biden is playing "fakeball" not "hardball" with OSHA vaccine mandates

so far, these are huckster scare tactics. there is no rule. there is no ball.

much has been made of this story:

it’s alleged this is biden “playing hardball” and setting up for huge fines on companies that fail to comply with his (almost certainly unconstitutional) announcement on sept 9 that OSHA would mandate vaccination to work at any US company with 100 or more employees.

but is he? because this looks like fraudball and intimidation to me and the reason is simple:

there is no law. there is no mandate.

a month after this “big announcement” there is nothing. it’s just a press release. and that’s probably deliberate.

read THIS take from joy pullman at the federalist. it’s great.

it’s the kind of journalism we used to have and the kind of journalism a free society requires. (seriously, go read it. support them. that’s how we get more of this, and we NEED more of this.)

because joy is pulling no punches.

you know why no AG has sued over this rule? because there is no rule to sue over.

the emergency temporary standard process biden purports to be using has only been used 10 times in 50 years. 6 have gone to court. 5 have lost.

it’s a junk methodology and this is junk even for an ETS.

and it has thus far amounted to precisely bupkis.

“According to several sources, so far it appears no such mandate has been sent to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs yet for approval. The White House, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Department of Labor haven’t released any official guidance for the alleged mandate. There is no executive order. There’s nothing but press statements.”

there is no way to “play hardball” with this rule. because there is no ball at all.

nor, perhaps, was there supposed to be. this is not governance by diktat, it’s government by deception.

the illusion that this rule is coming will scare some into compliance. for others among the aspiring vichy class of american neo-fascism, it provides a pretext to force things on employees and make it look like the government’s fault.

bruce atkinson nailed it in the WSJ:

this is not a real law, it’s a scare story to wave around.

it’s a shabby trick (albeit a cunning one) to force and justify compliance by making empty threats.

and the threats ARE empty.

the minute this becomes a real rule, it’s going to be in court in 30 places as every free state AG tees off on this absurdity of overreach.

this is why jawboning joe will be loath to actually do it. he wants the threat. the reality will have to stand up to scrutiny and opposition. the reality will get gutted like a trout.

so they push a fiction, a hobgoblin conjured to panic the weak willed into compliance.

don’t fall for it.

don’t believe a company that tells you this is an OSHA mandate. it’s not.

if you run a company, don’t believe the government that you have to do this. you don’t.

the clothes here have no emperor here. there is no basis in law, justice, ethics, or science for this rule.

and what do we say to charlatans trying to take out freedom by lying to us?

this.

(“cat” is often a much more evocative language than “hooman” but i’m sure you can find a suitable translation…)