Firing America: Biden's policies will haunt businesses for years
Laura Ingraham says Biden uses COVID mandates to divide America
This is a rush transcript of "Ingraham Angle" on October 14, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: We hope you set your DVR, so never miss an episode. In the meantime, 10 seconds early, let not your heart be troubled. Laura Ingraham's starting trouble. Go ahead. What to?
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: OK. I think viewers have to understand that are very - I mean, it's a friendly rivalry, right? But it goes - it goes--
HANNITY: Not a rivalry.
INGRAHAM: Well, not rivalry. It's kind of a back and forth, whatever. But it goes pretty deep. And it's not just about politics. Watch.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
HANNITY: Did you enjoy that?
INGRAHAM: Yes. I mean, I know you think you know Krav Maga, but you don't know who else might know more than you at any given point in time. OK, so I just want people to know, there may be something else going on underneath at all. OK.
You have no idea how much I train in the course of a day. That's all I'll say. I know that move where you--
HANNITY: I don't even know how - I am speechless.
INGRAHAM: Good.
HANNITY: Now, I train an hour and a half a day. I'm now my ninth year. I'm not a black belt.
INGRAHAM: All right, Sean.
HANNITY: I'm a student. Thank you.
INGRAHAM: Class is over. Class is over.
HANNITY: Thank you.
INGRAHAM: Sean, have a great night.
HANNITY: Have a great night.
INGRAHAM: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is the INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight. But first, firing America. That's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Now's not the time to let up. We have a lot more to do. Vaccine requirements that we started rolling out in the summer are working. They are working. Every day, we see more businesses implementing vaccination requirements. And the mounting data shows that they work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Just like there was that mounting data that inflation was supposed to be transitory, or that mounting data that Kabul wouldn't fall to the Taliban. Right. Of course, it depends on how Biden is defining the word success.
Sure, most Americans when they're forced to choose between losing their jobs and getting a vaccine they don't want. Well, they'll choose the latter. But parents need to support their families. After all, they have to do that. People need to eat. But despite claiming to champion workers' rights, Democrats are showing their true authoritarian colors on the vaccine issue.
Now, these small-minded control freaks get a twisted thrill from having all this power over people's lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Implementing these mandates creates certainty. It reduces the number of people who are out of work.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): California's health care mandate, working, as it was intended.
BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Incentives, the mandates, everything's working. We're going to keep moving and--
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: When United Airlines thinks they have bragging rights, because more than 99 percent of its employees complied with their vaccine policy. Like, I wonder how many of them felt like they had no choice. So much for the friendly skies. The airline says, it's going to fire the 232 employees who said no.
The fact is millions of Americans have heartfelt personal reasons for not getting vaxxed, including that many of them have already had COVID and thus have natural immunity. They're not bad people for feeling this way. They're not stupid people either. It's their choice.
Nonetheless, the Biden administration and surrogates treat them as pariahs, some vengeful forces on the left even revel in the fact that the vaccine refuseniks aren't eligible for unemployment insurance. Illegal aliens are getting better treated.
At a time when businesses are having a hard time finding workers, the Biden administration is ensuring that more workers head to the sidelines. And its OSHA mandate results in the firing of workers and our most important and needed professions. I'm talking from health care to education, law enforcement on down.
As usual, the effects of Biden's policies are felt most harshly by the regular working class. "Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York, recently fired 1,400 unvaxxed workers. Likewise, ChristianaCare, Novant Health and UCHealth System in Delaware, North Carolina and Colorado, respectively, cut more than 100 workers each. And California-based Kaiser Permanente just put more than 2,200 employees on unpaid leave nationwide."
Now, it was obvious from day one that pursuing these reckless mandates will lead to mass firings and resignations of health care staff. We knew it would happen. The totals by the way are staggering. In New York State alone, roughly 34,000 healthcare workers have lost or quit their jobs over the mandate. That includes over 20,000 home health care workers.
And now, governor Kathy Hochul is trying to spin the shrinking of our state's health care workforce by 3.5 percent as good news. Yes, fantastic.
Our healthcare sector was already stretched then, we've heard this for years. And of course, now it's understaffed. And now some hospitals are operating shifts with skeleton staffs. Pun intended. Because who knows how many lives will be lost or adversely impacted because of these shortages? We'll never know.
And it's not just people's lives that are at stake, but their safety as well. Today, the president of the Chicago Police Chief Union, who will be with us in moments, issued an incredibly terrifying warning about what's going to happen when Mayor Lightfoot's vaccine mandate goes into effect on Friday.
Teachers and school employees also face the choice of getting vaccinated or getting fired. About 8,000 New York City teachers have been placed on leave for refusing to get the jab. To the Biden speech writers though, they're just uninformed and partisan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Explanation requirements should not be another issue that divides us. School board members, religious leaders, and doctors across the country are fighting misinformation and educating people about the importance of vaccines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: And by educating people on vaccines, Biden means punishing them and pushing them into submission by making things so painful, they ultimately choose to relent. Democrats inserted insidious provision into their massive spending bill that would give OSHA the power to levy huge fines for each violation.
I have to say, though, good for Southwest Airlines' CEO, because he's speaking out against these mandates. And it seems many of his pilots are too, by all those cancellations. Perhaps, the ultimate insult though, is directed at our troops.
The Navy is announcing, "That those separated only for vaccine refusal will receive no lower than a general discharge under honorable conditions. Now, this type of discharge could result in the loss of some veterans' benefits."
Of course, the people who should be fired though from positions, should be held accountable. They never are. People like Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, on numerous occasions, they've been caught lying, breaking their word, undermining their professions. What consequences have they ever faced? Zero.
In fact, the opposite happens. Instead of being reprimanded, they're showered with accolades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Fauci is a hero for many of us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would call General Milley a hero. He behaved in a heroic manner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's always good to talk to you. Thank you for a steady hand during the crisis here in the Empire State.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: At the same time, those brave enough to stand up and ask questions, who demand accountability from Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller, to parents at school board meetings, they are targeted and they're punished. In our upside down world, grandmothers who wandered around the Capitol taking selfies can face jail time, as George Floyd rioters who looted and burned entire city blocks run free.
But Americans, I think, I think they're starting to wake up. That Chicago Police Union Head that I mentioned earlier, he's telling officers to resist the city's vax mandate, and force the mayor to relent. Pro sports players are refusing to denounce fellow vaxxed players who choose not to get vaxxed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: I can speak about myself. I think everyone has their own choice to do what they feel is right for themselves and their family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: A few players are simply saying no.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't take the vaccine at this point in time. But natural immunity is not being spoken about, or discussed in this country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would you do - you know, if you felt uncomfortable going into the season, when you were promised that you will have exemptions, or that you don't have to be forced to get the vaccine?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: And brave college students, even professors are taking their fight over mandates to court. Ultimately, the Supreme Court will have to decide whether a century old case about smallpox is controlling here. My view, that precedent is easily distinguishable.
Cases are declining across America. Thank goodness. They plummeted 22 percent just over the last two weeks, and the CDC are not doom and gloom for once, predicting that positive trend is going to continue. So there's absolutely zero reason for any business to have any COVID mandate in place whatsoever. Other than if you're sick, stay home.
Decisions to force employees off the job are going to haunt businesses for years to come. Just as they will haunt Biden and other politicians who insisted on these mandates in the first place.
The only people who should be forced out of their jobs because of this pandemic are the officials who kept America in this prolonged state of fear, and in locked in these mandates. They cost us precious time, precious lives. They wasted trillions of dollars, killed off hundreds of thousands of small businesses, all to grow their own power and help elect Joe Biden. And if Americans could vote today, Biden would hear those two words loud and clear, you're fired. And that's the ANGLE.
All right. Joining me now is Joe - John Catanzara, who is the chief police of Chicago Police Union President. John, you said earlier this week that sending home those non-compliant officers, I guess could cut the city's police presence over the weekend and half. So what does that mean in practice for the city streets?
JOHN CATANZARA, CHICAGO POLICE UNION PRESIDENT: Well, good evening, Laura. Actually, it turns out that the number was probably much higher than that. The city blinked this morning and changed the policy a little bit, so the citizens of Chicago can rest easy. The police officers will report to work, and will not be sent home. They will not be locked out. So, that's one good thing. But all they did was kick the can down the road here a little bit.
INGRAHAM: Well, the message to folks across the country who feel demoralized, like there's - they have no power. And they're just trying to follow their own personal health decisions, or their conscience, or whatever concern they happen to have. Maybe they got COVID before. What do you say to them, given the fact that you at least did make some progress in this fight?
CATANZARA: Well, our stands from the beginning. And it's fortunate that for two things. We're union, there is collective bargaining rights that have to be maintained and honored here, which the city refused to do from the beginning. They were literally trying to push this policy through - by a mandate and by a dictator.
Secondly, we have a profession that nobody wants to work in. It gave us a little bit stronger position. You can't lay off or get rid of thousands of cops, because you'll never replace them. We can't even replace what we got now, the attrition rate. You multiply that by a couple thousand. The city would have had a very early shopping spree this weekend.
INGRAHAM: Well, threatening police officers though is what Lori Lightfoot did at her press conference. She made it not so subtle dig at you. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO MAYOR: They're going to show up, they're going to report for duty, and they're going to comply with a legal directive from the city and an order from the police department. Anything less would be insubordination.
And I hope that members of the department are not led over the cliff without a parachute by anybody who tells them, they can just ignore legal proper direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: John, your response?
CATANZARA: Just because she says it, doesn't make it so. It is not illegal, proper directive. She knows it, they know it, and our members know it. We had a special meeting last night of membership and I can tell you, we had to play stuffed, more the people that had ever been at any meeting in my 26 years on this job. And it was unanimous across the board.
Hold the line. Don't bend. It's not John Catanzara, it's not John Catanzara pushing this. John Catanzara is the mouthpiece for the FOP members, who want something done on their behalf.
INGRAHAM: But, John, apparently she's saying tonight that they will, if they're forced to do so, deploy the National Guard to replace any deficit, or make up for any deficit in police officers. Pritzker was saying that, not Lightfoot. It's Pritzker, Governor Pritzker.
CATANZARA: Well, it's nice he said that this year. Where was he last year during the riots? He said in Springfield and then do nothing while Chicago- -
INGRAHAM: Fair point.
CATANZARA: But the reality is, the National Guard does not have police arrest powers. They can stand there, they can kind of quell civil unrest, but they can't arrest anybody. We have 12,000 guns. We're slated to take 12,000 guns off the city of Chicago streets this year. The National Guard can't do that.
INGRAHAM: All right. John, thank--
CATANZARA: You think there's bigger problems in this city. But I guess not.
INGRAHAM: John, thank you for just trying to make sense of this for us. This is insane.
Here now is Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House. His new book "Beyond Biden" is out on November 2, and it's available for pre order now. Newt, I don't think that Democrats really thought this through, have they?
I mean, they thought these mandates - it was all going to work. They did some polling and they put the polls out there. People like the mandates, they like the mandates, Newt, until they can't get a police officer to show up, or they can't get a nurse on a floor if they're in an ER. So then the mandates don't look so good, do they?
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: On all [ph] kinds deeper than the mandates, you have a system, the American system, which is falling apart. You have hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.
And by the way, Joe Biden doesn't do anything to apply his fancy rules and his mandates to illegal immigrants. They don't get tested, they don't get vaccinated, we don't check on them for health reasons. So somehow, American citizens can be punished by their own government. But people who show up here illegally, get flown around the country, get shipped around the country, get taken care of. The taxpayers are funding all the illegal immigrants who are not required to do any of this.
But there's something deeper going on. They can't unload the ships, they can't find the trucks, they can't get the economy moving. They are - they can't get children educated,. Go down the list.
Their system, this entire big government socialist system is falling apart. And their answer, of course, is to use the power of the government against the American people. That's why you have the Attorney General, trying to sic the FBI on parents, who go to - appear to a school board meeting. I mean, we've never - not since the Civil War have we seen this kind of intense, anti-citizen behavior.
And this is happening, because the left knows, they're a distinct minority. They know that the country is going to repudiate them. And they are desperate to enforce on you and me and everybody else, their roles. And what's beginning to happen, as you just saw in Chicago, as we saw with Southwest Airlines, people are starting to figure out there are more of us than there are of these left wing nuts. And I think you're going to see more and more resistance on every front, not just in terms of the mandates.
INGRAHAM: And, Newt, I think Biden wants us to believe, though, that everything is going according to plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We're headed in the right direction. We have critical work to do, but we can't let up now. My team and I are doing everything we can. But I'm calling on more businesses to step up. That's how we put this pandemic behind us, and accelerate our economic recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Newt, is pressuring more companies to impose these mandates going to help this jobs crisis that we're in? These companies can't hire employees.
GINGRICH: When I hear Joe Biden talk about plans, I think, first of all about the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was a disaster. I think, second of all, whatever his plan is for the border, where Kamala Harris is absent without leave, and it's a disaster. I look at the 60 ships that are stuck off of Long Beach, which is a disaster.
I look at the - they are already telling us, trying to warn us that the Joe Biden Christmas is going to be a very narrow, lean Christmas. You look at the price of meat, which has gone up dramatically; the price of gasoline, which has gone up dramatically; the number of jobs that are unfilled; the number of trucking companies that literally can't find truckers. And you look around and you think, if this is the Joe Biden plan, it is a disaster.
And I think all of us have - let's look at pragmatically facts on the ground, not statements from the White House that have no connection to reality.
INGRAHAM: Newt, we're just hearing by the way tonight that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of allowing Texas's abortion law to go forward, which of course, overturn that district court initial decision saying, it couldn't go forward.
So that is also good news for the pro-life community across this country and also a sign that - they're in for a fight on multiple fronts, and they wanted these culture wars by taking this decision away from the people. And they've gotten these culture wars on their hands. And here we go. It's probably headed to the Supreme Court.
GINGRICH: Look, I think that's right on every single front. It's right on the whole issue of racism, it's right on the whole issue of law and order. It's true in terms of abortion. I think we're going to have a very healthy national debate about what is viability. I mean, the original Roe vs. Wade has totally obsolete now. Because it's based on medicine that's 40 years old and no longer true, or 50 years old and it's no longer true.
So I think this is going to be a period of time when the American people come to grips of themselves. And what you find on the left, is that the big government socialists, basically are a religious movement. They're a secular religious movement. They can't deal with reality, they can't cope with facts. If it doesn't fit their narrative of - they just shrug it off and refuse to pay attention to it.
INGRAHAM: Right.
GINGRICH: And I just want to go back to one thing I said earlier, if you're an illegal immigrant, none of Joe Biden's requirements apply to you. If you're an American citizen, he's willing to use the power of the government to coerce you, to force you into losing your job.
INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, if you're an American citizen--
GINGRICH: --unemployment. They will not allow you to fly on an airplane.
INGRAHAM: Yes. You're a second class citizen.
GINGRICH: Now, why is it that Biden is so pro illegal immigrant. And so anti-American citizen?
INGRAHAM: The goal is to change America, Newt. That's what they're trying to do. But America is beginning to fight back. Great to see you tonight as always.
And a stunning development in the case of that Loudoun County teen, who was allegedly assaulted by a boy wearing a skirt in a girl's bathroom. Full details ahead.
Plus, Dinesh D'Souza is going to tell us what's feeding a lack of accountability stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Now, Loudoun County's attempted cover up of the alleged sexual assault of Scott Smith's daughter in a high school bathroom, it was just the tip of the iceberg. A shocking follow-up report from Daily Wire's Luke Rosiak, found that, "Loudoun County Public Schools did not record multiple known incidents of alleged sexual assault in schools dating back several years, despite a law that requires statistics about school safety incidents to be reported to the public."
So how did things get so bad in Northern Virginia? How widespread is this? Now, one obvious reason from the school board to the sheriff's office to the Commonwealth attorney, they're either totally unqualified, or ideologically opposed to actually doing their jobs.
Just look at what we learned from Scott Smith daughter's case. For instance, the student who allegedly assaulted her was moved to a different school, where he went on to do it again. And that's despite being under electronic surveillance.
Now, on top of that, the Commonwealth attorney Buta Biberaj of Soros funded leftist, I might add, almost lost this clearly open and shut case, because her office couldn't stay on top of the deadline for DNA evidence. Huh? No one wants to take accountability for this, of course. School board not only lied about the knowledge of the case - their knowledge of the case, but also the role they had in moving the assailant to the new school. Of course, they blame the sheriff's department.
Well, today the Sheriff's Department issued a statement of their own, denying any role in placing the suspect in a different school, instead pointing the finger at the school board and the attorney's office. Oh, they're eating their own there.
Meanwhile, as parents demand accountability, as they should, they're smeared. But they're done taking it sitting down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's atrocious that they consider parents domestic terrorist. A child was right. That's the bottom line in the Loudoun County Public Schools. What is wrong with society as a whole? We can't come together to say that it's wrong? I don't understand. I really don't understand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now, what these parents do need to understand is that as long as Loudoun remains a one-party county, and Virginia largely a one-party state, you can expect these abuses to continue. These types of Commonwealth attorneys to get elected. None of these officials actually feared being recalled run out office, especially when they have a media covering up for them.
Now, for years, remember, the press echoed the narrative that attacks of this nature wouldn't happen. One of the Loudoun County's School superintendent, while we learn this conveniently, used to cover the alleged assault against Smith's daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The issue of assaults taking place, or transgender students assaulting other students in the restroom. Time magazine in 2016 called that a red herring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: What an idiot! It's time to call him out. These people for what they are, they're despicable. It's time for real accountability from Virginia officials, Democrats, and the media.
Joining me now Dinesh D'Souza, conservative commentator and filmmaker. Dinesh, the media really are a big part of this. Imagine, if any of this stuff happened under Republican rule at red state rural area, they'd be crawling all over this story.
DINESH D'SOUZA, CONSERVATIVE AUTHOR & FILMMAKER: Absolutely. You mentioned a moment ago that it's tragic when you have a one-party state. But even when you have a one-party state, you at least can have that party under some kind of scrutiny from oversight institutions from the media.
But when you have a one-party state that is backed up by a media that now is not just bias, but will openly lie, cover up facts, distort, go after the critics of the regime. And then when you have a digital media on top of that, they will step in and censor people who are critics and dissidents. Now you have the makings of a, sort of, soft authoritarianism. And this is where the accountability goes completely out the window. This is when all kinds of abuses occur. And when parents protest, the parents are made into the real criminals.
INGRAHAM: Well, it's also very telling, is it not, Dinesh, that this superintendent comes armed with a big piece of evidence, a Time Magazine story from 2016. What does that have to do with the price of cheese? From 2016, I'm going to guess how transgender persons don't commit such acts or can't or won't. So he came armed with what he thought was big evidence, and it turns out we don't know all the facts, we don't know what will ultimately be discovered. But that's how ideological he is, instead of worrying about this young woman.
D'SOUZA: I think that's the key point, that instead of going from the facts of the case to making a generalization and seeing if there's a pattern that he could comment on, he started out with an ideological premise. The ideological premise is this cannot possibly happen, because after all, "Time" magazine said it can't happen, therefore it can't happen. And then when it does happen, it's almost as if you've got to erase the facts in front of your face, because otherwise your ideological narrative begins to look a little shaky.
So this is what we are seeing, by the way, not just in one place, not just in northern Virginia, all across the country now, a kind of surrealism in the American political scene in which facts that you see in front of you. You have huge fires, and CNN goes, well, those are peaceful. And that's just the way it is now in which you have to sort of look behind the screen of the media to try to figure out what's really going on. It's not easy to do.
INGRAHAM: They don't cover these stories when they are inconvenient to their preset narratives, they cover them up. That's the big difference. They're not reporters. They repeat the party line day in and day out. They don't pretend to be commentators, they don't say they are commentators, that's a different matter. I think we're going to learn a lot more, Dinesh.
D'SOUZA: I think, Laura, there's a silver lining here. It's just simple the fact that they live in their own bubble, and there's a massive resistance brewing to all this. But they don't know about it because they don't talk to people who fall in that camp. They have got the media covering for them, and so they will pay a price when the American people get to have their say.
INGRAHAM: Dinesh, thank you, great to see you.
And today U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stu Scheller pleaded guilty for speaking outside the chain of command, holding himself accountable for his own actions while the leaders he reported to, they'll never have to. In moments his lawyer will tell us what Scheller wants next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Marine Corps Legislation Colonel Stuart Scheller pled guilty today to six charges of violating the uniform code of military justice. As part of the plea agreement, Scheller will resign his commission. He'll also receive a punitive letter of reprimand, and he faces a maximum punishment of forfeiting two-thirds of his pay for 12 months. That's a lot of money for him.
What's important here is that Scheller is taking full responsibility for his actions. He pled guilty. The same can't be said for the incompetent military leaders Scheller called out in the first place.
Joining me now is Tony Buzbee, Lieutenant Colonel Scheller's attorney. Tony, the military judge is considering all of this overnight. What are you expecting from him in the way of punishment?
TONY BUZBEE, ATTORNEY FOR LT. COL. STUART SCHELLER: I believe based on what was presented the day that we are looking at a letter of reprimand, separation from the marines, and likely a general discharge, but we're hoping for an honorable discharge. Like you said, Lieutenant Colonel Scheller took accountability, he's basically being punished for speaking the truth. We wrangled and wrangled, as you might imagine, about whether we could so called fight these charges, but the lieutenant colonel made the decision that he would be accountable for his actions. And we're all still wondering when the general officers will be accountable for their decisions that they made it back August of this year.
INGRAHAM: He was apparently -- your client also questioned by the judge over something completely unrelated to this case. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The judge has asked Lieutenant Colonel Scheller about a number of statements that he has made in the past that may have been in several cases praising, or at least complementary to the protesters on January 6th at the Capitol. Colonel Scheller said that these things were taken out of context, that these were offhand conversations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: What? How is that in order? How is that relevant? How is that possibly related to this conversation at all?
BUZBEE: It has nothing whatever to do with what we were trying to do in court. That rabbit trail that the Marine Corps tried to run down ended up with nothing. Obviously Lieutenant Colonel Scheller had nothing to do with any of that. The issue before the court now is what his punishment will be, and I'm expecting a letter of reprimand.
INGRAHAM: Other news today, Tony, is that the military is going to continue with its, quote, "extreme vetting" of all members of the armed forces, and saying that automatic alerts will flag records or activities of concern among all Defense Department personnel. Extreme vetting of our troops.
BUZBEE: I don't even know what that means. I was a captain in the Marine Corps. We do have a First Amendment. Lieutenant Colonel Scheller spoke out, and he put himself forward and was accountable for it. To suggest that that sort of action, it makes me wonder why anybody would want to serve. The Marine Corps is strong. It's the best fighting force that has ever existed. It's still strong. I think a lot of Marines who heard and saw what Lieutenant Colonel Scheller did, they agreed with him. But they also see he has taken accountability for his actions.
And I'm still calling on the general staff to take some accountability for your actions. Here is a man that has not only lost his retirement, his command, his job, he has lost a lot more things. Laying aside a week in the brig, this has been an emotional rollercoaster for him. And for him to stand forward and accept his punishment like an honorable Marine says a lot about him.
INGRAHAM: He should get an honorable discharge, 17 years in the Marine Corps, multiple tours of duty. It's ridiculous. Tony, thank you.
And instead of obsessing over white rage, maybe General Milley, Secretary Austin, should focus on the tragedy unfolding in their own ranks. This horrifying new report, Pentagon figures reveal that suicides among active- duty Army personnel shot up 46 percent from last year. And furthermore, more U.S. service members committed suicide in the second quarter of this year than have ever died from COVID.
This issue and the military's mishandling of it is personal for my next guest. Joining me now is Derrick Van Orden, retired Navy Seal and candidate for Wisconsin's third district. Derrick, I know you personally know active- duty service members who have taken their own lives. To me this is a story that people don't want to talk about, it makes them uncomfortable. But why isn't this a bigger priority than harassing some lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps about his complaint about the military leadership? Come on.
DERRICK VAN ORDEN, RETIRED NAVY SEAL: Laura, as you said, this is deeply personal to me. I had several Navy Seal friends and colleagues commit suicide on active duty, and also on that retired, including one just last month. And quite frankly, the Department of Defense doesn't want to talk about this because it's a problem that needs to be solved, and it's much more difficult than throwing out congressional testimony about white rage and Critical Race Theory, because it's a personal issue that needs to be addressed across the board. And the Department of Defense is afraid of doing this, and they don't want the public really to know how deep-seated this problem is within the military.
INGRAHAM: And now reports that the Navy, they are going to separate from any naval personnel who refuse the vaccine, they will be separated from the service. Your reaction to that?
VAN ORDEN: I think it's shameful. It truly is shameful. I speak to hundreds of active-duty servicemen and women on a regular basis, and the morale in the Department of Defense has never been lower. I can't find a time when the Department of Defense, the morale of the troops has been lower. We had an incredibly shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the sheer incompetence of the Biden administration, the secretary of defense, secretary of state, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the national security advisor. This weighs heavily on our troops.
I spent two combat tours in Afghanistan. We have sustained combat in that country for 20 years that when we left like the way we did, it weighs heavily on our troops. And again, there's no real way to take that back at this point other than, frankly, the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff resigning from his position. He should be held accountable for these types of things.
INGRAHAM: Milley and pretty much the rest of the top leadership are worried about extremism in the ranks. So rather than helping our troops, they are targeting our troops and veterans as the source of the problem in our military today. Derrick, there's always bad apples in every group, every group. But just one line, one line, one word to describe that extremism vetting that's going on.
VAN ORDEN: You know what, it's hard to describe it in one word because it's shameful. They're targeting out troops. And Laura, if I could say one more thing before we go, I work with a group called Mighty Oaks Foundation. They're a Christian group that works with servicemen and women and their families, and they have an incredible successful record of preventing veteran suicide. So if any of my brothers and sisters in arms, active duty or retired, are feeling that wait on you, and we all feel the weight at one time or another, I want you to get on the Internet and go to Mighty Oaks Foundation. And they will help you.
INGRAHAM: Derrick, I will help with that endeavor, thank you so much.
And kids have been back in school now for six weeks, and have you heard of any reports of super-spreader events? Of course not. So why did Joe Biden say getting shots in kids' arms is going to stop the pandemic? Dr. Scott Atlas has some thoughts, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Joe Biden today implored the American people to not let vaccine mandates divide us. Then the next breath he pushed parents to vaccinate their kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have purchased enough vaccines for all children between the ages of five and 11. I'm calling on more parents to get their children vaccinated when they are eligible. And I'm asking everyone, everyone who hasn't gotten vaccinated, please get vaccinated. That's how we put this pandemic behind us and accelerate our economic recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: What does vaccinating kids have to do with revving up the economy, especially when schools, they have been back for six weeks, more? We have no evidence, zero evidence of any super-spreader events at schools.
Joining me now, Dr. Scott Atlas, former White House COVID adviser, Hoover Institution senior fellow. Dr. Atlas, they just won't let go of their obsession with controlling kids, vaccinations, and the masking in schools. They had a death grip on it.
DR. SCOTT ATLAS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COVID ADVISER: Thanks for having me, Laura. The vaccines -- the problem with mandating vaccines and with pushing vaccines when the risk-benefit ratio may not be so obvious, for instance in kids, the problem is that you insight an extremely negative, inappropriately negative reaction to the vaccine itself when it's beneficial.
The data from what I have seen shows that there is significant protection against death and hospitalization in people who have a risk for death with the vaccine. So the vaccine is doing its most important job. It is true that there is less protection that we had hoped against regular infections, but the point of a vaccine is to protect the serious consequence and death. And it's doing that from what I have seen.
And so we know the data all over the world is also saying that the vaccines have a waning lasting effect on preventing infections. So the bottom line is the vaccines are very good protecting the person who is vaccinated. But the idea that the vaccines somehow wipe out the infection has essentially been disproven all over the world. You can look at the data from Qatar, 80 percent decrease in effectiveness after four months for getting an infection again. And so you look at the data from the U.K., similar drop in infection protection with the vaccine.
The point is that the vaccine does not stop the infection from being spread from the vaccinated as much as people keep insisting. It's a very good for protecting the individual. So if you've had the vaccine, you're protected, that's good, against a serious consequence. If you force people to get vaccinated to protect others, that's not according to the medical science, and it creates a backlash from people who should be taking the vaccine. It's really just an inappropriate application of public health.
INGRAHAM: Really quick. I get it. We get it. It's killed confidence in public health. Have we prolonged this pandemic with the closures and the mandates and all of that? Very quickly please.
ATLAS: Yes. Is that quick enough?
INGRAHAM: No, it's not. Faster.
ATLAS: We have that kind of stopping and isolating people, you're just basically prolonging things like the immunity. And so when you lockup young people and then you gradually release them and keep them --
INGRAHAM: It's been a disaster. Dr. Atlas, sorry to cut you off.
Kamala cares, the Last Bite explains next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: In case it wasn't clear to you, Kamala Harris really, truly cares.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This issue of care and caregiving, and the care economy and care work, it impacts everyone. Everyone, whoever you are, should care about this issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Except the border -- doesn't care much about that, does she?
Greg Gutfeld takes it all from here.
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