Stories from the Southland and elsewhere detailing some of the recent ups and downs in the battle against the political tyrants who unduly plague us in the Land of the Free…

1. State Attorneys General Interpose

Just as Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolutions and Madison’s Virginia Resolution recommend:

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Eighteen states filed three separate lawsuits Friday to stop President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, arguing that the requirement violates federal law.

Attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming signed on to one lawsuit, which was filed in a federal district court in Missouri. Another group of states including Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Georgia.

Texas also sued individually on Friday.

. . .

The only surprise here is that Louisiana AG Landry is not among them, though there are rumors Landry has something of his own to come.

2. A State Legislature Finally Gets It Right with COVID

Tennessee shows the right way forward.  Some provisions of the bill passed by her State Legislature:

–All governmental and private entities would be barred from requiring proof of having taken COVID shots. They also couldn’t take adverse actions or deny employment based on vaccination status. In other words, Tennessee is applying existing anti-discrimination law that is rigorously enforced in every other realm to the issue and time where it is needed most. The only exceptions are those who are signed on as federal contractors and have already signed their lives away to the federal government.

–Authorizes unemployment benefits for those who quit their jobs due to any requirement.

–Provides a cause of action for anyone injured by the vaccine as a result of an employer asking the individual to receive it.

–Except in a few circumstances, this bill completely bars any local governmental entity or schools from requiring someone to wear a mask or taking adverse action against people for not covering their faces. Anyone injured as a result of a mask mandate can sue in court. Masks can be required under “severe conditions,” but just for 14 days, and medical exemptions must be accepted. The original House bill also banned even private entities from implanting a mandate, but the Senate took it out.

Will other States that have blustered about their commitment to liberty in the past have the courage to follow suit?

3.  Challenging Woke Corporate Power

As this is coming from Sen Marco Rubio, who is more Establishment Republican than populist disrupter, hopefully it is a sign that ideas like this will soon become an integral part of the Republican Party’s platform.  Here is a little of what he had to say earlier at a gathering of conservatives in Orlando:

First, that means getting wokeness out of the boardroom. At a minimum, we should require that the leadership of large companies be subject to strict scrutiny and legal liability when they abuse their corporate privilege by pushing wasteful, anti-American nonsense.

For example, we can use the current “shareholder primacy” argument against these companies. Right now, the burden is on the shareholder to prove these woke, anti-American stances—like boycotting a state for governing its own election laws—are bad for shareholders. Instead, we should place the burden on the company to prove it is acting in the best interest of shareholders.

4. The Empire Strikes Back

The conditions of the January 6 protestors being held in prison in Washington City are atrocious:  The gulag has officially moved from Eastern Europe to North America.  Nathaniel DeGrave managed to get a letter out describing the horrid living conditions:

My name is Nathan DeGrave, and as a non violent participant at the Jan 6th rally, I’ve spent the last 9 months detained as a political prisoner in pod C2B at the DC DOC…otherwise known as DC’s Gitmo.

The conditions here for Jan 6ers have been inhumane. In fact, some inmates are even begging to be transferred to GUANTANAMO BAY, where even THEY have more acceptable standards.

 . . .

The EXTREME medical neglect in this facility has caused a variety of adverse illnesses and disease. Some show signs of scurvy. And some even have Covid like symptoms, but medical personnel have refused to treat it.

Christopher Worrell, for example, is an inmate with Cancer, who also broke his hand in prison and requires surgery. Both have been completely ignored. Federal judge Royce Lamberth got to the point where on October 12th, he filed contempt of court charges against the warden of the DC DOC, claiming that Worrell’s civil rights have been violated, and demanding the U.S attorney general inquire further about his and other possible violations.

Another inmate, Peter Stager, WAITED FOUR MONTHS to receive his CPAP breathing machine, and has needed an MRI since spring, which has also been ignored by staff.

The harsh, unlivable conditions of our unit has caused health hazards that defy Department of Health regulations. And on at least five occasions, RAW SEWAGE has overflowed our unit, causing human fecal matter to flood the floors and rooms. That’s also in addition to the MOLD on cell walls, as well as the rusty pipes, and DIRTY WATER that flows from these sinks. White rags TURN BROWN when exposed to the water from our faucets.

 . . .

This situation shouldn’t be left to languish in the courts.  The AGs of the States of those being forced to live in such abhorrent conditions should be making life miserable for those responsible.  Daily press conferences, appeals to international tribunals, organizing protests, social media posts, legal motion after legal motion in the DC courts – all the legal and political weapons they know about need to be deployed to save these folks.

5.  Black Allies against Wokeness?

The polling over the years reveals that African Americans, whether only those in the Democrat Party or considered all together, are much more socially conservative than others in that political clan.  Is there no one with enough imagination and love that can use these truths to deliver them from cultish devotion to Democrats who have a death-grip on leftist ideologies?  No one who can, for instance, organize some conferences with leaders of African nations, many of whom are opposed to Woke lunacy, who can reach out to the African diaspora here in Louisiana and the other States, not to make them ‘good Republicans’, but to help them translate their Christian principles more consistently into public/political life, whether that favors Democrats, Republicans, or Independents?

The social conservatism of the African Americans, owing to their high church attendance, makes them natural allies of those opposed to the LGBTQ social reconstruction that is being attempted.  Their partnership with defenders of traditional Christian virtues would be very valuable.

6. Political Opportunities Must not Be Wasted

Whatever political victories conservatives achieve in the coming years has to be followed by substantive action.  Rod Dreher gets to the point:

. . . it will do no good if conservatives are given political power by voters and fail to use it to dismantle soft totalitarianism. The Right needs to use the power of government — the only institution we might control — to fight back, and fight back hard. Rhetoric is not enough. . . . We can no longer simply denounce this stuff.

Politics is not the only source of hope in this life (thankfully!).  But considering what is at stake – an anti-Christian dystopian rewrite of human society and of human nature itself – and the forces arrayed against folks who honor traditional ways of living – government bureaucracies and their armed enforcers and corporate boardrooms that control media, banking, etc. – it would be a betrayal of enormous proportions if politicians who call themselves Christians, conservatives, and related titles did not act with all the wisdom, justice, and boldness they were capable of while in office to protect the innocent against the aggressors.  If they need encouraging examples from the past, they are out there.