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| Matthew Hatcher/AFP via Getty Images |
Walz implemented harsh lockdown policies during the pandemic and urged residents to report neighbors suspected of violating protocol
Democratic vice-presidential nominee for the 2024 election Gov. Tim Walz's message celebrating individual freedom clashes with his track record during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minnesota governor offered sharp criticism of the Republican Party on Tuesday during his campaign debut at a rally in Philadelphia with Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Some of us are old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom," Walz told the crowd. "It turns out now what they meant was the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office."
He continued, "In Minnesota […] there’s a golden rule: mind your own damn business."
Conservative activists have pushed back on Walz's self-characterization, pointing to his track record on issues such as COVID-19 lockdowns, parental rights, and more.
"He should take some of his own advice, because during COVID not only did he lock down schools and mask children, he encouraged neighbors to snitch on each other if they were taking their kid to the playground," said Tiffany Justice, Moms for Liberty co-founder.
Critics point to Walz's memorandum mandating indoor masking during the coronavirus pandemic, which he enacted in 2020 and ended in 2021.
The Upper Midwest Law Center sued, calling the mandate unconstitutional, but an appellate court ultimately sided with Walz.
In 2020, Walz set up a COVID-19 hotline that allowed Minnesota residents to inform authorities about suspicions their neighbors may be violating lockdown measures. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Tempura / Getty Images |
Federal agencies have not implemented roughly half of the 428 recommendations that the Government Accountability Office has made to improve preparedness following the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed 1.2 million Americans.
In a report published on Aug. 1, the watchdog reviewed its oversight work concerning COVID-19 and the approximately $4.65 trillion Congress provided in response. GAO found that agencies haven’t addressed 220 of its recommendations.
“Reflecting on federal agencies’ emergency response actions and our recommendations can reveal lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for federal agencies. These lessons can help federal agencies identify actions that successfully facilitated the implementation of the federal response and should be incorporated into future emergency response plans. Other lessons can help federal agencies identify weaknesses in their response to the pandemic and identify areas for improvement,” GAO investigators wrote.
Many of the recommendations relate to areas on GAO’s high risk list of federal programs and operations that are vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement or are in need of transformation. Those areas are: Health and Human Services Department’s leadership and coordination of public health emergencies; Labor Department’s unemployment insurance system; Small Business Administration’s emergency loans to small businesses.
GAO included HHS’ public health management on the high risk list in 2022, saying its COVID-19 response “compounded our long-standing concerns” about the department’s ability to lead during national public health emergencies and extreme weather events. The watchdog the same year added the unemployment insurance system partly due to fraud risks. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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