Login
Big Brother News Watch
Bill Gates: ‘If Every Country Does What Australia Did,’ the World Could Prevent the Next Pandemic + More
Bill Gates: ‘If Every Country Does What Australia Did,’ the World Could Prevent the Next Pandemic
For months, Bill Gates has warned of a new pandemic looming on the horizon. And according to the Microsoft co-founder, one country has already laid out a blueprint for successfully mitigating it.
“If every country does what Australia did, then you wouldn’t be calling [the next outbreak] a pandemic,” Gates, a health philanthropist who has dedicated billions of dollars to vaccine research, said at the annual Munich Security Conference earlier this month.
Gates cited Australia’s COVID response as the gold standard to follow. The country reopened its international borders this week for the first time since March 2020. Over the course of the pandemic, returning citizens and approved international travelers have been required to quarantine in hotels guarded by police and military members. Australia’s states even periodically locked down their respective borders.
Over 1,000 Texas Foster Children Have Been Allowed to Refuse COVID Vaccines, Despite the State Requiring Other Vaccinations
Over a thousand Texas foster children — some as young as 5 years old — have been allowed to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine, despite not typically being allowed to make their own medical decisions, according to a new report from protective services watchdogs.
Around 40% of the foster children in the state’s care who are 5 and older have not received a COVID-19 vaccine despite being eligible. This is due, in part, to guidance from the Department of Family and Protective Services that “may be confusing,” leading to caseworkers unnecessarily “querying even very young children as to whether they would agree to vaccination,” court-appointed monitors say.
The DFPS policy on the COVID-19 vaccine says “unlike other routine vaccines, the COVID vaccine is currently authorized by the FDA for emergency use authorization, which means getting it is voluntary and the youth should agree (if able) in addition to the medical consenter.”
WHO Making Moves on International Vaccine ‘Passport’
The World Health Organization will convene member states and leaders of COVID-19 immunization credential technology groups to recognize different vaccine certificates across nations and regions, a top Vaccination Credential Initiative official told POLITICO’s Ben Leonard.
The WHO is bringing together the groups to develop a “trust framework” that would allow countries to verify whether vaccine credentials are legitimate, said Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at MITRE and a co-founder of the VCI.
The VCI is behind SMART Health Cards, which have become the de facto standard for digital vaccine credentials in the U.S., with dozens of states developing or adopting the technology. The group will participate in the initiative.
The move would be the most significant coordinated international push to enable interoperable credentials among nations and regions.
Despite Privacy Concerns, ID.me Nearly Doubled the Number of People Able to Create an IRS Account
Millions of people have filed federal returns that are stuck in a massive backlog, which is holding up refunds and resulted in the automatic mailing of collection notices that may or may not be warranted. They check “Where’s My Refund?” and “Where’s My Amended Refund?” only to find bureaucratically written language that tells them nothing.
The agency’s online account system, as I reported last year, is a hot mess. Fewer than half of the individuals who tried to establish an online account with the Internal Revenue Service succeeded, according to Erin M. Collins, the National Taxpayer Advocate.
To help improve that access record and improve the security in setting up an account, the agency brought in the private company ID.me to register people. The launch was immediately criticized because it required taxpayers to scan their faces to create an ID.me IRS account.
The IRS backed off that facial recognition requirement, while still moving ahead with the ID.me authentication platform. The turnabout is causing some confusion. So, here’s what you need to know if you have a legacy IRS account or need to create a new one with ID.me.
Explainer: Who Must Follow Biden’s Vaccine Mandates?
More than half the states are pursuing renewed legal challenges against a requirement from President Joe Biden’s administration for millions of healthcare workers across the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
After a Supreme Court ruling allowed it to go forward, the vaccine requirement for health workers was implemented gradually in all states. But opponents are again trying to stop it, arguing among other things that circumstances have changed as cases tied to the Omicron variant have receded.
Following is an overview of the Biden vaccine mandates that affect the private sector and the status of the legal fights over them.
Florida’s New Coronavirus Guidance: ‘Buck the CDC’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on Thursday announced new coronavirus policy recommendations that discourage mask-wearing and push physicians to use off-label medications to treat the virus.
The guidance, titled “ Buck the CDC,” is the Republican governor’s latest break with federal officials over COVID-19 rules, a feud that has boosted his prominence in the GOP as he eyes a 2024 presidential bid.
“People want to live freely in Florida, without corporate masking creating a two-tier society and without overbearing isolation for children,” DeSantis said in a statement. “We are empowering healthcare practitioners to follow science, not (Dr. Anthony) Fauci’s status quo.”
NYC Schools Drop Outdoor Mask Mandate; Indoor Mandate Stays
New York City public school students will be allowed to remove their masks outside starting next week but must keep them on indoors for now, Schools Chancellor David Banks said Friday.
Mayor Eric Adams hailed the revised mask rules in several TV and radio appearances Friday but gave no target date for lifting the indoor mask mandate in schools. “Eventually we’re going to move to the place to ease up on many of these mandates so we can get back to a level of normality that we are looking for,” Adams said on WPIX.
Most Californians Back School Mask, Vaccine Requirements
Most California voters support mandated COVID-19 vaccinations and masking for students and teachers at K-12 schools, according to a new survey by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.
About two-thirds of the roughly 9,000 respondents said they wanted the precautions to contain the virus, according to the poll, which was co-sponsored and published by the Los Angeles Times on Thursday. The views diverged according to political affiliation: While about 85% of Democrats backed vaccine mandates for schools about 70% of Republicans opposed them.
With City COVID Mandates Going Away, Here’s What Some Businesses Plan to Do Starting Monday
Craig Richardson, managing owner of Lincoln Park’s Batter and Berries, has followed the advice of experts throughout the ever-changing dynamics of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now he is eagerly ready to follow the latest moves from the state and city lifting both mask mandates and proof-of-vaccination checks.
On Monday, Chicago will lift the last remaining COVID mitigations that have dictated to business owners how — or even if — they can serve customers for the better part of two years. While the state is getting rid of its most recent indoor mask mandate — which has been in place since August — the city is also dropping a proof-of-vaccination requirement to get into restaurants, bars, gyms and some other businesses after less than two months in effect.
Hong Kong Families Despair as COVID Rules May Separate Them From Children
Guada, an Argentinian who has lived in Hong Kong for 3-1/2 years and has two girls aged 3 and 5 and is pregnant with twins, cries herself to sleep at night, worried that Hong Kong’s severe COVID-19 rules will separate her from her kids or force her to give birth alone.
Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 in Hong Kong, including infants and children, are put into isolation facilities with no family contact allowed, as authorities enforce their “dynamic zero” COVID policy.
Parents’ worries have been heightened after authorities made an infected 11-month-old isolate by herself in the hospital.
Russia Partially Blocks Facebook for Fact-Checking State-Owned Media
The Russian government has partially blocked access to Facebook in the country after it claims the social network “restricted” the accounts of four Russian media outlets.
In a statement on Friday, Russia’s tech and communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said Facebook was violating “the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens,” and that it had recorded 23 cases of “censorship” by the social network since October 2020.
Meta has yet to publicly confirm the actions it took against the Russian media accounts, though they likely have to do with state-backed propaganda about Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Startup Founder Says He Lost His Company and $100 Million by Relying on Facebook: ‘Sends Chills Down My Spine’ to Watch Others Build Businesses on Instagram and TikTok
A founder who says his company went under thanks to a Facebook algorithm tweak in 2018 shared more details about the incident in a lengthy Twitter thread this week.
Joe Spieser launched LittleThings.com in 2014 as a women-focused digital media site devoted to uplifting content, like animal videos, recipes and other feel-good stories.
Things were booming before an algorithm change, with 20 million social media followers mostly built from Facebook’s massive user base, he tweeted. Speiser said Facebook even used LittleThings as an example of how to build a successful media company at one of its annual conferences.
Discord’s New Policy Will Ban Harmful Medical Advice, Taking Aim at Anti-Vaxx Groups
Discord is overhauling its policies and community guidelines to tackle health misinformation, off-platform behavior, and hate speech, the company announced on Friday.
It’s the first big policy update for Discord in nearly two years and is designed to target groups or individuals that participate in organized violence, spread harmful anti-vaccination material, or harass other Discord users with hate speech.
After two years of a pandemic, Discord is making its policies more clear about health misinformation. In new community guidelines, which go into effect on Mar. 28, Discord says users “may not share false or misleading information on Discord that is likely to cause physical or societal harm.” This includes content that could result in damage to physical infrastructure, injury to others and content that endangers public health.
Facebook ‘Purposefully Poisoning’ Young Children, Analyst Warns + More
Former Facebook Analyst Warns of Social Media’s Dangerous Impacts: It’s ‘Purposefully Poisoning’ Young Children
Former Facebook analyst Kara Frederick joined “Mornings with Maria” Wednesday to discuss the harmful impacts social media companies have on young children and adolescents.
While “fact-checkers” have been accused of censoring political content on various platforms, the world of social media remains largely unchecked for young consumers. Suicidal content and other harmful material are at their fingertips, with little to no measures in place to protect their developing minds.
“So, we need to understand that these platforms know the deleterious effects that they have on kids, and yet they’re proceeding with creating platforms for younger and younger users anyway. So, Facebook called pre-teens an ‘untapped’ but ‘valuable’ audience, and they are purposely poisoning the next generation with highly addictive content, and they know exactly what they’re doing,” Frederick told FOX Business host Maria Bartiromo, who also hosts a new four-part series on Fox Nation called ‘Killer Apps.’
Air Force Officers Sue Over Religious Exemption Denials
A dozen U.S. Air Force officers have filed a lawsuit against the federal government after the military denied their religious exemptions to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine.
The officers, mostly from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, along with a handful of airmen and reservists, accused the Air Force of using a double standard when approving the requests.
The Air Force, according to the lawsuit filed last week, had allowed more than 3,000 medical and administrative exemptions but only 9 religious exemptions.
Combined, the services have received more than 14,000 requests for religious accommodations. The Marine Corps had allowed three as of last week while the Army and Navy had not approved any.
Trudeau Revokes Emergencies Act, Saying Existing Laws Are Enough to Deal With Protesters
The Canadian government announced Wednesday it will lift the Emergencies Act, nine days after it was invoked, saying police have the tools they need to continue to deal with unlawful protesters.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday that the sweeping powers were put in place to deal with an “acute” emergency, saying it was meant to be proportional and time-limited. Small pockets of protests remain across the country, including just outside Ottawa, where some protesters have been gathering on private or rural properties.
As late as Wednesday afternoon there was a heavy police presence in Ottawa’s downtown core, with several police checkpoints. But Trudeau said national security experts have advised him that current laws already in place are enough to deal with enforcement issues.
Google Relaxes Mandates, Opens Amenities as It Prepares for Workers to Return
Google is dropping some COVID-related mandates for employees and restoring perks back to its headquarters as it prepares to bring workers back to the office.
Google Real Estate and Workplace Services VP David Radcliffe wrote an email to San Francisco Bay Area employees this week explaining that the company is relaxing some rules around vaccines, testing, social distancing and masks.
Separately, a Google spokesperson told CNBC that the company has reversed course and will not require vaccinations as a condition of employment for U.S. workers, but declined to offer further details.
Arbitrator Upholds Chicago’s Vaccine Mandate for Police
An arbitrator has upheld the city of Chicago’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for police officers, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Wednesday, saying she hopes it is a call to action for those who aren’t yet vaccinated.
The Fraternal Order of Police had vigorously fought the city’s rules, which resulted in lawsuits, and urged members not to comply. The union wanted the matter heard before an arbitrator.
The arbitrator’s ruling said officers must get their first dose of the shot by Mar. 13 and the second dose a month later.
Los Angeles County Eases COVID Indoor Mask Mandate
Los Angeles County will begin allowing people to remove their masks while indoors if they are vaccinated as the Omicron winter surge continues to ease, officials announced Thursday.
California’s most populous county will relax its public health order on Friday to allow unmasking indoors at restaurants, bars and other businesses for people who show proof of vaccination. Employers also can permit their workers to remove their masks if they are vaccinated.
All customers must still prove either that they are vaccinated or have a recent negative COVID-19 test. Following a statewide rule, unvaccinated customers must continue to wear masks indoors unless they are actively eating or drinking.
Denver to Lift Vaccine Mandate for City Workers, Teachers and Others in High-Risk Settings on Mar. 5
City of Denver employees, teachers, contractors and workers in high-risk settings will no longer be required to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus starting Mar. 5, according to the latest guidance from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE).
“During the pandemic we have made data-informed decisions to protect residents and Denver is now at a place where it makes sense to lift the vaccine mandate,” said Bob McDonald, executive director of the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment and Denver’s Public Health Administrator.
Florida Surgeon General Confirmed Despite Controversy
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo was confirmed to his position Wednesday, as Senate Republicans approved the nomination of the state’s top doctor over criticism that his opposition to coronavirus mandates is too aligned to the politics of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Ladapo, who was appointed by DeSantis in September, has drawn intense scrutiny over his shared resistance with the governor to COVID-19 mandates for vaccines and masks and other health policies endorsed by the federal government.
Facebook Crypto Scammers Pose as Tesla, Amazon and Even Facebook
Meta’s rules for advertisers on Facebook place strict limits on how ads sell cryptocurrency, but The Markup identified several pages that recently placed ads for nonexistent “tokens” using the logos of large tech companies and even the faces of some of Big Tech’s most prominent people, including Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
While scams in Facebook ads aren’t a new phenomenon and cryptocurrency scams have plagued platforms well beyond Facebook, these ads are particularly brazen: a network of scammers imitating the tech industry’s biggest players, on the tech industry’s largest social media platform, to shake down its users.
Meet the Secretive Surveillance Wizards Helping the FBI and ICE Wiretap Facebook and Google Users
PenLink, the Lincoln, Nebraska-based company, is often the first choice of law enforcement looking to keep tabs on the communications of criminal suspects.
Nowadays the company has been helping cops keep tabs on suspected wrongdoing by users of Google, Facebook and WhatsApp — whatever web tool that law enforcement requests.
Sometimes it takes a spy to get transparency from a surveillance company. Jack Poulson, founder of technology watchdog Tech Inquiry, went incognito at the National Sheriffs’ Association’s winter conference in Washington. He recorded a longtime PenLink employee showing off what the company could do for law enforcement and discussing the scale of its operations.
Not only does the recording lift the lid on how deeply involved PenLink is in wiretapping operations across the U.S., it also reveals in granular detail just how tech providers such as Apple, Facebook and Google provide information to police when they’re confronted with a valid warrant or subpoena.
More GOP States Now Wagering on Vaccine ‘Passports’ Technology + More
More GOP States Now Wagering on Vaccine ‘Passports’ Technology
Several Republican-leaning states that eschewed so-called vaccine passports over concerns that they limited freedom are now embracing the technology behind them so that their residents can travel and get their immunization and health records online.
The technology — which allows proof of COVID-19 vaccination to be digitized and often includes a QR code — had been touted by supporters, largely in Democratic-leaning states, as a way to facilitate safer reopening after pandemic-related shutdowns.
But now the technology is gaining momentum in at least five states — Arizona, Mississippi, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Utah — despite bans on “vaccine passports” or governors opposing them.
These states do not plan to require vaccine “passports” or proof of immunization to enter indoor spaces like New York City and Los Angeles have.
NBA Referee Suspended for Refusing COVID Vaccine ‘Proud’ of Freedom Convoy
Ken Mauer, an NBA referee since 1986 who says he was prevented from continuing his career because of his religious objections to the vaccine mandate agreed to by the NBA referees’ union, said he is “proud” of the truckers protesting against COVID restrictions and mandates in Canada and that he wishes his union would have done the same.
Mauer said in a recent episode of Fearless, a show from The Blaze hosted by Jason Whitlock, that some of the NBA’s over 70 referees in the union had questions about the union agreeing to a vaccine mandate.
Canadian Lawmaker Claims Single Mom Had Bank Account Frozen After Giving $50 to Freedom Convoy
Canadian politician Mark Strahl on Feb. 20 claimed that a single mom with a minimum wage job had her bank account frozen after she “legally” donated $50 to the Freedom Convoy.
“Briane is a single mom from Chilliwack working a minimum wage job,” Strahl wrote on Twitter on Feb. 20. “She gave $50 to the convoy when it was 100% legal. She hasn’t participated in any other way. Her bank account has now been frozen. This is who Justin Trudeau is actually targeting with his Emergencies Act orders.”
Capitol Police Prepare for People’s Convoy to Arrive Earlier Than Scheduled
U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) are preparing for protesters to begin popping up at the Capitol ahead of President Joe Biden‘s State of the Union Address to Congress on March 1, even though the timeline from the People’s Convoy estimates that they will arrive in the DC area the evening of March 5.
Protesters were planning to gather on Wednesday morning in Adelanto, California, before traveling across the country to demand that all COVID-related restrictions be lifted nationwide — a transcontinental demonstration inspired by Canadian truckers who completed a similar journey last month and occupied Ottawa for 24 days.
Despite the timeline, authorities in the DC Metro area have been executing safety plans, having already secured roughly 400 National Guard soldiers and 50 tactical vehicles from the Department of Defense.
Chicago to Become Latest City to Lift Mask and Vaccine Mandates
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday that the city will lift its indoor mask mandates for public settings and lift mandates for restaurants, gyms and bars to require proof of COVID vaccination for entry starting next Monday.
The city is lifting the requirements at the same time as the state mask mandate is set to be lifted Monday, and Lightfoot and other officials said improvements in several key metrics used by health officials motivated the decision, according to WTTW-TV.
After Chicago’s requirements are lifted, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle will be the remaining large U.S. cities with proof of vaccination requirements for certain business and entertainment venues, Newsweek reported Tuesday.
Mayor Adams Plans to Soon Phase Out NYC’s Indoor COVID Vaccine and Mask Rules
Mayor Adams hinted Wednesday that he will soon roll back the city’s coronavirus vaccine and mask mandates for indoor settings as infection rates continue to drop across New York.
The mayor didn’t give an exact timeline for when he envisions ending the longstanding pandemic precautions, but said at an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn that rescinding them are top priorities for him.
“Yes, and I can’t wait to get it done,” Adams said when asked if he plans to phase out the city’s indoor vaccine mandate for dining, fitness and other activities. Unprompted, Adams then suggested he’s also looking to relax or even outright scrap the city’s requirements and guidelines on mask-wearing.
As Mask Mandates End in All but One State, Retailers and Cruises Follow Suit
As coronavirus cases continue to decline across the country, all states but one — Hawaii — have dropped their mask mandates or have made plans to do so in the coming weeks. This week, Target and Apple stores joined other retailers in pulling back their own mandates.
In recent days, some cruise lines — including Norwegian and Royal Caribbean International — said they are relaxing mask requirements for vaccinated passengers after putting stricter rules in place during the Omicron surge. The industry was hit hard early in the pandemic as horror stories of onboard outbreaks made international headlines.
COVID Lockdown Measures May Affect Brain Health of People Who Aren’t Infected, MGH Study Shows
Lockdown measures aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 may have an adverse effect on the brain health even of people who’ve avoided infection during the pandemic, according to a new study from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The study, the hospital said Tuesday in a statement, was published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
Researchers found that following lockdowns, study participants demonstrated “elevated brain levels” of markers of neuroinflammation, compared to pre-lockdown participants, according to MGH.
Iceland to Lift All COVID Restrictions on Friday
Iceland will lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions on Friday, including a 200-person indoor gathering limit and restricted opening hours for bars, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.
“Widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic,” the ministry said in a statement, citing infectious disease authorities.
“To achieve this, as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough, even though they provide good protection against serious illness,” it added.
COVID: Hong Kong Doctors See More Requests for Jab Exemptions Ahead of Vaccine Pass Launch
Hong Kong Free Press reported:
Hong Kong is set to roll out a COVID-19 vaccine pass on Thursday, almost exactly one year after the vaccination program was launched, which will bar unvaccinated citizens from entering shopping malls, supermarkets, places of worship and other premises.
Since the government announced the scheme as part of its latest and “most stringent” COVID-19 measures under the fifth wave of infections, general practitioner Koni Chan has seen more people knocking on her door for an exemption certificate.
Doctors in Hong Kong may certify a patient to be unfit for receiving either of the currently available COVID-19 jabs in the city, namely the Corona Vac by Chinese manufacturer Sinovac or the German-made Comirnaty by BioNTech.
A New Roadmap for Reigning in Social Media Companies Is Gaining Steam
For years, U.S. policymakers have been railing against social media companies for allegedly stoking divisions and facilitating the spread of noxious content on their sites, with little to show for it beyond distant threats of regulation.
There are signs of growing momentum for a different approach, focused instead on channeling regulators’ consumer protection powers.
It’s a strategy that has shaped a slew of recent proposals aimed at cracking down on platforms that mislead users about their practices and policies, or that fail to be sufficiently transparent about their products.
DC Prosecutor Presses Bid to Question Facebook CEO in Data Privacy Lawsuit
Meta Platforms Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg should be required to answer questions about Facebook‘s data privacy practices, the Washington, DC, attorney general’s office argued in a new court filing stemming from a lawsuit the city filed in 2018 against the social media company.
The District’s lawsuit accuses Facebook of misleading its users about who had access to personal data. The Menlo Park, California-based Facebook came under scrutiny in 2018 over allegations that defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica duped consumers about the collection of information on the social network.
IRS Will Let Tax Payers Opt Out of Facial Recognition, but There’s a Big Catch
Although the IRS has dropped its plans to use video selfies to verify the identities of taxpayers, this year’s tax season is still set to be a bit more chaotic than usual.
Originally the government agency had planned to use the third-party identity verification provider ID.me as part of its efforts to require taxpayers to create new online accounts. However, following backlash, the IRS reversed course despite its $86m contract with the firm.
Now though, the IRS has announced that taxpayers that don’t want to submit biometric data to sign up for an online account with the government agency will have another option to verify their identities.
It seems the IRS is taking a page out of ID.me’s book as the identity verification firm recently gave public sector employees working for the government the option to verify their identities with a human agent.
Joe Rogan’s Podcast Keeps Mysteriously Disappearing From Spotify + More
Joe Rogan’s Podcast Keeps Mysteriously Disappearing From Spotify
The Joe Rogan Experience, at the center of a fierce controversy over censorship and misinformation, briefly disappeared from Spotify on Monday for unexplained reasons — the second time in days that the show has mysteriously vanished.
For a short period on Feb. 21, Spotify users were unable to access the show from the streaming platform’s website, iPhone app and Android app.
The show now appears to be available again and it is not clear why it vanished. But the disappearance is certainly noteworthy given the controversy around the podcast and its host — under fire over COVID-19 misinformation and use of racial slurs — and the removal of dozens of episodes.
U.S. Government Workers Reportedly Among Those Donating to ‘Freedom Convoy’
As Americans continue to donate money to the Canadian Freedom Convoy, some donors might have influential ties to the U.S. government.
An investigation by Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, claims that some American contributors to the convoy’s funds are government workers.
Among the government agencies listed in the Globe and Mail report as having employees donate to the convoy is the U.S. Department of Justice, NASA, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Transportation Safety Authority. Due to privacy concerns and the ability to put down an alias during the donation process, many of these employees were not publicly identified by the newspaper.
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Maine COVID Vaccine Mandate
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away a challenge to Maine’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, rebuffing for the second time a group of plaintiffs who sought a religious exemption.
The justices rejected a request made on behalf of unnamed plaintiffs identifying themselves as Maine healthcare workers who objected to the vaccinations on religious grounds. The court in November rejected an emergency request by the same plaintiffs seeking to prevent Maine from enforcing the mandate against them. They are represented by a Christian legal advocacy group.
The court previously rejected other challenges to vaccine mandates including one focusing upon New York’s lack of religious exemptions for healthcare workers.
New York Won’t Enforce COVID Vaccine Booster Mandate for Healthcare Workers
New York on Friday announced it would not enforce the state’s COVID-19 vaccine booster mandate for healthcare workers amid concerns over possible staffing issues.
Last month, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced that the state would require all healthcare workers to get a COVID-19 booster as the state faced a surge of infections. That mandate was set to go into effect on Monday.
However, New York state officials acknowledged on Friday the requirement could lead to staffing shortages and said they would not enforce it, though they would reassess booster vaccination progress among healthcare workers in three months to see if new steps needed to be employed.
People’s Convoy Rakes in $300K in Donations for Truckers’ Trip to DC
As the People’s Convoy prepares to head to Washington, DC, to demand an end to all COVID-19-related mandates across the nation, the group of truckers has raised more than $300,000 in support of the protest.
The convoy is scheduled to depart from Adelanto, California, on Wednesday as part of an 11-day journey to the nation’s capital, where they’re expected to arrive on March 5. As of Tuesday morning, the People’s Convoy has raised $311,362 in donations, according to its website.
The convoy comes just days after police in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, cleared the last of anti-COVID mandate protesters of Canada’s Freedom Convoy.
Pentagon Weighs Request for DC National Guard Help Ahead of Trucker Protests
The Pentagon said Tuesday it is considering a request to deploy the National Guard to provide assistance ahead of trucker protests that could halt traffic around the nation’s capital as soon as this week.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the department received a request for Guard support from the U.S. Capitol Police and the DC government, but had not yet decided to approve the request.
Several trucker convoys protesting coronavirus restrictions are slated to begin arriving in the DC area this week and continue into early March. The protests come after truckers in Canada occupied the capital city of Ottawa for three weeks to oppose vaccine mandates, which ended in widespread arrests and towing by police.
Key Organizer of Ottawa COVID Protests Denied Bail
A judge has denied bail to one of the leading organizers behind protests against COVID-19 restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois said Tuesday she believed there was a substantial likelihood Tamara Lich would reoffend if released.
Lich has been a key organizer of the protest that paralyzed the streets around Parliament Hill for more than three weeks. The trucker protest also grew until it closed a handful of Canada-U.S. border posts. They have since ended.
Lich was arrested last Thursday and charged with counseling to commit mischief and promised during a bail hearing on Saturday to give up her advocacy of the protest and return to Alberta.
Ottawa protesters who vowed never to give up are largely gone, chased away by police in riot gear in what was the biggest police operation in the nation’s history.
Schools Say They’re Caught ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place’ as Anti-Mask Protests Grow
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported:
Some San Diego County school district leaders are pleading for help as they bear the brunt of families’ discontent over the state’s indoor school mask mandate, which at this point has no expiration date.
Scores of San Diego County students, many who are not yet teenagers, are protesting the mandate by refusing to wear masks in class. The protests have garnered more attention in the past few days, ever since state officials announced at a press conference last Monday that they are not lifting the state’s indoor school mask mandate yet.
State leaders say they will reassess state COVID data on Feb. 28 but have suggested they won’t lift the school mask mandate until sometime after that date.
Oregon Says Nike’s Vaccine Mandate Is ‘Reasonable’ for Remote Workers, Denies Jobless Aid
The Oregon Employment Department says workers who don’t comply with their employers’ vaccine mandates aren’t eligible for jobless aid, even if they work remotely.
The department denied unemployment benefits this month to Nike software engineer Alex Burkoff, 41, who lost his job in January because he refused to document his vaccination status. Burkoff is appealing the state’s decision, arguing that Nike’s vaccine mandate isn’t reasonable because there’s no chance that employees like him who don’t come to the office could expose colleagues to COVID-19.
Federal courts have struck down most government vaccine mandates, with the notable exception of requirements applying to most healthcare workers. But companies are generally free to implement their own mandates, if they choose.
Six Major U.S. Cities Still Have Proof-of-Vaccination Requirements
As coronavirus cases drop across the United States, six major cities continue to require proof of vaccination to access certain public venues.
Many cities relaxed their rules in recent weeks due to the decreasing number of cases, reversing course after cases exploded in the winter due to the Omicron variant.
But people in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco and Seattle are still required to show they are vaccinated before going out to some places, including restaurants and gyms. Since the vaccines became widely available, municipal leaders used the requirements to limit the virus’ spread but received backlash from some residents over the policy.
Uganda’s Proposed New Law Will See Anti-Vaxxers Face Fines or Six Months in Jail
Uganda has proposed steep penalties for anti-vaxxers in a new bill being studied by parliament, as the country doubles down on its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
A parliamentary health committee said Tuesday it was considering proposed legislation to fine or imprison unvaccinated people in the East African country of around 45 million people.
The parliament said in a statement on its website, “According to the proposal, those who do not get vaccinated against COVID-19 will be fined Shs 4 million (around $1,137) or a jail term of six months.”
Israel to Open Borders to Unvaccinated Tourists March 1
Israel plans to open its borders to all tourists, no matter their COVID-19 vaccination status, starting March 1.
While all incoming tourists will need negative PCR test results before takeoff and after landing in Israel, this will be the first time unvaccinated visitors will be allowed into the country since March 2020.
Israeli nationals returning to the country will only need to take a PCR test upon arrival. The previous requirement for an antigen test before boarding will be lifted effective March 1.
Unvaccinated Israeli nationals will no longer have to quarantine as long as their PCR test results are negative.
Behind the Stalkerware Network Spilling the Private Phone Data of Hundreds of Thousands
Much of the spyware you hear of today are the powerful nation-state-backed exploits that can quietly and remotely hack into iPhones anywhere in the world. These powerful hacking tools are bought and operated by governments, often targeting their most vocal critics — journalists, activists and human rights defenders.
There is another kind of spyware that is more prevalent and much more likely to affect the average person: the consumer-grade spyware apps that are controlled by everyday people.
Consumer-grade spyware is often sold under the guise of child monitoring software, but also goes by the term “stalkerware” for its ability to track and monitor other people or spouses without their consent.
Last October, TechCrunch revealed a consumer-grade spyware security issue that’s putting the private phone data, messages and locations of hundreds of thousands of people, including Americans, at risk. But in this case it’s not just one spyware app exposing people’s phone data. It’s an entire fleet of Android spyware apps that share the same security vulnerability.
What’s Worth More: Unicorns or the Biggest U.S. Tech Companies?
New data collected by Crunchbase News indicates that the value of global unicorns has crested the $4 trillion mark. The valuation milestone is notable not merely for its scale, but its relative size.
Compared to what? The value of the major tech companies of the West, namely the U.S. Big Five. Once they were known as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Today the group is known as Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Meta, with the younger two of the five-company group undergoing name changes in recent years.
The five companies actually managed to double their worth to over $8 trillion when stocks crested in late 2021; since then, the total has fallen to $7.2 trillion as of last Friday’s close, Wolfram Alpha data showed.