V26, N43 Thursday, July 29, 2021 What’s at stake for Jan. 6 panel Capitol cops reveal how close we came to a twin constitutional crisis and violence By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – One thing that stood out after the Capitol and D.C. Metro police testimony Tues- day before the fledgling House Jan. 6 Select Committee was how close this “insurrection” came to being an atrocity that could have ignited a violent nationwide spasm. D.C. Officer Daniel Hodges, in its aftermath). There had been only one shot fired, by who repeatedly referred to those breaching the U.S. Capi- an unidentified Capitol defender, killing Ashli Babbitt of tol as “terrorists,” was asked why police didn’t use their California as she attempted to jump through an interior guns to stop the breach. There were “thousands of terror- Capitol window. Trump has elevated her death to martyr- ists … only hundreds of us,” Hodges said. “If it had turned dom. into a firefight, we would’ve lost.” Dozens of videos compiled by the committee and That was a chilling revelation. There were five deaths on Jan. 6, including two supporters of President Trump and three Capitol officers who died (two by suicide Continued on page 4 Rebounding pandemic By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – I didn’t see this coming. I figured that most Hoosiers would jump at the chance to get the COVID vaccine; that the anti-vaxers made up only about 5 or 10% of the population, as any school administrator “The truth is that the vaccinated could confirm regarding those who don’t want to comply with RMM vaccine requirements that have been in place and unvaccinated are experienc- for decades. Ditto for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, ing two very different pandemics who said today, “Honestly, it never right now. If we don’t confront occurred to me we would have difficulty getting people to take that, the nation can’t address ei- the vaccine.” ther appropriately.” But now at a time when the pandemic was supposed to - Dr. Aaron E. Carroll of IU in be disappearing in the rearview his New York Times column mirror, Tuesday’s Indiana State Department of Health report on Wednesday. Page 2 showed 1,085 new cases, the first least one other state and city have time it’s been over 1,000 since May implemented for their workers. “I’m 8. On Wednesday that grew to 1,248 not leaning toward that but obvious- cases with 12 deaths. The seven-day ly, I’ve got some updates to make by positivity rate, which runs a week be- the end of this week. We’re looking hind, continues a month-long climb to at what the CDC just put out. I want Howey Politics Indiana 6.3%, the highest since Feb. 9, with to see the EUA, emergency use au- WWWHowey Media, LLC some 15 counties over 10%. thorization, turned into permanent. I c/o Business Office According to CDC stats as of do understand parents and students PO Box 6553 Tuesday, only 58% of Hoosiers age Kokomo, IN, 46904 18 and up had received one dose of the vaccine which rank us 12th in the www.howeypolitics.com nation; only 54.9% had received both doses. In a state of 6.7 million people, Brian A. Howey, Publisher less than three million have been vac- Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington cinated. In the U.S., the numbers Mary Lou Howey, Editor were these: 69% for one dose, 60% for both. Susan E. Howey, Editor A frustrated U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon, MD, tweeted Wednesday: Subscriptions “New CDC recommendations on HPI, HPI Daily Wire $599 masking are not based on science but HPI Weekly, $350 instead based on politics including Lisa Hounchell, Account Manager kowtowing to teachers unions. The (765) 452-3936 telephone problem is tens of millions of Ameri- (765) 452-3973 fax cans are unvaccinated. Vaccinated [email protected] people are very rarely spreading the virus. When does it end? Never?” While Gov. Eric Holcomb had Contact HPI received near universal credit for deal- [email protected] ing with this unprecedented modern Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 pandemic, he’s maintained a much Washington: 202.256.5822 lower profile this summer. During the first year of the pandemic, Holcomb Business Office: 765.452.3936 got high marks for transparency, which included a weekly Zoom press © 2021, Howey Politics conference with Health Commissioner Indiana. All rights reserved. Kristina Box and Chief Medical Officer who are waiting until it becomes Photocopying, Internet forward- Lindsay Weaver. permanent.” He hadn’t weighed in on the The last time Holcomb ad- ing, faxing or reproducing in any latest wave until Tuesday. “You just dressed the pandemic in May, he told form, whole or part, is a violation look at the numbers, you look at the the press, “It’s a slog and it’s going of federal law without permission cases, you look at the hospitalization to be a grind. I can’t change reality. from the publisher. rates, you look at the deaths – it’s If there are some people who are overwhelmingly unvaccinated,” Hol- just dead set against it (getting vac- comb said Tuesday in Westfield. cinated), it’s their personal responsi- Jack E. Howey With his current emergency bility.” What we did learn this week is editor emeritus order expiring at the end of the week, that his inaugural gala will take place 1926-2019 he said he’s reviewing the CDC’s new on Aug. 21. With a good part of the guidance before he decides the path Republican Party apparently unvac- forward for Indiana. “If this isn’t cinated, this appears to be a second- persuasive to get vaccinated, I don’t generation super spreader event in know what could be,” he said. the making. Despite encouraging Hoosiers The problem, as new to get vaccinated, at this time he’s Indiana University President Pamela not considering a vaccine mandate Whitten and Colts Coach Frank Reich for state employees. It’s something at can attest, is that the state’s gap- Page 3 get vaccinated. Com- pletely preventable.” He blamed conserva- tive media who have cast a doubt over the vaccine, saying, “They are killing their own supporters.” This is why this avoidable pandemic spike is creating the call for “mandates.” The Veterans Admin- istration has joined ing half-unvaccinated population isn’t just someone else’s a number of medical “personal responsibility.” Whitten and Reich had been vac- centers (including IU Health) mandating employee vaccina- cinated and have since contracted a mild case of COVID. tion. New York City and California are enacting mandates, What health officials from ISDH to the CDC, to and Chicago is considering one. Dr. Anthony Fauci can’t tell us emphatically is whether a The NFL just informed clubs that if a game cannot breakthrough COVID infection is transmissible. be rescheduled during the 18-week season in 2021 due to This collision of being vaccinated and exposed a COVID outbreak among unvaccinated players, the team became a crashing new reality for this writer. On Monday, with the outbreak will forfeit and be credited with a loss for I was a candidate for Marion County jury duty and faced playoff seeding. the prospect of being in a crowded room in a county with President Biden said on Tuesday that the federal a 44% vaccination rate. The dilemma was that on the government is considering making vaccines mandatory for homefront, I have a five-month-old its workforce, including the armed unvaccinated granddaughter, and services. “That’s under consideration a 92-year-old vaccinated mother right now,” Biden said. living in a retirement facility. My This sets the stage for a deepening mother reports that employees of of the political crisis that continues her facility are all vaccinated, but to grip the nation. Except the red there are disturbing CDC statistics and blue presidential Electoral Col- that reveal less than 50% of Hoo- lege maps have been replaced by sier nursing home employees are red and blue COVID vaccination rate vaccinated. maps and overlaying infection spikes What the ....? ... coming once again in July when As a citizen, laws, rules this pandemic genie was supposed and regulations keep me from to be rebottled. wantonly running red lights, driving The risk for Indiana medi- 120 miles an hour on I-65, or operating a motor vehicle cal systems is that by now, this pandemic was supposed to while drunk. As the saying goes, your right to swing a fist be relegated to the past. Worth pondering now is whether ends just short of my nose. But the governor now insists the burned out ICU nurses are up for a fourth and fifth that the willfully unvaccinated are just practicing their own wave of pandemic “personal responsibility.” special kind of “personal responsibility.” And with the new COVID spike coming with On Wednesday, we learned that an outbreak of younger Americans and Hoosiers, are we setting up an- the unvaccinated has brought the Indiana Law Enforce- other disastrous school year? The first three waves largely ment Academy to a standstill. missed our kids, including those age 12 and younger who In the past week, other governors have begun cannot get the vaccine. We may not be so lucky with fourth speaking out. A vexed Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey and fifth spikes. said, “It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down. Throughout this pandemic, we’ve witnessed a med- Folks are supposed to have common sense.