Emord’s Sacred Fire of Liberty, Pelosi steps down, Trump runs again, Biden extends emergency, Progressives eye Congress, GOP wins House majority, Title 42 struck down, Climate change in school, FTC vs Nepute, Jen Jacobson, Beloved Cheesecakes, COVID mandates, Non-compliance, U.S. mental health crisis and MORE!

November 17th, 2022 3-5PM ET

Thursday on The Robert Scott Bell Show:

Sacred Fire of Liberty!

It’s that time of the week where we get to explore the political healing that this country needs so desperately! Jonathan Emord is back to help us dissect the latest political news that’s fit to print:

Trump Unveils ‘National Greatness Agenda’ in 2024 Presidential Campaign Announcement Speech Former President Donald Trump announced his third campaign for the White House here Tuesday night at his luxurious seaside resort Mar-a-Lago in front of thousands of fans and hundreds of media outlets. In the 69-minute address, Trump unveiled what he called a “National Greatness Agenda.” “This is what we call a National Greatness Agenda, because our country can be greater than it’s ever been,” Trump said. “Our country is not great anymore. It’s a mess. But our country can be greater than it ever was before. There will be more, much more in the months ahead—and there are so many things we need to do. The road ahead of us will not be easy.” The agenda includes a push to build for the United States a “shield” against intercontinental ballistic missiles, an amendment to the U.S. Constitution imposing term limits on members of Congress as well as a ban on members of Congress trading stocks, and the rehiring of every American military serviceman and servicewoman terminated due to current Democrat President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. “I will keep America out of foolish and unnecessary foreign wars, just as I did for four years before,” Trump said. “We will again have peace through strength. To protect our people from the unthinkable threat of nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles, the United States must also build a state-of-the-art, next-generation missile defense shield. We need it. A word that I refuse to say: ‘Nuclear.’ We have to have it. We need a defense shield. We have the technology.”

Biden Extends Covid Public Health Emergency While States Move On The federal public health emergency for Covid-19 will be in effect for at least the next 60 days, with Department of Health and Human Services officials not yet signaling an end date. The Biden administration has promised to give states 60 days’ notice when a decision is reached. The current declaration ends in mid-January, a time that health policy experts mark as risky for the administration to relinquish regulatory flexibility given projected increases in Covid-19 infections, the flu and the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. “We’re already seeing obviously tremendous strain on the healthcare system right now,” said Wendy Parmet, a Northeastern University law professor. “We seem to be at the cusp of what might be the tripledemic. I think there’s probably a lot of concern at HHS that the situation may get worse before it gets better.” President Joe Biden himself has remarked that the nation’s Covid response is shifting, possibly reaching an end for the emergency declaration. Sarah Lovenheim, assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS, said in a statement Monday that the emergency “remains in effect and as HHS committed to earlier, we will provide a 60-day notice to states before any possible termination or expiration.”

Progressives eye new Congress emboldened by midterm wins Progressives have finally found reason to celebrate. Now they just have to convince other Democrats to come to the party. For months, moderates picked off primary challengers from the left ahead of the midterms, leaving just a handful of liberal candidates to compete against Republicans this fall. But after a surprisingly strong night last Tuesday for Democrats, progressives are already suggesting ways they’d like to see members of Congress use their expanded bench — even as control of both chambers still hangs in the balance. “It’s time for Democrats, especially progressive Democrats, to take attendance,” said Michael Starr Hopkins, a Democratic operative who’s been outspoken about what he sees as the party’s shortcomings. “They have power and they should use it to help their constituents. Period.” “There’s no question that this will be the most progressive Democratic caucus in decades,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said during a press conference on Sunday introducing new members of the group. Voters delivered victories to progressives in districts across the country, including in Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Hawaii, California, Pennsylvania and Vermont, creating a geographically diverse picture of where left-wing Democrats can win. Jayapal told reporters on Sunday that of the 18 candidates the Progressive caucus endorsed this cycle, 15 have won their races.

GOP wins slim House majority, complicating ambitious agenda Republicans won control of the U.S. House on Wednesday, returning the party to power in Washington and giving conservatives leverage to blunt President Joe Biden’s agenda and spur a flurry of investigations. But a threadbare majority will pose immediate challenges for GOP leaders and complicate the party’s ability to govern. More than a week after Election Day, Republicans secured the 218th seat needed to flip the House from Democratic control. The full scope of the party’s majority may not be clear for several more days — or weeks — as votes in competitive races are still being counted. But they are on track to cobble together what could be the party’s narrowest majority of the 21st century, rivaling 2001, when Republicans had just a nine-seat majority, 221-212 with two independents. That’s far short of the sweeping victory the GOP predicted going into this year’s midterm elections, when the party hoped to reset the agenda on Capitol Hill by capitalizing on economic challenges and Biden’s lagging popularity. Instead, Democrats showed surprising resilience, holding on to moderate, suburban districts from Virginia to Minnesota and Kansas. The results could complicate House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s plans to become speaker as some conservative members have questioned whether to back him or have imposed conditions for their support. McCarthy, R-Calif., celebrated his party having “officially flipped” the House on Twitter on Wednesday night, writing, “Americans are ready for a new direction, and House Republicans are ready to deliver.” Current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., released a statement Wednesday night saying, “In the next Congress, House Democrats will continue to play a leading role in supporting President Biden’s agenda — with strong leverage over a scant Republican majority.”

Open Borders: Judge Strikes Down Title 42 A Democrat-nominated judge has unveiled a decision ordering the border agency to stop using the Title 42 anti-disease barrier to exclude wage-cutting economic migrants from the United States. The Title 42 anti-disease rule was established by former President Donald Trump and is the only effective legal barrier to stop millions of poor migrants from gambling their lives and savings to get jobs and homes in the United States. Once migrants trek to the border, they are allowed to enter a tangled, complex immigration system that prevents their deportation for several years. But President Joe Biden’s deputies also release nearly all of the migrants, despite laws requiring the detention of asylum seekers. That catch-and-release policy gives migrants plenty of time to pay off their smuggling debts, summon more home-country migrants, have U.S.-citizen children, and hide from the nation’s deportation agency. The decision, unveiled a week after Election Day, immediately bars the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing the Title 42 anti-disease barrier at the border. The decision was approved by Emmet Sullivan, a far-left, Democrat-nominated judge overseeing an ACLU lawsuit.

One state mandates teaching climate change in almost all subjects – even PE There was one minute left on Suzanne Horsley’s stopwatch and the atmosphere remained thick with carbon dioxide, despite the energetic efforts of her class of third graders to clear the air. Horsley, a wellness teacher at Toll Gate Grammar School, in Pennington, New Jersey, had tasked the kids with tossing balls of yarn representing carbon dioxide molecules to their peers stationed at plastic disks representing forests. The first round of the game was set in the 1700s, and the kids had cleared the field in under four minutes. But this third round took place in the present day, after the advent of cars, factories and electricity, and massive deforestation. With fewer forests to catch the balls, and longer distances to throw, the kids couldn’t keep up. “That was hard,” said Horsley after the round ended. “In this time period versus the 1700s, way more challenging right? “Yeah,” the students chimed in. “In 2022, we got a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” said Horsley. “What’s the problem with it, what is it causing?” “Global warming,” volunteered one girl. Two years ago, New Jersey became the first state in the country to adopt learning standards obligating teachers to instruct kids about climate change across grade levels and subjects. The standards, which went into effect this fall, introduce students as young as kindergarteners to the subject, not just in science class but in the arts, world languages, social studies and physical education. Supporters say the instruction is necessary to prepare younger generations for a world — and labor market — increasingly reshaped by climate change.

FTC loses their Internet Connection, cannot search Pubmed, YouTube? “A St. Louis chiropractor could face more than $500 billion in civil penalties through a federal lawsuit that alleges that he profited from selling Vitamin D and zinc products in violation of the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act. The federal government is suing me for half a trillion dollars … for telling people to take vitamins,’ said Dr. Eric Nepute. Nepute said his case goes to trial in Missouri federal court in March. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed the 27-page complaint in April 2021. It alleges, among other things, that Nepute profited from the online sale of Vitamin D and zinc products during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Nepute, 41, is a licensed chiropractor and owner of Nepute Wellness Center in St. Louis. He also owns Quickwork, a limited liability company doing business as Wellness Warrior. The government’s complaint alleges that Nepute, through social media and internet advertising, promoted and sold “Wellness Warrior Vita D” and other products as drugs capable of treating, or preventing, COVID-19. ‘Starting no later than June 2020, [Nepute] began advertising a protocol that customers should follow to protect against, prevent, or treat COVID-19. This protocol, which has varied over time, advises consumers to take [daily] substantial quantities of emulsified Vitamin D3 and zinc,’ found in the Wellness Warrior products, the complaint stated.

Hour 2

The Dangers of the Biden Pandemic Plan What if the coronavirus pandemic was not a once-in-a-century event but the beginning of a new era of regular deadly respiratory viral pandemics? The Biden administration is already planning for this future. Two weeks ago, it unveiled a national strategy to develop pharmaceutical firms’ capacity to create vaccines within 130 days of a pandemic emergency declaration. The Biden plan enshrines former president Donald Trump‘s Operation Warp Speed as the model response to the next century of pandemics. Left unsaid is that, for the new pandemic plan to work as envisioned, it will require us to conduct dangerous gain-of-function research. It will also require cutting corners in the evaluation of the safety and efficacy of novel vaccines. And while the studies are underway, politicians will face tremendous pressure to impose draconian lockdowns to keep the population “safe.” In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, it took about a year for governments to deploy the jab at scale after scientists sequenced the virus. Scientists identified a vaccine target—fragments of the spike protein that the virus uses to access cells—by early January 2020, even before the WHO declared a worldwide pandemic. This rapid response was only possible because some scientists already knew much about the novel virus. Despite heavy regulations limiting the work, the U.S. National Institutes of Health had funded collaborations between the EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They collected bat viruses from the wild, enhanced their function to study their potential, and designed vaccines before the viruses infected humans.

Special Guest Jen Jacobson

Oregon small business owner slams governor’s new shutdown order: ‘Against our constitutional rights’ An Oregon small business owner slammed Gov. Kate Brown on “Fox & Friends” Friday for her decision to shut down indoor dining in the state’s major cities for a third time while chain stores like Costco remain open. Jen Jacobson, owner of Beloved Cheesecakes, said business owners feel like they have been made a “scapegoat” for the spread of the virus.  JEN JACOBSON: She doesn’t have the authority. It goes against our constitutional rights. I’m essential. I’m a mom. I’m providing for my family. I don’t know why there’s a target on small businesses and restaurants when I can go to Costco and get my groceries for the week for the shop and be shoulder to shoulder with people. It’s not right. I don’t know, I feel like we’re being a scapegoat for the COVID spread and it’s not right.

Therapists say they can’t meet high demand as anxiety, depression linger America’s therapists are booked. Six in 10 psychologists say they don’t have openings for new patients, according to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association. The high demand for therapy is the latest sign of and ongoing U.S. mental health crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Though millions of Americans have returned to normal life, many people feel far from normal. A majority of the psychologists surveyed said that since the start of the pandemic, they’ve seen an uptick in patients who are dealing with anxiety, depression and trauma, and that the demand for services continues to remain high. “We had a workforce shortage before the pandemic where we just didn’t have enough therapists to meet the mental health needs of this country,” said Vaile Wright, a senior director of health-care innovation at the American Psychological Association. “And that’s only gotten worse.” The APA survey was conducted Sept. 20 to Oct. 7 among 2,294 doctoral-level psychologists who are licensed and active in the United States. The survey was distributed to 62,900 psychologists for whom the APA has contact information, accounting for about half of U.S. psychologists, the organization said. The association started conducting the annual survey three years ago, when the pandemic first hit, and Wright said the latest survey shows “things are not improving” for practitioners or their patients. Parker Hilton, a licensed professional counselor in Red Bank, N.J., told The Washington Post that he recently “started from scratch” and launched his own private practice at the beginning of October. Six weeks in, he’s already fully booked, meeting with up to 35 patients per week. Hilton said he’s seeing more people who are asking “big, wide questions” in existential conversations about meaning and purpose to life.

Remember Friends, The Power to Heal is Yours!