Big Brother News Watch
Professor Sues Over CA School’s Vaccine Mandate, Says He’s ‘Naturally Immune’ to COVID + More
Professor Sues Over CA School’s Vaccine Mandate, Says He’s ‘Naturally Immune’ to COVID
A California professor is suing his school’s officials over a COVID-19 mandate, saying that he already contracted the virus and is “naturally immune.”
Aaron Kheriaty, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine, filed a lawsuit Aug. 18, saying he got sick with COVID-19 in July 2020.
The University of California said in July 2021 that all faculty, staff and students will be required to be vaccinated against COVID two weeks before they’re expected to be on campus for the fall semester.
Reddit Bans COVID Misinformation Forum After ‘Go Dark’ Protest
Reddit has banned a discussion forum that spreads misinformation about coronavirus and vaccines after a user rebellion over the site’s failure to tackle COVID sceptics.
The online discussion site acted after 135 Reddit communities, or subreddits, announced they had “gone dark”, a move that blocks non-members from reading or joining the page, in protest at the site’s refusal to limit discussions that propagate misleading theories about the pandemic.
Reddit initially refused to ban subreddits identified as spreading misinformation. But it bowed to pressure on Wednesday, announcing that it had kicked out r/NoNewNormal – which has 124,000 subscribers and contains posts warning against taking COVID vaccines – for breaking rules related to interfering with or harassing other subreddits. The site said r/NoNewNormal was guilty of a practice known as “brigading,” where members of one subreddit are incited to target a rival discussion group.
Majority of Companies Plan to Have COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate, Survey Finds
Once a touchy subject in the private sector, a new survey indicates that most firms are now planning on having COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their workforce.
The number of companies requiring workers to get the shot is expected to surge over the next several months, according to data released by Wednesday by Willis Towers Watson, a multinational advisory and insurance firm.
Over half of the employers surveyed (52%) said that by the fourth quarter of 2021, they could have one or more vaccine mandate requirements in the workplace.
The Push for Vaccine Passports Ignores the Arguments Raging Around Them
Vaccinations are the high point of human reason. Devised under clinical conditions by scientists interested only in what works, they represent the mastery of the rational world over chaotic nature; and also, of course, they save lives. Vaccine passports, then, should in theory be no more than the rubber stamp of reason. So why does the policy, not to mention the discussion surrounding it, look so irrational?
In late July, shortly after nightclubs had reopened for the first time in over a year, Boris Johnson appeared to go against his previous approach – let’s call it, for brevity, “loosey goosey” – and announced a plan to make “full vaccination the condition of entry” to nightclubs and other crowded indoor events. The prime minister didn’t have the experience of Boardmasters, the Cornish festival in mid-August, which seeded so many COVID infections that the county, had it been abroad, would have been placed on the red list. Yet he did have that data by this week, when he restated this intention.
Washington Nationals VP Bob Boone Resigns Over Team’s COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement, Source Says
Washington Nationals vice president Bob Boone has informed the team that he will resign instead of complying with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all non-uniformed employees, a source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.
Boone, 73, has been with the organization since 2005 and serves as a senior adviser to general manager Mike Rizzo. Boone was assistant GM and vice president of player development from 2006 to 2013.
UK Children’s Digital Privacy Code Comes Into Effect
A sweeping set of regulations governing how online services should treat children’s data have been welcomed by campaigners as they come into effect.
The Age Appropriate Design Code — which was written into law as part of the 2018 Data Protection Act, which also implemented GDPR in the UK — mandates websites and apps from Thursday to take the “best interests” of their child users into account, or face fines of up to 4% of annual global turnover.
Candace Owens Says She Was Refused COVID Test Because of Her Anti-Vaccination Stance
Last month, the right-wing conservative firebrand dubbed the vaccine as “purely evil,” tweeting that it “will never enter my arm.” She had earlier said that she was proud” to not be vaccinated against COVID-19.
However, in an Instagram Live on Wednesday, she said as an unvaccinated person, she was still prepared to be tested for COVID if an event she attended required it, although she opposed showing documentation to enter businesses.
During her video, she said that she was in Aspen, Colorado and had had “50 plus COVID tests” since the start of the pandemic and that her travel schedule meant that she had to be tested at least once every two weeks.
90 School Bus Drivers Who Don’t Want Vaccines Quit + More
90 School Bus Drivers Who Don’t Want Vaccines Quit, CPS Offering $1,000 to Students Without Rides
Chicago’s new COVID-19 vaccine requirement has prompted a lot of school bus drivers to quit.
Chicago Public Schools said Sunday that 90 bus drivers quit between August 23-27. About 70 of those drivers quit on the same day.
“According to the bus companies, the rush of resignations was likely driven by the vaccination requirements,” the school district said.
Like many districts across the country, CPS had anticipated a shortage of bus drivers before the city announced vaccination requirements. They had planned to work around the shortage by scheduling earlier pickups. But the loss of another 10% of drivers has left 2,100 students without a ride.
The district’s answer? To pay students to find their own way: $1,000 for the first two weeks of school and $500 a month after that.
18 Percent of Americans Say They Would Quit Their Job Over Vaccine, Mask Mandates
Employed Americans said they are most likely to quit a job immediately if faced with COVID-19 vaccination and/or mask mandates, a new Morning Consult poll reveals.
When asked to describe something their employer could do to make them submit their resignation on the spot, 18% of respondents mentioned “vaccine, mask, or testing requirements,” even without Morning Consult having mentioned COVID-19 in the prompt. The second-most cited reason was pay cuts — 14% of respondents said they would quit if their employer reduced their salary “for no good cause or reason.”
Cover Letter, Resume, Vaccine Card? No Shot, No Pay For Some Workers
COVID-19 cases are on the rise again.
According to the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID-19 cases have surged over the last few weeks. More than 101,000 new cases were reported on Aug. 3, compared to about 16,000 new cases on June 1.
While 70% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and half of the population is now fully vaccinated, there are still millions of Americans who have yet to get their shots. Because of the uptick in cases, companies are starting to require workers to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as a condition of employment.
CDC Asks the Unvaccinated Not to Travel This Weekend and Says Even the Vaccinated Need to Weigh the Risk
Due to the surge of COVID-19 cases, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend.
The U.S. is surpassing an average of 160,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. With the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant and many students returning to the classroom for a new academic year, the rise is concerning officials and health experts.
“First and foremost, if you are unvaccinated, we would recommend not traveling,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House COVID-19 Response Team Briefing on Tuesday.
Over Half of Employers Plan to Have Vaccine Mandates by the End of the Year
Now that the Federal Drug Administration approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, many employers have been ramping up their plans to vaccine their workforce. By the end of the year, 52% of U.S. companies plan to have some type of vaccine mandate in place for their workplaces.
That’s up significantly from the just 29% of employers who reported they already have a vaccine mandate or plan to put one in place by the end of September 2021, according to a new report by Willis Towers Watson. The company surveyed nearly 1,000 employers in August, including both public and private businesses, as well as non-profits and government entities. Companies surveyed had 100 to over 25,000 employees and included those in manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, finance, IT, and general services.
Italy Extends COVID-19 Green Pass to Trains, Planes, Ferries and Coaches
Reuters via U.S. News reported:
Italy broadened usage of Green Pass health documents on Wednesday, making them obligatory for anyone traveling on high-speed trains, planes, ferries and inter-regional coaches.
The Green Pass is a digital or paper certificate that shows whether someone has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, has tested negative or has recently recovered from the virus.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi introduced the pass earlier in the summer to try to prevent infections and encourage people to get vaccinated. It was initially needed to enter many cultural and leisure venues, but its scope has gradually been widened.
Some Hotels Are Mandating Vaccines. Will Others Follow?
As travelers prepare for their next vacation, among the essentials to take along — like a toothbrush, wallet and phone charger — could be proof of vaccination for COVID-19, depending on where they are booked to sleep.
As coronavirus cases surge again across the country, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, a small number of hotels in the United States have announced that they will require proof of vaccination from guests and staff.
Accommodations such as PUBLIC Hotel, Equinox Hotel and Wythe Hotel, all in New York City, Urban Cowboy Lodge in Big Indian, N.Y., a hamlet in the Catskill Mountains, and Pilgrim House in Provincetown, Mass., are among the first in the United States to announce that they will require evidence of vaccination, via a physical card or a digital verification, from their guests.
Three Professors Among Group Opposing Vaccine Mandate at the University of Waterloo
At least three professors are among a small group of university staff and students who are calling on the University of Waterloo to revoke their vaccine mandate.
In a letter, 32 people say they are categorically in disagreement with the university’s position on vaccine requirement which says staff and students must show proof of immunization before coming to campus.
The three professors are Michael Palmer, who teaches biochemistry, math professor Edward Vrscay and Richard Mann in computer science.
Others against a vaccine mandate include staff, students and parents.
Democratic Lawmaker Appears to Falsely Question COVID-19 Vaccine Safety in Social Posts
An Inkster Democratic state lawmaker recently published several social media posts that appear to question the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and the necessity of vaccine mandates.
The posts from Rep. Jewell Jones appear to go against the findings of the vast majority of research and the advice of most state and national experts — along with the leaders of his political party.
Last week, Jones took to his active Instagram account to post a meme featuring actor Jon Hamm from a scene in the television series “Mad Men.”
“Stop saying you did your research before you got the injection,” the meme states.
“You are the research.”
Colorado Mandates COVID Vaccines for Health Care Workers at Thousands of Facilities
Colorado health care workers at about 3,800 licensed facilities across the state must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of October, the state Board of Health voted in an emergency session Monday evening.
The new vaccine mandate applies to staff and contractors who interact with patients or clients in assisted living homes, nursing homes, hospitals, hospices, community clinics and a variety of other health care settings that are regulated by the board. The mandate does not apply to individual practitioners, doctors’ offices or urgent care centers.
The board implemented the temporary emergency rule on a 6-1 vote after Gov. Jared Polis on Aug. 17 requested that it consider an immediate vaccine mandate.
NYS Health Dept. Eliminates Religious Exemption for Health Care Workers Avoiding Vaccine
The New York State Department of Health has eliminated the religious exemption for health care workers statewide who do not want to get vaccinated.
The decision was unanimous.
The department of health also established a deadline that all hospitals and nursing homes must require their employees to be fully vaccinated, with the first dose received no later than Sept. 27.
“Years back, when they mandated Measles vaccination, they did so in the absence of any religious exemptions,” said Steven Hanks, St. Peter’s Health Partners Chief Clinical Officer. “They felt that the public health outweighed the religious rights. I don’t believe we’re going to see a huge exodus of staff and I believe that’s the case because everybody is in the same boat.”
Here’s What to Know About China’s Sweeping Tech Crackdown — and Why It Could Make U.S. Big Tech Regulation More Likely
In the latest sign that the unfettered growth enjoyed by China’s tech giants is coming to an end, Beijing has unveiled a raft of new regulations that reasserts the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s authority over every aspect of its citizens’ digital lives.
Among the new regulations: a law that reduces the amount of time that children and teens are allowed to spend playing video games to just three hours per week, and a directive banning online celebrity fan clubs.
The new rules are part of a broader crackdown by Beijing against domestic tech titans like Tencent and Alibaba. “The story of Chinese tech companies over the last 15 years is, they grew quickly and became innovative because they existed in this space that the state did not regulate and did not fundamentally understand,” says Adam Segal, the director of the digital and cyberspace policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Now it has clearly laid down the marker and said: That era is over.”
‘Smart’ Shirt With Nanotube Fibers Can Monitor Your Heart
Over the years, we’ve seen many examples of smart clothing equipped with technology to monitor various aspects of a wearer’s physical well-being, but lately, we’ve seen how very thin conductive fibers can make work more comfortable.
Researchers at Rice University have applied this approach to a smart shirt that uses interwoven carbon nanotube fibers to monitor the heart rate and take a continual electrocardiogram (EKG) of the wearer. According to the researchers, the fibers are as conductive as metal wires but washable, comfortable, and far less likely to break when a body is in motion.
The Navy Invented a Device to Prevent People From Talking
The U.S. Navy has invented a new device to prevent people from speaking, one that people with siblings will recognize instantly. The handheld acoustic hailing and disruption device records a person’s speech and spits it back out again, disrupting their concentration and discouraging them from speaking further. Although an interesting — and very familiar — concept it’s unlikely this tech will ever see use on the battlefield.
The handheld acoustic hailing and disruption (AHAD) was developed by engineers at Naval Surface Warfare, Crane Division, a Navy research and development facility in Indiana that develops handheld and crew-served weapons for the service. The patent, New Scientist reports, was issued in 2019 but only discovered this year.
WHO Issues Digital Vaccine Certificate Guidelines + More
Here Is What a Global COVID-19 Vaccine Passport Could Look Like — And How It Would Be Used
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published a guidance document on introducing a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate – known as a Digital Documentation of COVID-19 Certificates: Vaccination Status (DDCC:VS).
A digital vaccination certificate – which documents a person’s current vaccination status to protect against COVID-19 – can be used for continuity of care or as proof of vaccination for purposes other than healthcare, the health body said.
“A vaccination certificate can be purely digital – stored in a smartphone application or on a cloud-based server – and replace the need for a paper card, or it can be a digital representation of the traditional paper-based record,” the WHO said.
Lack of a Vaccine Mandate Becomes Competitive Advantage in Hospital Staffing Wars
In the rural northeastern corner of Missouri, Scotland County Hospital has been so low on staff that it sometimes had to turn away patients amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The national COVID staffing crunch means CEO Dr. Randy Tobler has hired more travel nurses to fill the gaps. And the prices are steep — what he called “crazy” rates of $200 an hour or more, which Tobler said his small rural hospital cannot afford.
A little over 60% of his staff is fully vaccinated. Even as COVID cases rise, though, a vaccine mandate is out of the question.
LA Teachers Call for Mandatory Student Vaccinations, Stricter Quarantines
A Los Angeles teachers union is calling for eligible students to be required to receive the coronavirus vaccine, as well as stricter quarantine guidelines from the school district.
According to a document labeled “Counterproposal #2” dated Aug. 26, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) asked for students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no later than 12 weeks after they become eligible, subject to medical and religious exemptions.
Such a requirement would not be a first for California, as Culver City has mandated students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by Nov. 19.
U.S. Education Department Investigates 5 States Over Mask Mandate Bans
The New York Times via MSN reported:
The Education Department has initiated investigations into five states whose prohibitions on universal mask mandates in schools may run afoul of civil rights laws protecting students with disabilities, federal officials announced Monday.
The department’s civil rights head wrote to state education leaders in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, notifying them that the department’s Office for Civil Rights would determine whether the prohibitions are restricting access for students who are protected under federal law from discrimination based on their disabilities, and are entitled to a free appropriate public education.
The investigations make good on the Biden administration’s promise to use the federal government’s muscle — including civil rights investigations and legal action — to intervene in states where governors and other policymakers have come out against mask mandates in public schools. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone in schools wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.
‘Big Tech’ Censorship of Religion is Real and Deserves an Effective Response, Critics Say
National Catholic Register reported:
The power of major internet companies like Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, and Twitter over public life is a particular threat to religious groups that focus on controversial issues like abortion, marriage, and sexuality, several commentators said at a roundtable last week. These groups should prepare for the possibility of censorship and organize effective countermeasures, they said.
“You might not know the hour nor the day you will be censored,” Joshua D. Holdenreid, vice president and executive director of the California-based Napa Legal Institute, said at a roundtable on internet censorship.
Google Dragnets Harvested Phone Data Across 13 Kenosha Protest Arsons
After the 2020 Kenosha, Wisconsin riots, federal investigators demanded Google provide data on all phones located across at least 13 arson sites, court documents have revealed.
Such orders, also known as Google “geofence” or “reverse location” warrants, ask the tech giant to provide information on devices using its location-based services (whether that’s Google Maps or another app) within a certain boundary across a given timespan. Basic information is provided to the police on the devices, such as anonymous phone identifiers and locations at the time of an event, but the police then ask Google to provide names and addresses of those users it believes are viable suspects.
A Judge Asked a Mother if She Got the Coronavirus Vaccine. She Said No, and He Revoked Custody of Her Son. + More
A Judge Asked a Mother if She Got the Coronavirus Vaccine. She Said No, and He Revoked Custody of Her Son.
The Washington Post via MSN reported:
When Rebecca Firlit joined a virtual court hearing with her ex-husband earlier this month, the Chicago mother expected the proceedings to focus on child support.
But the judge had other plans.
“One of the first things he asked me … was whether or not I was vaccinated,” Firlit, 39, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
She was not, she said, explaining that she has had “adverse reactions to vaccines in the past” and that a doctor advised her against getting the coronavirus vaccine.
“It poses a risk,” she added.
Cook County Judge James Shapiro then made what the parents’ attorneys called an unprecedented decision — he said the mother could not see her 11-year-old son until she got the coronavirus vaccine.
Fauci Backs COVID Vaccine Mandates for School Kids
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who leads the U.S. government’s COVID-19 efforts and serves as President Joe Biden’s top medical advisor, supports requiring school children to get coronavirus vaccines.
Fauci voiced backing for vaccines for K-12 students as well as local and employer vaccination mandates during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Aug. 29.
“I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea. And remember, Jake, this is not something new. We have mandates in many places in schools, particularly public schools, that if, in fact, you want a child to come in, we have done this for decades and decades, requiring polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis,” Fauci said in the interview … “So this would not be something new, requiring vaccinations for children to come to school.”
N.B. COVOD-19 Roundup: Vaccine Passports Unlikely to Boost Vaccination Rates, Says Scientist
A behavioural scientist says implementing COVID-19 vaccine passports would do little to boost New Brunswick’s vaccination rates.
The provincial government will decide within three weeks whether to introduce vaccine passports, which could restrict what unvaccinated people can do in everyday life, Premier Blaine Higgs told CBC last Friday. The program would require proof of vaccination to gain access to certain social and recreational activities.
Simon Bacon, a behavioural medicine professor at Concordia University in Montreal, who studies how people respond to public health policy, says it’s unlikely that would persuade people who are still unvaccinated to get their shots.
EU to Recommend Reinstating COVID-Related Travel Restrictions on U.S., Reports Say
The European Union is expected to recommend on Monday that member states reinstate COVID-related travel restrictions and halt nonessential travel from the United States and five other countries, a diplomatic source told CNN on Monday.
The EU would reestablish coronavirus travel restrictions such as quarantine and testing requirements for unvaccinated travelers from those countries, according to the source.
Other countries to be removed from the safe travel list would be Kosovo, Israel, Montenegro, Lebanon and North Macedonia, the diplomat said.
MSU Employee Sues University Over Vaccine Mandate
A Michigan State University employee is challenging the school’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy, calling it unconstitutional in a federal lawsuit filed last week.
Jeanna Norris, a 37-year-old MSU administrative associate and fiscal officer, is suing President Samuel Stanley and the Board of Trustees, arguing that she has natural immunity after recovering from COVID-19 late last year. Her immunologist, Hooman Noorchashm, has advised her that it is medically unnecessary to undergo a vaccination, the lawsuit said.
“If Plaintiff follows her doctor’s advice and elects not to take the vaccine, she faces adverse disciplinary consequences,” according to the suit that was filed in Michigan’s western division of U.S. District Court. “In short, the Directive is unmistakably coercive and cannot reasonably be considered anything other than an unlawful mandate.”
Fall Antitrust Forecast: Biden Raises Hammer on Big Tech
The antitrust scrutiny of tech giants that began during the Trump era will only intensify this fall as Big Tech critics Lina Khan, Tim Wu and Jonathan Kanter take the lead on competition policy and enforcement in the Biden administration.
Why it matters: Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple face threats from federal regulators, Congress, state attorneys general and EU authorities.
The big picture: That’s four companies each being challenged from four directions: No wonder the antitrust arena can feel like three-dimensional chess.
Concert Venues Are Banking on Proof of Vaccines or Negative Tests to Woo Back Fans
Fans of the band Wilco could have reasonably interpreted frontman Jeff Tweedy singing “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” at an Aug. 13 concert at St. Louis Music Park as the universe explaining the past year or so.
For example, 30-year-old fan Lazarus Pittman had planned to see Wilco and co-headliner Sleater-Kinney in August 2020 at the open-air venue in this suburb west of St. Louis. Then the show was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pittman got sick with the coronavirus. He quit his job as a traffic engineer in Connecticut to relocate to St. Louis for his girlfriend — only to have her break up with him before he moved.
But he still trekked from New England to Missouri in a converted minivan for the rescheduled outdoor show. “COVID’s been rough, and I’m glad things are opening up again,” he said.
Yet hours before Pittman planned to cross off the concert from his bucket list, he learned the latest wrinkle: He needed proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test from the previous 48 hours to enter the concert.
Australian Truckers Protest Mandatory Vaccines And Lockdowns, Block Major Highway
Australian truck drivers have blocked a major highway in the north-eastern state of Queensland in a protest against vaccine mandates and tough border restrictions, causing traffic to back up for several kilometres.
The action marks a series of ongoing protests from Australians frustrated with state government COVID-19 lockdowns and mandated restrictions based on emergency public health orders.
China’s New Digital Double Standard Would Hobble Big Tech While Helping Itself to Data
If data represents the “new oil,” as they say — powering the engines of commerce and media in China — one wonders what happens when the government throws sand in the gears, as it appears may happen.
November looms as a red-letter month in the country, when a new data and consumer privacy law will take effect, mandating guardrails and standards that might make it tougher than ever for Big Tech firms (especially U.S. companies) to compete there.
The Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), as it is officially known, was unveiled earlier in the month. It has some key differences from other regulations that govern data collection and transmission, such as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this case, China is reportedly still going to have a significant reach into consumers’ private information.
