New Jersey GOP lawmakers defy vaccine mandate

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Disorder and confusion erupted in the halls outside the New Jersey Assembly on Thursday as several Republican lawmakers defied a new requirement to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test and were blocked by state troopers— albeit briefly — from entering the ornate chamber.

Hours later, a state appellate court handed a victory to Republicans who had sued to block the proof-of-vaccination requirement, granting the GOP’s application for a stay of the order and setting a potential hearing date for later this month. It was not immediately clear what effect the ruling would have on the requirement.

Ahead of Thursday’s voting session, at least 10 Republicans strode toward the Assembly chamber on the first day the vaccine requirement was in effect. They were stopped by uniformed troopers for about 10 minutes before they eventually entered without showing any vaccination proof or a negative test. Troopers stationed at the doorway declined to provide an explanation.

“You have no right to stop us,” Assembly member Erik Peterson said. “You see this? You see this, folks? Denying us entry into our house.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-lawsuits-new-jersey-congress-8ce347209d654ef778c1ade97b956362

[Fritz Walter]

1. Oh, yes... THEY'RE the victims here!

Karma, do your thing!

[bucolic_frolic]

2. We need better messaging to combat the "vaccine mandate" mantra

Vaccine requirements are for safety of all and shortening the pandemic. That message is lost. The White House should step up IMO.

[róisín_dubh]

4. Honestly I don't think people care.

It's really frustrating and sad.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Maybe that's a silver lining

Those who do care are vaccinated, and protected, for the most part, from covid.

Those who refuse vaccination prefer Darwin or God or both, and get to live or die by their creed.

So everybody gets something, and politicians trying to make hay from "vaccine mandates" may not get very much.

[Wicked Blue]

9. Maybe Emergency Covid-19 Mandate? nt

[BumRushDaShow]

11. There is no "messaging" problem at this point

You will always have a somewhat "fixed" percentage of people who are resistant and this has historically been the case. We are now down close to being at that core group of what Murphy would dub, "knuckleheads".

They are by no means anywhere near some majority of a population, the majority of which "get it" and have taken precautions with getting vaccines and/or doing mitigation strategies. But because this last of the holdouts "act out" and become the "man bites dog" story, the media will magnify their numbers and significance. They pose a danger due to how this pandemic spreads but absent literally arresting them, strapping them to a chair, and forcing a vaccine into them, there is no more one can do but protect yourself from them.

And as a further note, the way this virus appears to be behaving, with constant mutations, it's going to have to be a yearly thing to get some kind of shot, just like the flu shot, where you are lucky to maybe get 40 - 50% of the population getting a flu shot every year. They are doing trials to test flu shots combined with a COVID-19 vaccine (in a single injection - and in some cases, with both types actually being mRNA, as mRNA flu vaccines are being worked on), which will help so you have an all-in-one thing.

[bucolic_frolic]

12. That's a heavyweight response, but the fringe still grabs press coverage /nt

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Yeah I agree and it's sad

I would put them in the category of the types of people who are told to evacuate ahead of a Cat 5 hurricane and they insist that they are going to "ride it out". And some do and either make or, or more often than not, don't make it.

That's why places that experience periodic conditions that can result in natural catastrophes (like hurricanes/extreme flooding or wildfires) end up telling the "holdouts" to put their SS # on their arm in permanent marker so they can be identified if found.

You know the old saying (that has variations) - "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink".

[RAB910]

3. Republicans are pure evil and the press enables their evil

I wish Murphy had thrown the scum in jail

[Sherman A1]

5. Precisely

Hit the nail on the head there.

[The Wizard]

7. The Trump effect

hits NJ legislature. A suicidal death cult has seized the Republican Party.

[The Wizard]

8. In the face of a national emergency

Republicans throw Trumper tantrum.

[gab13by13]

10. Those Republicans were probably all vaccinated,

preventing enforcement of vaccine mandates isn't just for the safety of people, it is also needed to prevent further mutations.

When I was scheduled to travel out of the country by my employer 20 years ago I was required to get vaccinated for 3 things and if I refused I would have been terminated.

[malthaussen]

14. In a rational world, we'd toss them in the can.

In our world, they're social media heroes and the courts back them up.

-- Mal

[Mawspam2]

15. Shana, they bought their tickets, they kney...

...what they were getting into. I say, 'Let 'em crash'.

[FakeNoose]

16. After all that's happened in the last 1.8 years ...

... they still have no clue!

The entitled conservative-white-male hierarchy has proven its uselessness (and failure of leadership) once again.