated the crowd at 45,000 people, according to Deputy Chad Whaley of the Cullman County sheriff’s office.

As of September 9th 2021 an average of 83 cases per day were reported in Cullman County, a 61 percent increase from the average two weeks ago. New York Times COVID tracking Alabama Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least 1 in 6 residents have been infected, a total of 13,118 reported cases. Right now, Cullman County is at an extremely high risk for unvaccinated people.

While the detectives in Unforgotten were trying to solve an old crime we saw the pain the victims’ family suffered over the years. It showed how people were damaged by the perpetrators of the crime. The lead detective acknowledged her desire for punishment, and asked the question: “What helps the families now?”

We on the left need to push to enforce public health laws.
Especially in cases of people whose actions have a big impact on large numbers of people. The government didn’t pursue these lawbreakers in the past, so people knew there would be no consequences.

The cases need to be big. The arrests publicized. That acts as an early deterrent. The prosecutor needs to show the intentions of the lawbreakers clearly and the harm that was done. Legal cases take a long time to play out and when they are completed successfully the results need to be promoted, big time.

This is about sending a message to people breaking public health laws right now. If you break the law you will be in the Federal Government’s crosshairs. You will be arrested and tried. If you are found guilty, you will be punished.

Would these cases make me feel better when there are consequences for people who intentionally harmed others? Yes! I’ll admit it. It’s not just about me, but when I take actions I look for ways to focus my anger constructively. I ask myself these four questions:

“What is my goal?”
To prevent future deaths.
“Who do I want to punish?”
Intentional violators, especially those whose actions impact large numbers of people
“Who do I want to help?”
The families of those who suffered. Innocents who might suffer in the future.
“What can I do now?”
Encourage the enforcement of public health laws.

Miami Beach Couple Arrested in Hawaii for Using Fake Vaccination Cards

A couple from Miami Beach was arrested in Hawaii last week after police say they attempted to use fake vaccination cards to travel into the island for a family vacation.

Enzo Dalmazzo, 43, and Daniela Dalmazzo, 31, were charged with falsifying a vaccine card, with Daniela facing an additional two counts for submitting fake documents for their two children.

Violating the state’s COVID-19 mandates, including falsifying a vaccination card, is a misdemeanor that can result in a fine of up to $5,000, up to a year in prison or both.

The couple was cited a total of $8,000 and posted bail. It was the second known case of visitors using fake vaccination cards to bypass quarantine in the last week.

NBC Miami, August 18, 2021

A Pharmacist Is Charged With Selling COVID-19 Vaccine Cards For $10 On eBay

A Chicago pharmacist was arrested Tuesday morning on federal charges of stealing and selling authentic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 vaccination cards, federal investigators announced on Tuesday.

Tangtang Zhao, 34, is accused of selling 125 cards on eBay for $10 each during March and April 2021, according to court records. Investigators believe Zhao stole the cards from his employer: a pharmacy authorized to distribute COVID-19 vaccines.

Creating or having a vaccination card that an authorized source did not officially give to you is a federal crime, Siobhan said, in part because the CDC is a federal agency, and the card includes a CDC seal. 

CBSN Chicago 2 August 17, 2021

More than 3,000 fake COVID vaccine cards seized at Anchorage airport
Buying and selling fake vaccination cards is a crime
– Fox News

I want to see more stories like this. Not just people arrested for using fake vaccination cards, but for breaking other laws that endanger the lives of others.

Why is enforcement of breaking public health laws important? As this FBI notice says
, “…you endanger yourself and those around you, and you are breaking the law.”

It’s a misdemeanor to break some public health laws, a felony for others. Each crime has different levels of recommended punishment. When it comes to punishment of violations of public health laws we should look at intent and the scale of the crime.

Glenn Kirschner on his #JusticeMatters podcast suggested last week that Trump be investigated for negligent homicide for avoidable COVID death. I agree. My friend Dave thinks what Trump did is depraved-indifference murder, a type of murder where an individual acts with a “depraved indifference” to human life and where such act results in a death, despite that individual not explicitly intending to kill.”

I want to highlight these stories of enforcement for three reasons:

1) It’s good news. People got caught. Fox News covered it, so maybe it will be a deterrent. Of course if you are reading this fine blog you probably aren’t buying fake vaccination cards. You are already vaccinated. So what you want to know is:

2) How do we stop people who intentionally put lives in danger when they expose others to a deadly virus?

3) What’s the best punishment for people who intentionally endanger lives and break laws?

I noticed that the pharmacist case is a federal case. Federal crimes mean federal prosecutors that can operate in any state. I’ve found that states are often reluctant to enforce or prosecute violations of their OWN public health laws. In fact, Red state governors like DeSantis made it a point to PARDON people who violated their own state public health laws!

The Biden administration is now using federal government levers to get vaccination and mask mandates in place. Biden can do things like restrict federal funds if people don’t get vaccinations and mandate vaccinations for people employed by federal agencies.

They can also bust people for breaking federal laws. The federal government needs to do both.

In the CBSN video about the Chicago pharmacist, Steven Block, a former Federal prosecutor, explains that this arrest sends a message to healthcare professionals. He suggests that more arrests are coming. He also says that the DOJ probably won’t pursue the people who brought the cards. I think that is a mistake.

My way of helping the Feds and states take this seriously it to show state and federal authorities the multiple public health laws that Trump and his campaign staff broke during his rallies.

Someone denied @HealthyOklahoma's access to all the people infected at Trump's Tulsa rally. That violated OK's COVID reporting laws.@CarolLeonnig knows who did it, but can't say because of privacy laws.
Why won't @Okla_OAG investigate? @JonesingToWrite https://t.co/M7p8EC6264

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) August 13, 2021

I’ve seen multiple elective officials say a reason not to have mandates is that it’s too hard to enforce the law. But making something a law sets into motion a number of societal and psychological responses. Just having the law leads to people being afraid of being arrested.

But when there is no enforcement, or weak enforcement of public health laws it sends the message that endangering lives isn’t serious.

And when there is no punishment, or weak punishment of public health laws it send the message that there will be no serious consequences for actions that endanger the lives of others.

I believe that people who put lives in danger should be arrested and charged for crimes related to the severity of the danger they put others in. Those who know of this danger, do it intentionally and with malice aforethought, need to be seriously punished. I say this as a green-blooded, bleeding heart liberal.

My message? It’s good that the Federal government and the states are arresting these people. I’m encouraged by this and want to see more.

Sam Seder had Carol Leonnig on his show the other day and asked her, “Who was Trump’s top enabler?” She gave a few names, but in the book they reported that someone ordered COVID testing to be halted & delayed the day of Trump’s Tulsa rally. By stopping the testing that person enabled the spread of COVID in the community. I wanted to know their name.

The studies have been done and the stories have been written about the COVID deaths attributed to Trump’s actions and inactions. Yet with all that sickness and death why won’t anyone hold Trump responsible for his horrific actions?

There are many reasons, both political and technical, why Trump isn’t charged with the crimes he commited. Often it’s because he and his people hid from the public the laws they broke. When they did get charged with crimes they blocked investigations, intimidated witnesses and delayed testimonies. Also, Trump usually has someone else doing the morally repugnant and/or illegal acts for him. (See Michael Cohen)

Besides these reasons for no one going after Trump, I’ve seen a real reluctance to enforce any public health laws on anyone. But I think that if you can show that people in the Trump campaign broke specific public health laws, actively covered up their actions and then blocked investigations into the laws they broke, that is a sufficient reason to warrant an investigation.

I’ve been investigating the spread of COVID though Trump’s rallies since before the Tulsa rally. I’ve done the research, talked to the experts and based on public reporting from Leonnig, Rucker and her colleagues; it appears public health laws in Oklahoma and New Jersey were broken during Trump’s rallies. But because of privacy laws, the public can’t know exactly who broke the laws.

Sam didn’t ask my question to Leonnig, but my friend Nicole Sandler was able to ask Philip Rucker the question, “Who gave the orders to halt testing?“

The answer? We don’t know.

I think that Carol Leonnig knows, but she wasn’t asked the question. And if she does, she might not say because she is protecting her sources.

Based on my conversations and emails with the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Tulsa’s Department of Health and public health experts, it appears that this person(s) violated Oklahoma law.

Halting & delaying testing the day of the rally prevented discovery of others who may be infected. This appears to be a violation of Oklahoma state law, Title 63. Public Health and Safety statutes. Specifically, under §63-6103, The Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act,

Someone in the Trump campaign prevented Oklahoma state and local officials from gaining immediate access to health information of individuals. Without truthful and timely information the public health authority couldn’t carry out their lawful duty, which is to “prevent, detect, manage, and contain health threats’ ( § 63-6103. Items 3-6)

The Oklahoma State Department of Health had the authority to impose a quarantine, isolation, or halt the event.  They could have made an announcement to the people in attendance to self isolate and get tested. They could have told the general public so they could avoid those who attended the event.

They didn’t do any of those things, because they didn’t have all the relevant data about infected individuals.

Oklahoma Heath statutes §63-6103, The Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act,

Remember, there was no vaccine in June 2020. Getting COVID could be a death sentence, in fact, it was for hundreds of thousands of Americans. Someone in the Trump campaign broke the laws on the books at the time, Rucker didn’t know who it was, but the Attorney General of Oklahoma can find out. But will he?

The people I’ve been talking to in Oklahoma have been telling me all the ways an investigation will be thwarted. For example, Gov. Stitt called up all the top hospital leaders to complain about the interviews doctors and nurses were giving to the media on the COVID-19 crisis. That’s standard bully Governor stuff, but he took it further. Stitt called Jim Gebhart, president of Mercy Hospital and told him,

..if doctors didn’t stop “fearmongering” about capacity issues it could force him [Gov. Stitt] to impose a ban on elective surgeries, which would be a financial hardship for many hospitals.

Gov. Stitt complained to hospital leaders
about interviews with media on COVID-19 crisis
December 9, 2020. Ben Felder, The Frontier

No wonder none of the doctors or nurses I’ve contacted have been willing to talk on the record about this!

Over 700 people in the medical community in Oklahoma tried to use reason to convince Tulsa’s mayor to cancel Trump’s rally. They failed.
Lawyers sued to prevent the rally from proceeding. They failed.
The venue manager had the campaign sign a contract that included safety measures like social distancing. But it was breached when someone in the campaign ordered staff to remove the social distancing stickers on chairs.

So what if I do find out who gave those orders to halt & delay testing? Someone needs to put together a request to investigate this. Because the rallies involved multiple jurisdictions and agencies, confirming this information and prosecution will require an official investigation by attorneys general, inspectors general and/or a congressional committee. Who’s going to do that? Me?

An entity with subpoena power needs to act on the information in the book. They need to investigate it to see if crimes were committed and who committed them. In this case we also need to know their intention. So often we have seen medical personnel assume that politicians would act to protect people from sickness. But that has been proven incorrect time and time again.

One of my big concerns is that in a narrow investigation lower level medical personnel will will be blamed. Yet we know from news reports that Trump and his people regularly threaten and intimidate people. We know they go after whistleblowers. What kind of political pressure from high up was put on public health officials to hold the rallies?
Could contract nurses hired for the event to do the COVID testing insist that all the individuals that should be tested were tested that day and that the results be sent to OSDH immediately?

Who was in charge of all the testing? A doctor or a campaign staffer?

In my opinion, the people on the campaign who gave those orders and made those decisions should be held criminally liable, at a minimum.for their violations of the Oklahoma law.

Remember the liability waivers that everyone had to sign? The campaign prepared to protect assets, not the lives of Trump’s attendees or the people in the community.

I think the Trump campaign should be held financially liable for the pain and suffering they caused the people in the Tulsa community. If it can be shown that the Trump Campaign was grossly negligent in their safety protocols, then their liability waivers are invalid. If that happens it opens up the campaign to being sued by a large number of people such as venue staff who worked the event. Perhaps the unions representing the camera crews who were assigned to cover the event could sue.

I’ve talked to a lot of really nice people doing this research. One of the people I talked to asked, “You aren’t from Tulsa, you didn’t get sick. Why do you care?” It’s a good question. We are constantly being told to write off “the Red Staters” they made their beds, now that they are deathbeds, they can lie in them.

But I don’t want to write off huge swaths of the country because a small group of people used their power to increase sickness and death.

7,594 have died in Oklahoma.
500,311 have been infected.
Aug 12, 2021: Oklahoma’s pediatric ICUs are full.

At a press conference on August 5, 2021 Dr. Dale Bratzler, the Chief Covid Officer at the University of Oklahoma, was asked about people who were exposed to unvaccinated people without masks inside a building.
(Keep in mind that the Trump campaign knew which people were exposed to those who tested positive that day.)

Then he was asked what happens to the information if someone tests positive.

“So if you test positive the lab is required by law to send the data to the Oklahoma State Health Department. They will forward it to the county health department who has responsibility if they are going to do any contact tracing, case investigation, quarantine or isolation. “
–Dr Dale Bratzler, DO, MPH

Based on public reporting, it appears the campaign broke the law on test reporting when they actively avoided telling the state’s public health department about the infected individuals at their rally. And because there were no consequences for those people, we are seeing political power and threats overruling the doctors & policies designed to protect the health of the people in the community.

If my logical argument pointing to what the public can know isn’t enough, maybe seeing this photo of a child in a pediatric ICU will help people to understand why those with the authority to learn the full story must start an investigation. If it proves members of the Trump campaign are guilty, they should be held accountable.

Why is no one trying to prosecute DJT for deaths that can be directly tied to actions he took that led to people getting infected and dying from COVID19?

I’ve listed a number of reasons below and what is interesting to me is how often people on the left accept the reasons prosecution won’t happen. There are also many who think that prosecution isn’t a reasonable action to be pursued. 

I hear: “It’s a waste of time, energy and political capital. He’ll weasel out of it. His base doesn’t care.” Then finally I hear the grim acceptance of failure, “What’s the point? He’ll never serve a day in jail.”

So here’s a list of just some of these reasons there is no prosecution followed by “What if I could meet this objection?” For each of these reasons I have a specific case in mind that would meet the objection, but i’m not including a link. I know each answer will lead to other objections, but I want people to image that someone could provide an ANSWER to those objections rather than stopping at the objection.

Because he didn’t break any laws.
— What if we showed he did?

Because no state AG wants to prosecute him.
— What if we had one who would?

Because it’s too hard to find a direct one to one link from his actions to sickness & death.
— What if we had a specific case of injury/death to show?

Because the pandemic is “an act of God” not an act of a man.
—What if we can prove that the virus would not have spread but for his actions?

40 Percent of U.S. COVID Deaths Could Have Been Averted If It Weren’t for Trump

The Lancet, February 10, 2021

Because he’ll blame others.
—What if we can show he ordered others to break the law?

Because we have no hard evidence.
—What if we have audio recordings and multiple witnesses? 
(Carol Leonnig’s been reporting on this for her book Zero Fail and has talked to multiple witnesses. Video link)

Good news! Remember when wearing masks indoors WAS required, but the public at Trump's Bedminster golf club didn't? I just learned the Secret Service were told not to wear masks. Will @RepMalinowski @RepJoshG @RepDonaldPayne @DHSgov committee investigate?@johnsb01 @MatthewArco https://t.co/6LLLDxgaIf pic.twitter.com/JbuBS6zUPL

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) May 27, 2021

These are all real questions that can explain why things might not move forward on a prosecution. That actually might be cases that ARE in progress, if so, I’d like to help them succeed. However, when I bring up the idea of prosecuting Trump for COVID people bring up all sorts of things that don’t really matter, but people think they do. Sadly they do have an impact, they stop us from pursuing cases. Such as:

 “He’ll call it a witch hunt.”
So? Let him.

“His base doesn’t care.”
So? They aren’t the ones prosecuting him

Why no prosecution? 

Because we just want to forget about all this and put it behind us.

–What if we show UNLESS we prosecute him–and those who carried out his actions–it is never behind us? 

Because it would set a precedent for going after other Presidents for actions that led to deaths.
–What if we show that his actions are specifically different in intent than actions taken by other Presidents? 

Because Republican politicians will block any investigation/ prosecution.
–What if the investigation / prosecution doesn’t NEED Republicans to approve? 

Because it just doesn’t matter. Prosecuting Trump won’t bring the dead back to life. 
–What if we show it DOES matter? Especially to the families of the people who died. They want someone to be held responsible for the actions that led to the deaths

Because it’s better to focus on the future and not look backward.
–What if we show that if there are no consequences for people whose actions lead to death, they will do it again in the future?

We can’t make things better in the future if we don’t stop people from taking the actions that led to death in the past.

This is not a think piece. This is a think, take action, analyse the result, take a different action piece

When I led brainstorming sessions for new ideas and programs I would end them with. “These are GREAT IDEAS! Now let’s talk about all the reason they WON’T happen and think about ways to make them happen.”

This was a crucial step that revealed roadblocks people weren’t even aware existed that needed to be addressed.

“If we want Mary to do X she won’t be able to do Y, which is critical.”
Can we get help for Mary?
“We don’t have staff.”
If I got you money for staff could that work?
“Yes, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

To make the X program happen we had to fix the bottlenecks and roadblocks thrown up on the way to our goal. That’s the same with prosecuting Trump for COVID deaths.

I want to learn how to build a case that will lead to prosecution. Maybe someone is doing this already but it’s stalled. Let’s figure out what they need. Money, political support, publicity or evidence? Then we can find and remove the roadblocks.

40% of the people who died from COVID19 would be alive today if it weren’t for the actions of Donald J. Trump. (Lancet Public policy and health in the Trump era Feb. 10, 2021)

Memorial Day is Monday. I’ll remember the people who died from COVID, then I’ll figure out how to help prosecute Trump.