Monthly Archives: July 2021

A newly released study conducted by Emory University suggests recovered COVID-19 patients possess long-term immunity to the respiratory virus months after infection.

Published in Cell Reports Medicine, the comprehensive study analyzed 254 individuals with mostly mild to moderate symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection over an eight-month period and found that patients possessed durable broad-based immune responses to the virus after recovering from an infection.

The study serves as a framework to define and predict long-lived immunity to SARS-CoV-2 after natural infection, said Emory Vaccine Center director Rafi Ahmed. We also saw indications in this phase that natural immunity could continue to persist. Ahmed served as a lead author on the study.

The study goes on to note that in response to an active infection in the body, the human immune system produces a multitude of neutralizing antibodies, while also activating certain T and B cells to establish immune memory. Ahmed denotes that these developments make a strong case for some form of lasting immunity to the virus.

We saw that antibody responses, especially IgG antibodies, were not only durable in the vast majority of patients but decayed at a slower rate than previously estimated, which suggests that patients are generating longer-lived plasma cells that can neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, he said.

Moreover, the analysis also demonstrates that not only are recovered patients likely to possess lasting immunity to existing SARS-COV-2 variants, but that SARS-CoV-2 infection also boosts antibody titers to SARS-CoV-1 and common betacoronaviruses.

While pre-existing exposure and antibodies against HKU1 and OC43 betacoronaviruses are common in adults, pre-existing SARS-CoV-1 exposure is rare and antibody levels to SARS-CoV-1 spike protein were very low (essentially negative) in the pre-pandemic healthy controls, the study says. However, SARS-CoV-1 spike-reactive antibodies increased significantly after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The report later goes on to conclude that taken together, the results of the study suggest that broad and effective immunity may persist long-term in recovered COVID-19 patients.

The studys participants are expected to be evaluated by the Emory research team over the next few years as part of continued research on the matter.

Shawn Fleetwood is an intern at The Federalist and a student at the University of Mary Washington, where he plans to major in Political Science and minor in Journalism. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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Study: Recovered COVID-19 Patients Possess Robust Immunity to Virus - The Federalist

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Federalist Senior Editor Christopher Bedford joins Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss his article Corporations Are Steamrolling Small Business, Buying Up Homes, And Crushing The Dream, But We Can Fight Back.

Bedford explains how groups like BlackRock are barring more people out of buying homes and pushing more people towards renting.

Theyre going into places, thriving cities that have good schools and nice neighborhoods, and affordable housing in places like Phoenix or outside of Miami to scoop up as many houses, Bedford explained. Those are exactly the houses that we want, part of the American Dream, young people, young families to be moving into. Thats completely within their grasp to have a job or maybe to get there and start a family and start building as opposed to just spending your money on disposable stuff.

Bedford argued the need to focus on tax and trade policies.

Why corporations are treated better than partnerships and family businesses. Why capital is treated better than labor, our labor. Why Brazil and Canada are given preference to American ranchers. Why Chinese manufacturing is treated the same way we are. Why Facebook and Google can say were global companies, not American companies while benefiting from all of our order, all of our systems, all of our education, he said.

Why any other company can benefit from every single aspect of us and all of the trade and then move all over their manufacturing abroad, overseas, choose foreign slave labor, and then use our Navy to get those products shipped back safely on freights to sell to us at lower costs to buy welfare and food stamps, he said.

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Can We Rescue The American Dream From Bully Corporations? - The Federalist

House Democrats on Tuesday blocked consideration of Rep. Burgess Owens legislation, the Say No To Indoctrination Act, which would have prevented taxpayer money from funding critical race theory in Americas schools and military.

The bill, H.R. 4698, would prohibit federal funds from advancing concepts that separate individuals based on race, color, assign characteristics or assumptions to individuals based on race, color, or national origin, or state or imply that the United States is an inherently racist country.

House Democrats shot down this proposed bill and blocked its consideration by a vote of 217-201, despite public opinion polls showing Democrats are rapidly losing ground on the controversial issue. One Rasmussen Report found that 78 percent of likely U.S. voters believe its at least somewhat important for schools to teach the traditional values of Western Civilization, with a majority believing it is very important.

Several Republican House members spoke up on behalf of the majority of Americans who oppose critical race theory, with Owens, R-Ohio, remarking, The American people are right in their distrust, and condemning the Democrats.

In the span of a few weeks, Democrats have gone from claiming that CRT was only a myth to boldly embracing it, Owens said. Theyve gone from dismissing parental objections to endorsing indoctrination in schools across the country.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., blasted the theory as un-American and highlighted the racially divisive nature of the theory, saying that critical race theory assumes that to be born white is to be born guilty and its to be born racist, and to be born black is to be born oppressed or to be born a victim, while adding that the vast majority of Americans disavow and reject it.

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., also condemned the theory as Neo-Marxian and noted it seems to be everywhere: in media, in the workplace, in our armed services, in health care, in churches, and yes, in classrooms where our schoolchildren are taught.

The U.S. Congress [must] catch up with the moms and dads confronting school boards across the country, Bishop declared.

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Dems Kill Bill That Would've Banned Taxpayer-Funded Critical Race Theory - The Federalist

A Dallas-based group that prides itself on defunding the police and labeling people who dont comply with their equity initiatives as racists is asking wealthy white liberals in the city to pledge to keep their children from applying to and attending Ivy League and U.S. News & World Report Top 50 schools.

Talk is not enough. Commit yourself towards taking action and making sacrifices to correct centuries of injustice. Open up spaces for Black and LatinX communities by refusing to send your kids to Ivy League and US News & World Report Top 50 schools and encourage friends, neighbors, and family members to do the same, the racial justice organization Dallas Justice Now demands on its website. Imagine if those hundreds of thousands of spots at these institutions were occupied only by marginalized communities. Imagine the opportunities. We can achieve true equity within our lifetimes but only if white folks are willing to sacrifice their privileges.

The pledge, which was directed toward residents in Dallas richest neighborhood, asks white people not only to acknowledge their privilege and whiteness, but also to make sacrifices for the purpose of correcting hundreds of years of murder, slavery, discrimination, and lack of educational and economic opportunities perpetrated upon people of color.

Have you been asked to take the pledge? Dont be a racist hypocrite. Sign the pledge today! the website reads.

The group also issued printed versions of the pledge to Democrat, Black Lives Matter-supporting residents of the high-income area, accusing them of earn[ing] or inherit[ing] your money through oppressing people of color.

We are writing to you because we understand you are white and live within the Highland Park Independent School District and thus benefit from enormous privileges taken at the expense of communities of color, the letter stated. It is also our understanding that you are a Democrat and supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, which makes you one of our white allies and puts you in a position to help correct these cruel injustices. We need you to step up and back up your words with action and truly sacrifice to make our segregated city more just.

As of Monday, there were no names published under the White Allies Who Signed section.

One recipient of the letter, Casie Tomlin, couldnt believe what she read.

Theres no way an organization would send this, Tomlin told Dallas City Wire.

In response to Tomlins comments, the group alleged that she perpetrated racist and hateful attacks against Dallas Justice Now by making a $3 donation to DJN only to claim the Dallas-based organization is a scam a few minutes later. The group also used its Facebook page to accuse Tomlin of being the embodiment of white privilege and white fragility, a Karen.

Calling the police on people of color when not in imminent danger is itself an act of violence, the group founder Michele Washington wrote.

Tomlin, however, denied the allegations and accused the group of targeting her.

I wholeheartedly dispute and deny all accusations made by Michele Washington and Dallas Justice Now, she said, in part, in an email. Ms. Washingtons statements are factually incorrect and intentionally misleading. Her statements are part of an ongoing campaign of harassment lodged against me, a single mother, because of an agenda she wishes to advance. I am now and have always been an active advocate for social justice.

In a press release and interview, Washington also named where Tomlin works and claimed she harasses Dallas Justice Now by calling the police to distract from the fact that she doesnt want to make a single sacrifice to remedy the injustices that face our city.

Neither Dallas Justice Now nor Washington, who appears to be the primary and possibly only contact for the group, did not respond to The Federalists multiple attempts to contact them for comment and verification. When The Federalist searched the Internal Revenue Service nonprofit database, no tax-exempt status for the group was shown.

While Dallas Justice Nows website and even Facebook page make sweeping statements using the term we, any signs of collaboration of a team all point back to Washington, whose personal Facebook profile doesnt have any public activity since October 2020, when she claims to have founded Dallas Justice Now. Washingtons media presence is also limited to the sites blog and a few short comments to local press about the recent letter.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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Dallas Group To White BLM Dems: Keep Your Kids Out Of Ivy Leagues - The Federalist

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Federalist Staff Writer Jordan Davidson joins Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions flip-flop on masks, the Biden administrations endorsement of the new guidelines, and how fed-up Americans are pushing back.

It is about politics because over the last year and a half, weve had multiple narratives, multiple scientists, multiple groups, trying to figure out whats going on, Davidson said. And weve seen collusion between the Democrat administration, Big Tech, and the corporate media to shut down any narratives that arent the propaganda thats coming from the administration and from the CDC.

Americans, Jashinsky said, are fed up and are inevitably going to demand change.

This is about to amp up to another level, Jashinsky said. I think it can only help Republicans. But I think it is going to make divisions worse. I think its going to incense people on the left. They are looking to the state for their safety and theyre worried about their safety, and I think reasonably so because there has been so much alarmism and hyperbole coming from the political establishment. Were going to see this play out, I think, in ugly ways, but hopefully, at the end of the day, the result is a good one that forces people in positions of power to implement policies that do align with a capital S science and do protect our freedoms in this country.

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Will The CDC's Newest Mask Flip-Flop Be The Tipping Point? - The Federalist

Intelligence officials in France warned U.S. State Department officials in 2015 that communist China planned to cease its collaboration agreement at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to a former State Department COVID-19 investigator.

Former State Department official David Asher indicated to the Daily Caller that the U.S. government was given preliminary information regarding Chinas move to stop working with France at the lab. In 2004, France and China launched the project, which continual evidence indicates could be the originating area of COVID-19.

Asher said France was formally kicked out of the lab in 2017, which resulted in foreign officials contacting the U.S. to let officials know. In January 2021, prior to the Biden administration assuming office, the State Department alleged that the lab had been used by China military research for classified research since at least 2017.

The Chinese basically sucked State into its honey pot operation to gain access to U.S. technology, knowledge, and material support. Classic. Just as they have done in every sector, the investigator said.

Still, the U.S. lent a major hand to the lab. According to The U.S. Agency for International Development, it funneled $1.1 million to EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S. non-profit, from October 2019 to May 2019 for a sub-agreement signed with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Department of Defenses Defense Threat Reduction Agency was a subcontractor of the lab and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sent $600,000 in grants to the Wuhan lab from 2014 to 2019.

A 2018 State Department cable outlined how France determined the lab would be an accessible and transparent operation, but estimation does not coincide with Chinas recent announcement it will not permit the World Health Organization (WHO) to investigate the lab. The country also prohibited WHO from gaining access to documentation and records being held at the lab.

French officials were in support of working with China, and yet some French defense experts were skeptical, as reported by Le Figaro, a newspaper in France. France put aside a whopping $1 million euros every year for five years to give to the lab, then-French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said at a 2017 ceremony. Scientists in the country even trained Chinese workers.

While the plan was for France to supervise, Le Figaro reported that China took over the lab and stopped collaborating. However, French workers stayed longer than five years.

As evidence mounts supporting the coronavirus lab-leak theory, U.S. lawmakers are demanding answers. Dr. Anthony Fauci claimed in June he has always been open to the theory, and yet he has also refuted it for months. China said it was shocked WHO is investigating the theory.

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Report: France Tried To Warn US In 2015 That China Kicked Them Out Of Wuhan Lab - The Federalist

Its not a crime to choke under pressure but when did it become something to admire with deep reverence?

After U.S. Olympian Simone Biles dropped out of not one but two games this week, events that she and her peers have been training their entire lives for, the response from the national media has been to effusively cheer and pay homage to the power and bravery of giving up.

And make no mistake, much or most of the celebration for Biles backdown is because she happens to be black.

Its not enough for the media to say, Gee, its too bad she quit and hopefully she works out her problems, but they have to herald her as a trailblazer because it makes liberal journalists feel good to pity (i.e. look down on) others, particularly when it comes to race.

A different kind of pressure follows Black women who achieve in traditionally White spaces, wrote Washington Post sports reporter Candace Buckner. If theyve had a realist for a mother, since childhood theyve heard the refrain theyve got to work twice as hard to get half as much. And if they spent two seconds in America, then they know that mama was right.

She said the lesson of Biles abrupt withdrawal should be in letting Black women be great without carrying a deeper narrative.

MSNBCs Hallie Jackson similarly observed that Biles is not just an athlete. She is not just one of the best athletes in the world. Shes also a black woman athlete.

Jacksons guest, sports writer Kavitha Davidson, nodded along thoughtfully and bemoaned the pressure on black women to be 100 percent perfect all the time.

(When you work in the national media, youre allowed to invent new racial stereotypes and concepts at will.)

Davidson said Biles is literally carrying the weight of an entire country on her shoulders and probably an entire sport, and that weighs a lot.

Eren Orbey of the New Yorker was in awe at the radical courage it took for Biles to see herself out of the games. He called it its own kind of achievement.

Remember that the next time youre given an assignment on a tight deadline at work. Should you feel that the pressure is too much, walk out and remind yourself that that in itself is its own kind of achievement.

There is of course nothing wrong with Biles choosing not to compete. Its very literally her neck on the line each time she hurls and twists her body into the air. She said she was sitting the games out not for physical injury but because the mental is not there.

Fair enough! Plenty of people cave under pressure. Very few of them will know pressure like the Olympics. Biles certainly didnt seem to think much of it, even referring to herself after withdrawing the first time as the head star of the Olympics.

But choking doesnt make Biles special. And the incident certainly doesnt reveal a superhumanity, as a headline in New York magazine asserted. That remains true even though Biles is black.

No one in America interested in the Olympics expects anything more or less than that she do our country proud. If someone like Kavitha Davidson believes theres some added responsibility on black women to be 100 percent perfect all the time, thats something she might raise with a therapist, rather than project it on the rest of the nation.

Biles is an undeniably gifted athlete. She choked. It should be very easy to celebrate one and not the other, even though Biles is black.

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Simone Biles And The Media's Celebration Of Choking - The Federalist

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Editors note: This is one in a series examining the Constitution and Federalist Papers in todays America. Click HERE to read the series.

Of late it seems our nation is neither one nor indivisible. The divide between red and blue America is palpable, extreme and so rancorous it sometimes spills into violence. Bipartisanship is largely defunct and our nations legislative branch essentially frozen.

Yet one ray of sunshine brightens the horizon: We are living in the golden age of federalism.

Our system of dual sovereignty was at once a genius inspiration of our Constitutions framers and a necessary expedient for its enactment. The idea, enshrined in the 10th Amendment, is that certain limited powers were delegated to the national government, with the remaining valid powers retained by the states. Alexander Hamilton argued in The Federalist No. 51 that reserving certain powers in the states would provide a double security, in addition to separation of powers, to constrain abuses of national power.

Despite the relentless flow of power to our nations capital, states continue to dominate wide swaths of governance, from education to criminal law, personal injury, domestic relations, and most importantly, the police power (the power to regulate for public health and safety). In domains that have not been taken over by the national government, states are free to call their own shots to be, in the words of Justice Louis Brandeis, laboratories of democracy so long as they do not violate the Constitution.

For most of Americas history, federalism was a partisan issue: Whichever party dominated Washington squelched federalism. One decision from the New Deal Supreme Court dismissed the 10th Amendment as a truism, aspirationally majestic but devoid of content.

But today, both parties embrace federalism. Even when one party or the other seeks to increase the national governments power, it simultaneously moves the policy ball forward in states it controls.

In this regard, federalism serves a vitally important function: as a release valve for pent-up dissent. Did liberals disdain President Trumps immigration policies? How about creating welcoming sanctuary cities? Conservatives who fear President Bidens gun-control policies have appropriated the idea, creating sanctuary cities for gun rights.

Are these divergent policies meaningful, or even constitutional? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But they reflect our doctrinal preference for decentralized authority. Federalism secures the freedom of the individual, the Supreme Court declared in a unanimous 2011 opinion. It allows states to respond, through the enactment of positive law, to the initiative of those who seek a voice in shaping the destiny of their own times without having to rely solely upon the political processes that control a remote central power.

We have never experienced so much federalism. We are emerging from COVID-19 federalism, in which some states exercised tight control, while others reopened more quickly. We have abortion federalism, in which some states permit abortion until nearly birth while others proscribe it after a fetal heartbeat. We have capital punishment federalism, educational federalism, right-to-work federalism. The list is endless.

We also have what I call civil disobedience federalism, where states pursue their own path contrary to federal law. For instance, marijuana is legalized in some states, illegal in others. So far, the federal government under both parties has tolerated the divergence and may even legalize it.

That example illustrates another attribute of federalism: Where the national government is deadlocked, we can test-drive different approaches in the states. My favorite example is a policy my former colleagues at the Goldwater Institute and I devised called right to try. For decades, advocates in Washington toiled without success to speed up the approval process at the Food and Drug Administration for potentially lifesaving drugs. Our audacious idea was to establish in state law the right for terminally ill patients to try experimental drugs.

We expected the FDA to challenge the law to protect its regulatory hegemony. Instead, as the idea swept dozens of states, both red and blue, the FDA began streamlining its processes. Eventually the law was passed with bipartisan majorities in Congress just in time to aid the rapid approval of COVID-19 vaccines.

Free-rein federalism is properly checked by constitutional constraints. But both sides of the ideological divide should applaud the willingness and the ability of states to pass laws that reflect their citizens values and aspirations. That means resisting efforts to nationalize decision-making on matters traditionally entrusted to the states. Indeed, where such efforts go too far, they also may transgress constitutional boundaries.

We need the release valve. Certainly, the red-blue divide exists not just among but within states. But it is much easier to affect, and change, politics at the state level than the national level. If you dont like what your state does, you can always find more hospitable climes.

We all have a direct stake in protecting federalism, even if we dont always like what it produces. The one-size-fits-all alternative will often look far less appealing.

Clint Bolick is a justice on the Arizona Supreme Court and a research fellow with the Hoover Institution.

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Clint Bolick: Federalism a cure for what ails the U.S. - Washington Times

Ryan Jung took a quick glance at the folded sheet of paper on which was written his winning vote total in Tuesday nights presidential election at American Legion Boys Nation, then stuck it back in his pocket.

So what did he think of that 59-41 tally?

I think its just testament to the fact that some of us are able to look past our differences and some of us are just really diverse in our political beliefs. I mean, I come from California, quite a solidly blue state, and my best friend is from Alabama. I just love that having that genuine personality transcends your political beliefs, Jung said. Even though we may think differently on some political issues that are just real hot-button issues that we think divides our nation, we can look past it with this genuineness and this maturity, and I think regardless of whatever that vote count was, thats the biggest thing I take away this week.

Jung, the Nationalist Party candidate from California, defeated Federalist Dimitrios Owen of Virginia to be elected president of the 75th session of Boys Nation.

For me, its just as personal and important to represent myself as a member of the (Asian American Pacific Islander) community as much as it is an opportunity to learn and challenge myself, Jung said of his decision to run for president. I thought that I wouldnt be able to go to sleep at night at the end of the week if I just didnt go for high office and I didnt really put in 110 percent effort.

One of Jungs favorite books is Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr., a book whose lessons Jung hopes to use to unite the senators of Boys Nation.

I think hes able to unite disparate beliefs, disparate political parties, disparate racial groups, Jung said of Kings writing. And I hope that in the same vein I can unite our Federalists and Nationalists in that same sense. And its being able to have a degree of grace with one another. Having the strength to love one another like neighbors even though at times we seem like enemies. I still think its important to have that kind of grace, to understand that we are all common Americans, looking past our differences and keeping that in heart.

Also elected Tuesday night was vice president Cameron Cummings, an Alabama Boys Stater selected to represent Michigan at Boys Nation. Because of pandemic restrictions, 15 Boys State programs canceled or delayed their sessions this summer so 30 senators from other states were randomly selected to represent those programs.

Ironically enough, Cummings, a Federalist, defeated fellow Alabamian and Michigan senator and Boys Nation roommate Aiden Sanders, a Nationalist, for the vice presidency.

We were both really happy when each other won, Cummings said. When someone told me that Aiden won (the nomination), I was really surprised not the fact that I didnt have faith in him, but two people from the same state, sitting right beside each other in the same room, both got the vice presidential nomination, just amazing.

While Cummings concedes he would have loved to represent Alabama at Boys Nation, being here is an honor in itself; I would never take that for granted, he said.

I had to do a little research on issues in (Michigan) just in case I need to bring up in the senate chamber, so I could be well-versed in how they work and operate there, he added. Im still proud to say Im representing Michigan.

Jung and Cummings were officially sworn in Wednesday morning.

Follow the happenings at American Legion Boys Nation at legion.org/boysnation and on YouTube at americanlegionHQ, and on social media on Twitter (@ALBoysNation) and Instagram (@theamericanlegion) with the hashtag #BoysNation75.

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Election night at Boys Nation 75 | The American Legion - The American Legion

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Federalist intern Spencer Lindquist joins Executive Editor Joy Pullmann to discuss his experience with critical race theory indoctrination in high school and how Americans are finally catching onto the lefts racist agenda to fight back.

The left talks a lot about equality and egalitarianism, and they use that as a smokescreen to push some pretty heinous stuff, Lindquist said. They see hierarchies as inherently evil because these are things that they feel threatened by. They feel threatened by the existence of inequalities and because of that they try and ascribe any and all forms of inequality to some form of oppression.

The left isnt backing down, Lindquist said, explaining why now is the time for parents and other Americans to speak up.

The direction of the nation, quite frankly, is at stake. There will be casualties in this culture war because we are being turned against each other on the basis of race, Lindquist said.

These are the stakes of the fight and while it might be uncomfortable thats really a small risk compared to what this looks like for your childs future, what this looks like in five years and 10 years, 50 years. This nation has unfortunately become very volatile and this is the gasoline that has been poured. Theyre continuing to pour it and they just want to toss a match on and if we let them, its going to go up in flames, he said.

Read Lindquists article My High School Taught Me Critical Race Theory Six Years Ago And Tried To Reeducate Me When I Fought Back.

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Why Keeping Critical Race Theory Away From Your Kids Requires A Lot More Than iPhone Activism - The Federalist