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Fired ‘9-1-1’ Actor Sues Disney Over Vaccine Religious Exemption Denial + More
Fired ‘9-1-1’ Actor Sues Disney Over Vaccine Religious Exemption Denial
Actor Rockmond Dunbar is suing Disney and its production company 20th Television, alleging he was denied a religious exemption against the COVID-19 vaccine that led to him exiting the hit Fox show 9-1-1.
At the time of his exit, Dunbar told Deadline he was dismissed from the show following alleged instances of discrimination because of his refusal to get the COVID-19 jab. The updated protocols on the series required that all actors on 9-1-1 be fully vaccinated.
Dunbar applied for both a medical and religious exemption, the medical exemption reportedly being due to an undisclosed disability. However, he claimed that he was forced off of the show after Disney denied these exemptions.
U.S. Military Has Approved Religious Exemptions to Vaccine Mandate for 15 Service Members out of 16,000 Requests
The U.S. military has approved religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for 15 service members out of approximately 16,000 requests, according to the latest data from the services.
The Marine Corps has approved religious exemptions for six Marines and the Air Force has approved nine requests for exemptions. The Navy has given conditional approval for a member of the Individual Ready Reserve, but that member would have to be fully vaccinated before returning to service.
The military’s vaccine mandate, instituted shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, has faced legal challenges, despite the high vaccination rate of service members.
Unexplained Injuries Similar to Previous ‘Havana Syndrome’ Cases Afflicted U.S. Officials on White House Grounds
High-ranking Homeland Security officials in the Trump administration say they were overcome with feelings of vertigo, confusion and memory loss while on White House grounds and in their Washington, DC-area homes. The incidents and symptoms they describe are similar to the “Havana Syndrome” that has been reported by American diplomats in foreign countries since 2016.
The officials spoke to 60 Minutes for a new report airing Sunday. Other stories of officials being stricken were corroborated by former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who fears there is a threat to the highest levels of the U.S. government.
Judge Ordered to Reconsider United Airlines Employees’ Bid to Put Vaccine Policy on Hold
United Airlines employees who object to the airline putting employees exempt from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on unpaid leave will have another shot at asking a judge to block the practice.
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a judge who had initially denied their request must reconsider. The ruling from a divided Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals marks the latest step in an ongoing legal battle over Chicago-based United Airlines’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Canada Turns Authoritarian to Shut Down the ‘Freedom Convoy’
Trudeau has not only threatened to arrest the truckers, he has also declared he will take away their licenses — and thus their livelihoods — if they don’t stop protesting.
The prime minister is also threatening, without a court order, to suppress the free speech of Canadians by seizing the bank accounts of anyone who donates to the protesters — actions that would be blatantly unconstitutional here in the United States.
And he is doing all this using an emergency law that is only supposed to be invoked to deal with threats to “sovereignty, security and territorial integrity” of Canada. I’m sorry, but the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada are not under threat.
What is under threat are the basic freedoms of the Canadian people.
Banks Have Begun Freezing Accounts Linked to Trucker Protest
Canadian banks have begun freezing the accounts of people linked to the trucker protests in Canada and the federal government is promising to take more accounts offline in coming days in an attempt to clear demonstrators from Ottawa, which has been occupied for nearly a month.
The powers granted by the Emergencies Act, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked earlier this week, would allow banks to target the accounts of people who have donated to crowdfunding platforms, like the fundraising campaigns on GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, that have fueled the ongoing protests, but Freeland said she would not give “specifics of whose accounts are being frozen.”
Donor information that was leaked from the GiveSendGo campaign — which has raised more than $9.5 million — revealed that more than half the donations going to protest organizers have come from the U.S. An analysis of the data by Newsweek found that California, Texas, Florida, New York and Michigan topped the list of the highest number of U.S. donations by state.
Texas Mom Runs for Judge Seat, Says COVID School Mandates Have ‘Turned Educators Into Enforcers’
A Texas mother of three explained to Fox News Friday why she is running on a “freedom to decide” platform for Dallas County judge. Davis said that her children have been treated differently than other children because they did not wear masks in school.
“They showed up on the first day of school in defiance of the unlawful mandates without a mask, and they were the only two out of 604 kids in the school. And the school in the district made our family a political enemy and treated my kids as though they were the virus themselves,” Davis told host Ainsley Earhardt.
Austin, Dallas and Houston defied Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order banning mask mandates by local governments and other entities.
College of the Desert to Spend $1 Million of COVID Aid on Amazon Gift Cards to Incentivize COVID Vaccines
In March 2021, the U.S. Congress approved $39.6 billion in support to institutions of higher education to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Almost a year later, College of the Desert plans to spend $1 million of federal relief aid to purchase Amazon gift cards for students to incentivize them to get COVID-19 vaccines.
The college had announced in January that COD students would receive $100 Amazon gift cards if they provide certification to the college that they have received two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Boosters are not required.
But the college had not said how much it intended to spend on the program. Buying $1 million in gift cards would cover 10,000 students.
Senate Averts Government Shutdown After Amendments to Repeal COVID Mandates Fail
Senators narrowly avoided a government shutdown Thursday evening, passing a short-term funding bill one day before funds were set to lapse.
The bill, which continues funding at current levels, will keep the federal government operating until March 11. Congressional leaders are hopeful that by that time, negotiators will have ironed out an agreement on a yearlong package of funding bills.
Neither of the two COVID-19 mandate amendments ultimately passed, but they did receive support from nearly every Republican in the chamber.
Oscars to Require Guests to Show Proof of Vaccination
The 94th Oscars will require guests to show proof of vaccination, while performers and presenters will be regularly tested but are not required to show vaccination proof, The New York Times first reported Thursday.
The Oscars, which will take place March 27 in Los Angeles, will have a total attendance of 2,500 people, all of whom will need a minimum of two negative PCR tests to attend.
Performers and presenters will reportedly not be required to present proof of vaccination, although they will be required to provide COVID-19 test results.
EU State Sets up Commission on Legality of COVID Jab Mandates
An expert commission of doctors and lawyers has been established and met for the first time on Friday to determine whether Austria’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate is legal, according to Austrian media.
The commission is expected to make its first report available by March 8, a week before Austria’s compulsory vaccination law — the first in Europe — is set to come into full effect on March 16.
The law has technically been in force since the beginning of February, but authorities have not yet begun checking citizens’ vaccination status.
Spotify’s Deal With Joe Rogan Is Reportedly Worth ‘at Least’ $200 Million ‘With the Possibility of More’
Joe Rogan’s deal with Spotify is reportedly worth double the amount as previously reported.
According to earlier reports, the streaming service allegedly paid $100 million to exclusively host the 54-year-old’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” But on Thursday, two people who are familiar with the transaction told The New York Times that the true value of the deal is “at least” $200 million “with the possibility of more.”
According to the outlet, “The Joe Rogan Experience” is Spotify’s biggest podcast in the United States, as well as 92 other markets. In financial reports, Spotify cited podcasts, and Rogan’s show in particular, as a factor “in the long-sought growth of its advertising businesses.” This is crucial in terms of Spotify’s competition with tech giants, such as Apple and Google.
Meta, Formerly Facebook, Is No Longer One of the World’s Top 10 Most-Valuable Companies
After its stock rout this year, Meta is no longer one of the world’s 10 most-valuable companies.
Meta’s share price is down about 40% year-to-date after the company reported two weeks ago that Facebook’s daily active user base shrank for the first time ever. The social media platform lost about one million users from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2021.
The announcement sent Meta shares plunging 26.4% in just one day on Feb. 3, wiping out $240 billion in market capitalization. It was the largest one-day loss in U.S. corporate history.
Since then, Meta’s share price has extended losses, losing another 13% to date. This has sent the company tumbling down the list of the world’s most-valuable companies by market cap.
China’s Race Towards AI Research Dominance
Since taking its first steps teaching computers board game strategies in the 1950s, research on artificial intelligence has come a long way.
As Statista’s Florian Zandt points out below, in the 21st century in particular, machine learning and its promise for real-time improvements of algorithms through experience and providing access to more data has become the single biggest research focus in the field.
As Zandt shows in the chart below, based on data provided by the OECD.AI project, China is well on its way to surpassing traditional artificial intelligence research powerhouses in the upcoming years.
Texas Sues CDC to Stop Mask Mandates on Planes + More
Texas Sues CDC to Stop Mask Mandates on Planes
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving, are suing the Biden administration to end mask mandates on planes.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, argues that the mandate imposes a “restriction on travelers’ liberty interests” and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not have the authority to introduce such a blanket preventive measure.
First issued in January 2021, the federal mask mandate requires travelers to wear masks while using public transportation services or facilities, including airports and subway stations. Those who violate the mask mandate could be subject to fines.
The federal mandate is set to expire on March 18.
Protesters Defy Police Presence in Ottawa After Officers Warn of Crackdown
Truckers who have blockaded downtown Ottawa for nearly three weeks have ignored repeated warnings that they could face steep fines and possible arrest as protesters defied a growing police presence in the Canadian capital.
Officers had warned of an impending crackdown Thursday, as busloads of police reinforcements arrived in the city, and work crews took the rare step of erecting metal fences outside the senate and parliament.
But despite heavy rain, supporters flocked to Parliament Hill, and the mood of imminent confrontation receded.
Canadian Trucker Protester Not Afraid of Increased Police Pressure: ‘We Have the Right to Peacefully Assemble’
Protesters are continuing to fight against Canada’s vaccine mandate and are not afraid of increased police pressure.
“We have the right to peacefully assemble. We have the right to peacefully protest. There is nothing but love and solidarity… it’s a beautiful movement,” Kelly Dearborn, a protester who’s taking a stand with the Canadian Freedom Convoy told FOX Business’ Grady Trimble Thursday.
Dearborn’s comments come as Ottawa police told demonstrators to leave and threatened arrests. On Thursday, Trimble reported that law enforcement continues to hand out fliers warning truckers and protesters that they could be charged with criminal offenses. The truckers’ vehicles are also at risk of being removed and their driver’s licenses could be suspended, or even canceled.
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took action against the protests by enacting the Emergencies Act. Dearborn argued that Trudeau’s actions go a “step too far,” as Parliament will vote on the law, today.
Youngkin Signs Law Requiring Virginia Public Schools to Make Masks Optional by March 1
Gov. Glenn Youngkin took to the steps of the Virginia Capitol on Wednesday to ceremonially sign a bill making masks optional in public schools, proclaiming before scores of cheering supporters that “we are reaffirming the…fundamental rights all parents have to make decisions for their children.”
The law goes into effect immediately, but school districts have until March 1 to comply. Youngkin, who built his campaign for office partly on a promise to end school mask mandates, cast his first big legislative win as “restoring power back to parents.”
Senate Faces High-Stakes Budget Talks With Government Shutdown Looming
Congress is staring down a potential government shutdown beginning Friday night if it does not pass a temporary government funding bill, as Senate Republicans push for amendment votes that could complicate the formula for passage.
Those amendments include a potential balanced budget amendment backed by Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and an amendment from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, that aims to defund all federal vaccine mandates.
“Enough is enough. It’s time to stop the petty tyrants imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates on families across the country. No child should be denied an education because of his or her personal medical choice,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said of his amendment to bar federal funding from going to schools that mandate coronavirus vaccines for children.
A government shutdown is widely not expected at this point. But things are still developing.
4-Year-Old Autistic Boy Allowed to Fly Without Wearing Mask
Lawyers representing the family of a 4-year-old boy with autism said Wednesday that they have received a temporary court order from a federal judge exempting him from having to wear a mask when flying from Florida to Boston for treatment.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti Saris in Boston scheduled an emergency hearing Wednesday after the lawyers said two airlines and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined to grant a mask exception for the boy. His family lives in Sanford, Florida, and must travel for care at Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Saris ordered that a mask exemption letter that applies for the next 30 days for American Airlines and Southwest Airlines be issued to Michael Seklecki Sr., the boy’s father until additional court actions can be held.
Ilhan Omar Defends ‘Freedom Convoy’ Donors After GiveSendGo Leak
Rep. llhan Omar has defended donors to the so-called Freedom Convoy truckers’ protest in Canada after their names were revealed in a data leak from fundraising site GiveSendGo.
Omar, a Democrat who represents Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, posted on Twitter on Wednesday suggesting that media coverage of small donors could lead to them being “harassed.” Omar linked to a tweet from Alison Mah, an editor at The Ottawa Citizen, who had shared an article about a woman whose name had appeared in a leaked list of donors.
The woman is a cafe owner who had to close her business on Tuesday after receiving threats because she had donated $250 to the Freedom Convoy via GiveSendGo.
Israel to Scrap COVID Passport System as Omicron Wanes
Israel’s prime minister says the country’s coronavirus vaccination “green pass” system will be suspended as new daily cases of COVID-19 continue to decline.
Naftali Bennett said Thursday after meeting with health officials that Israel’s Omicron wave “has been broken” and that additional reductions in coronavirus restrictions were forthcoming.
The Green Pass, Israel’s digital vaccination passport, limited entry to indoor venues and large gatherings to people who had recovered from coronavirus or received at least three doses of the vaccine.
Can Facebook Monopolize the Metaverse?
The company formerly known as Facebook spent nearly two decades cementing its position as the biggest social media company in the world — in large part by buying other social media startups, like Instagram and WhatsApp. Critics have accused Mark Zuckerberg and his company of using a “copy-acquire-kill” strategy to pressure its would-be competition into selling or risk being crushed by Facebook.
Now, some are concerned that Meta may be employing the same tactics in the metaverse, a concept that Zuckerberg describes as “an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it.” In practical terms, the metaverse is a virtual space where people wearing AR/VR headsets can interact with each others’ avatars, play games, have meetings, and so on.
Britain’s Former Deputy Prime Minister Is Now One of the Most Powerful People at Meta
Nick Clegg, once the second most powerful man in Britain, is now one of the most powerful people at Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promoted the former deputy prime minister to president of global affairs on Wednesday, putting him in charge of “all policy matters” as the tech giant faces a barrage of global regulation. Clegg was previously vice president of global affairs.
The Cambridge University graduate, who joined Facebook in 2018 as head of policy and communications, used to be the leader of Britain’s centrist Liberal Democrats party.
He will now be in charge of decisions that affect the billions of people worldwide who use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus, which are all owned by Meta.
If They Could Turn Back Time: How Tech Billionaires Are Trying to Reverse the Aging Process
In the summer of 2019, months before the word “coronavirus” entered the daily discourse, Diljeet Gill was double-checking data from his latest experiment. He was investigating what happens when old human skin cells are “reprogrammed” — a process used in labs around the world to turn adult cells (heart, brain, muscle and the like) — into stem cells, the body’s equivalent of a blank slate.
Sure of his findings, he took them to his supervisor, Wolf Reik, a leading authority in epigenetics. What Gill’s work showed was remarkable: the aged skin had become more youthful — and by no small margin. Tests found that the cells behaved as if they were 25 years younger.
Last summer, Reik resigned as the director of the Babraham Institute to lead a new UK institute being built by Altos Labs, a contender for the most flush startup in history. Backed by Silicon Valley billionaires to the tune of $3bn (£2.2bn), Altos has signed up a dream team of scientists, Gill and numerous Nobel laureates among them.
Hybrid AI: A New Way to Make Machine Minds That Really Think Like Us
Artificial intelligence has come a long way. In recent years, smart machines inspired by the human brain have demonstrated superhuman abilities in games like chess and Go, proved uncannily adept at mimicking some of our language skills and mastered protein folding, a task too fiendishly difficult even for us.
But with various other aspects of what we might reasonably call human intelligence — reasoning, understanding causality, applying knowledge flexibly, to name a few — AIs still struggle. They are also woefully inefficient learners, requiring reams of data where humans need only a few examples.
Some researchers think all we need to bridge the chasm is ever larger AIs, while others want to turn back to nature’s blueprint.
Novak Djokovic Says He’d Rather Skip Wimbledon and French Open Than Get a Coronavirus Vaccine + More
Novak Djokovic Says He’d Rather Skip Wimbledon and French Open Than Get a Coronavirus Vaccine
The world’s top-ranked men’s tennis player, Novak Djokovic, said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus and was prepared to forgo playing in Grand Slam tournaments rather than be forced to take a shot.
In an interview with BBC News, the Serbian star said it was a “misconception” and “wrong conclusion” that he was part of the anti-vaccine movement, stating that he supported the freedom to choose.
Asked whether he was prepared to skip major tournaments such as the French Open and Wimbledon, Djokovic said: “Yes, that is the price that I’m willing to pay. . . The principles of decision-making on my body are more important than any title or anything else. I’m trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can.”
Meta Agrees to Pay $90 Million to Settle a Lawsuit Alleging Facebook Kept Tracking Users After They Logged Off
Meta has agreed to pay $90 million to settle a decade-old lawsuit alleging Facebook kept tracking users’ internet activity after they’d logged off of the platform.
The proposed settlement was filed late Monday and still requires court approval. If approved, it would be one of the 10 biggest data-privacy class-action settlements ever, according to the document.
The 2012 lawsuit alleges that, between April 2010 and September 2011, Facebook violated privacy and wiretapping laws by using plug-ins to store cookies tracking users’ visits to third-party websites that contained “like” buttons. The social media site had users’ permission to track them while they were logged in but promised to stop when they logged out.
Besides the $90 million sum, which would be distributed among affected users, the settlement would require that Facebook delete data improperly collected on users through the use of this practice.
U.S. Says It Could Spend $22 Million a Month Testing Unvaccinated Federal Employees
The U.S. government said it faces “significant harm” if an appeals court fails to reverse an injunction barring enforcement of President Joe Biden‘s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for government workers, and that testing unvaccinated employees could cost up to $22 million a month.
White House Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Jason Miller disclosed in a declaration cited late on Monday by the Justice Department that the government would be hurt on several fronts if it cannot enforce the vaccine requirements.
On Jan. 21, a U.S. judge in Texas ruled Biden could not require federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and blocked the U.S. government from disciplining employees failing to comply.
Court Allows Air Force Officer to Bypass Coronavirus Vaccine Mandate on Religious Grounds, for Now
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Air Force to let an officer stay unvaccinated against the coronavirus temporarily, without penalties, making her the first in the branch to receive a court injunction that excuses her from a military-wide vaccine mandate.
Although the military has granted hundreds of medical exemptions to service members, it has been much stricter about religious exemptions, which the officer had unsuccessfully requested. Last month, a federal court sided with 35 Navy sailors who had sued the Biden administration to grant them religious exemptions, and the Marines granted the military’s first such exemptions.
Tuesday’s preliminary injunction shields the officer from forced retirement for refusing a coronavirus vaccination until a final ruling is made. She objects to the vaccines “because of their connection to abortion,” according to her attorneys.
Supreme Court to Review New York City Schools Vaccine Mandate Despite Sotomayor’s Denial
The Supreme Court said Wednesday that it will consider a renewed request from New York City teachers and staff to block a vaccine mandate due their religious objections, despite an earlier denial by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
The teachers had previously asked Sotomayor — who has jurisdiction over lower courts in New York — to consider their emergency request. Sotomayor denied the request without referring the matter to the full court, likely because she did not think her colleagues would be interested in granting the application. The court has been reluctant to get involved in state and local vaccine mandate disputes.
But the New York group then took the unusual step of directing a new request to conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, who referred it to the full court to consider.
Washington, DC, to End Vaccine, Mask Mandates
Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced Monday that the city will end its requirement for people entering businesses to show proof of vaccination starting this week and will lift its mask mandate for businesses starting on Mar. 1.
Bowser cited a sharp decline in cases in the Omicron wave as justification for the loosening of restrictions. The mayor pointed to the protection of vaccines in saying the situation had changed.
The vaccination requirement for people entering businesses like restaurants will end starting Tuesday. That requirement had drawn resistance from some congressional Republicans who rallied behind a neighborhood bar, The Big Board, that defied the mandate.
Masks will still be required in schools, an area of strong controversy, and some situations like public transit, Bowser said, while the broader mandate will be lifted next month.
TD Bank Freezes Accounts That Received Money for Canada Protests
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) has frozen two personal bank accounts into which C$1.4 million ($1.1 million) had been deposited to support protesters fighting the Canadian government’s pandemic measures, a bank spokesperson said on Saturday.
The demonstrations, dubbed the “Freedom Convoy” by Canadian truckers opposing a vaccination mandate for cross-border drivers as well as other pandemic restrictions, are now in their third week. They have gridlocked the capital Ottawa and blocked U.S.-Canada border crossings, damaging trade between the two countries.
Early on Saturday, Canadian police began clearing protesters blocking a key bridge linking Canada and the United States.
TD applied to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Friday to take the funds, which were sent through GoFundMe and bank transfers, so they can either be sent to the intended recipients or returned to the donors “who have requested refunds but whose entitlement to a refund cannot be determined by TD,” the bank said in a statement.
Trudeau’s Power Grab Is Unconstitutional
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would be invoking the Emergencies Act, giving him broad emergency powers to quash a nonviolent protest of truckers opposing vaccine mandates. It is only the second time the Canadian government has ever given itself such powers in peacetime.
Trudeau’s father, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was the first to take such an extreme measure, in the context of an actual terrorist uprising in 1970.
First, the Emergencies Act specifies that only certain types of threats to public order can authorize emergency powers — which is why an order issued by the Governor General on Tuesday made the shocking allegation that the Freedom Convoy’s activities are “directed toward or in support” of terrorism.
It’s an astonishing claim for those who have been following the protests both in Canada’s capital and at border crossings closely. There is not a single violent incident that could possibly support a legally sufficient argument that the protests have been in support of or connected with terrorism.
Nearly 1,500 NYC Workers Get the Ax for Flouting COVID Vaccine Mandate
Nearly 1,500 city workers lost their jobs Friday after failing to comply with a mandate that they are vaccinated for COVID — a bloodletting that included dismissals from the ranks of the NYPD, FDNY and the Department of Education.
While staggering in their sheer number, the firings were a long time in the making.
A spokesperson for the mayor said Monday that a total of 1,430 unvaccinated municipal employees were fired on Friday due to their refusal to comply with the mandate. Of those, 914 worked for the Education Department, 101 worked for the New York City Housing Authority and 75 worked for the Department of Correction.
The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) released a statement Monday evening disagreeing with the city’s legal authority to terminate employees based on the COVID vaccine mandate.
Unions Celebrate Court Ruling Blocking COVID Vaccine Mandate, but Mayor Michelle Wu Likely to Appeal
A trio of Boston public safety unions took a victory lap Wednesday morning, a day after an appeals court judge sided with them in their battle with Mayor Michelle Wu over her COVID-19 vaccination mandate for the city workforce.
Multiple questions about the future of the mandate linger, but, for the time being at least, members of the three labor groups who are unvaccinated will not face the threat of termination thanks to Tuesday’s appeals court ruling.
On Tuesday, Justice Sabita Singh granted an injunction blocking Wu’s administration from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for workers from three municipal unions until the two sides hash out a solution at the bargaining table or state labor authorities decide the matter. On Wednesday, Wu said in an interview on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” that the city would likely appeal the ruling.
Adam Silver Says New York Vaccine Mandate Rule Affecting Nets’ Kyrie Irving ‘Doesn’t Quite Make Sense to Me’
Though the mandate mostly keeps Kyrie Irving out of home games at Barclays Center, he also cannot play in “road” games at Madison Square Garden. It was perhaps fitting that NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the issue in an interview with ESPN’s “Get Up” on Wednesday morning.
“This law in New York, the oddity of it to me is that it only applies to home players,” Silver said. “I think if ultimately that rule is about protecting people who are in the arena, it just doesn’t quite make sense to me that an away player who is unvaccinated can play in Barclays but the home player can’t. To me, that’s a reason they should take a look at that ordinance.
The NBA itself does not have a vaccine mandate, and instead follows local guidelines.
Vaccine Mandate No Longer Necessary — EU Commissioner
EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni has said he saw no reason for governments to introduce a general coronavirus vaccine mandate anymore, given the declining severity of the pandemic.
He noted the overall decrease in deaths and hospitalizations across the European Union.
“We are on the same path to loosening restrictions, country by country,” the commissioner said.
California Bills Aim at Social Media, Medical Disinformation
Two California Democratic lawmakers took separate aim Tuesday at pandemic disinformation they argue receives a broad audience and misplaced credibility through social media platforms — rejecting concerns that their legislation might carry free speech or business privacy considerations.
Sen. Richard Pan’s proposal, which still is being finalized, would require online platforms like Facebook to publicly disclose how their algorithms work and how they promote user content, including which data sets are used and how they rank the prominence of user posts.
Assemblyman Evan Low said his bill would label doctors’ promoting of misinformation or disinformation about COVID-19 to the public as unprofessional conduct that could draw disciplinary action from the California Medical Board. Disinformation is generally considered to be intentional or deliberate falsehoods, while misinformation can be inadvertent.
Facial Recognition Firm Clearview AI Tells Investors It’s Seeking Massive Expansion Beyond Law Enforcement
The facial recognition company Clearview AI is telling investors it is on track to have 100 billion facial photos in its database within a year, enough to ensure “almost everyone in the world will be identifiable,” according to a financial presentation from December obtained by The Washington Post.
Those images — equivalent to 14 photos for each of the 7 billion people on Earth — would help power a surveillance system that has been used for arrests and criminal investigations by thousands of law enforcement and government agencies around the world.
And the company wants to expand beyond scanning faces for the police, saying in the presentation that it could monitor “gig economy” workers and is researching a number of new technologies that could identify someone based on how they walk, detect their location from a photo or scan their fingerprints from afar.
IKE’s Smart City Surveillance Kiosks Installed In Houston
Marketed on the basis of being free and convenient, the IKE kiosks collect data on every person who comes near them, including id’ing your bluetooth and wifi devices. Cameras record your face, examine your choices and selections. Their payback is “surveillance capitalism” where you are subsumed into the Technocrat control grid.
The City of Houston has rolled out the first in a series of digital interactive, wayfinding kiosks called “interactive kiosk experience” (IKE).
The deployment marks the launch of a city-wide initiative to build smart city infrastructure that helps to enhance the pedestrian experience for residents and visitors, while adding ‘vibrancy’ to Houston’s urban landscape.
Joe Rogan to the Media: ‘The Answer Is Not to Silence Me,’ It’s for ‘You to Do Better’ + More
Joe Rogan to the Media: ‘The Answer Is Not to Silence Me,’ It’s for ‘You to Do Better’
Podcast giant Joe Rogan offered advice to the legacy media as efforts to get him deplatformed from Spotify continue.
On Thursday’s installment of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan spoke about the “problem” various news sources have with him that “more people believe me or trust me or want to listen to me talk.”
“The answer is not to silence me, the answer is [for] you to do better,” Rogan said. “The answer is for you to have better arguments. When you’re on television talking about how I’m taking horse paste, and you know that’s not true. ‘He’s taking horse dewormer.'”
“What you should have said, ‘How did Joe Rogan get better so quick? How come he got COVID that’s killing everybody and he was better in five days, negative in five days, working out in six days?’ How come that’s never discussed?” Rogan asked.
Amazon Is Taking Away Paid COVID Leave for Unvaccinated Workers
Amazon workers who catch COVID-19 and are not fully vaccinated against the virus will not be eligible for paid leave after Mar. 18, according to a staff memo shared with Insider by Amazon.
Thursday’s memo also told workers they will no longer have to wear masks inside warehouses from Friday if they have been fully vaccinated and local regulations allow.
Outrage as Security Forcibly Removes Maskless Dad From School Board Meeting
A video showing a maskless man being dragged out of a school board meeting in upstate New York has been widely shared online as the state’s governor prepares to reassess her classroom mask requirement.
The video shows security guards grabbing and forcibly removing local parent, Dave Calus, from the Webster School Board meeting on Tuesday. Posted on Facebook by the ROC for Educational Freedom Public Page, the video has been shared over a thousand times, sparking renewed outrage over COVID-19 school measures as New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that she’ll re-evaluate the masking requirement in early March.
Biden COVID Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers Blocked by Second Federal Court
A federal appeals court has declined, for now, to allow the Biden administration to require COVID-19 vaccinations for federal employees.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled 2-1 Wednesday to maintain a block on the mandate that a Texas-based federal judge had issued on Jan. 21. The administration had asked the New Orleans court for an injunction allowing the federal worker mandate to move forward pending appeal.
U.S. Urges Canada to Use Federal Powers to End Bridge Blockade
The Biden administration urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government Thursday to use its federal powers to end the truck blockade by Canadians protesting the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, as the bumper-to-bumper demonstration forced auto plants on both sides of the border to shut down or scale back production.
For the fourth straight day, scores of truckers taking part in what they dubbed the Freedom Convoy blocked the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, disrupting the flow of auto parts and other products between the two countries.
Ontario Premier Declares State of Emergency, Threatens Fines, Prison Time for Blocking Highways and Bridges
Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency Friday as Canada headed into the third weekend of “Freedom Convoy” truck protests that have paralyzed Ottawa and blockaded several U.S.-Canada border crossings. He said he would seek to impose steep fines and prison time for people blocking highways and bridges.
He said he would convene his cabinet and “urgently enact orders that will make crystal clear it is illegal and punishable to block and impede the movement of goods, people and services along critical infrastructure.”
Fines would be “severe,” he warned, with penalties up to $78,000 and a year in prison. Ford said he would consider taking away the personal and commercial licenses of anyone who doesn’t comply with these orders.
Declassified Documents Reveal CIA Has Been Sweeping up Information on Americans
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been secretly collecting Americans’ private information in bulk, according to newly declassified documents that prompted condemnation from civil liberties watchdogs.
The surveillance program was exposed on Thursday by two Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico alleged that the CIA has long concealed it from the public and Congress.
The two senators, frequent critics of the CIA, said they are not allowed to reveal specifics about what type of data has been subject to bulk collection and called for more details about the program to be declassified.
Medical Company CEO Suggests No Public Health Care for Unvaccinated
The CEO of a major medical equipment maker said that those who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine should be “automatically considered” to have forfeited the right to obtain COVID-19 treatment in a public hospital.
Stefan Dräger, the CEO of major German medical manufacturer Dräger, told Die Welt that those who reject getting a shot for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus should not be able to get publicly funded hospital treatment for the disease. Dräger is considered one of the largest makers of ventilators in the world.
New York’s Unvaccinated City Workers Face Firing Deadline
About 4,000 unvaccinated New York City employees, including police officers, teachers and firefighters, face termination Friday.
Jobs are at risk for about 3,000 workers who took unpaid leave instead of getting vaccinated when the city’s mandate took effect in October, as well as about 1,000 recent hires who haven’t submitted documentation of their second shots. About 95% of the 370,000 city workers have received at least one dose.
In a press conference Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams characterized the employees’ termination as “quitting,” saying that they’re choosing to leave their jobs by not following the rules.
Twin Cities Lift Restaurant, Bar Vaccine-or-Test Mandates
The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul have rescinded vaccine-or-test mandates for restaurants, bars and entertainment venues as COVID-19 cases decline rapidly.
The regulations required anyone entering a restaurant, bar or other venue that serves food or drinks to show proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within the last three days.
Mask mandates for public areas in Minneapolis and St. Paul’s city-licensed businesses will remain in place for now.
French ‘Freedom Convoy’ Opposing COVID Mandates Head to Paris
Hundreds of participants to the French ‘Freedom Convoys‘ and supporters gathered on Friday (February 11) near the Vimy Canadian war memorial, in Northern France, as convoys hailing from Valenciennes, Lille and Arras were merging on their way to Paris.
France will deploy thousands of police in and around Paris on Friday and over the weekend and set up checkpoints at toll stations on major roads leading into the capital to keep “Freedom Convoy” motorists out, the city’s police force said.
Despite an order not to enter Paris, motorists protesting against COVID-19 restrictions are converging on the French capital from multiple cities across France, like in Vimy, inspired by the horn-blaring demonstrations taking place in Canada.
German Court Rejects Petitions Against Targeted Vaccine Mandate
Germany’s top court said on Friday it had rejected emergency petitions filed against a targeted vaccine mandate obliging healthcare staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Compulsory vaccination for staff in hospitals and care facilities is due to come into force in Germany on Mar. 15. Numerous people who will be affected had filed the emergency petitions with the constitutional court in Karlsruhe.
Government Researchers Want to Create a Digital Fingerprint for Your Text Messages
Though bot proliferation, in particular, is difficult to measure, a 2020 report from cyber security firm Imperva found over a quarter, (37.2%) of all internet users weren’t human. That’s a lot.
Mix that with everyone else operating under aliases and you start to realize that much of the modern internet, to some degree, is fake. But what if there was a tool that could cut against that fakery and identify the author of any given post based solely on the linguistic stylings of their text?
Experts at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, the research wing of the intelligence community, are using artificial intelligence and heaps of online text data to create just such an identity verification marker, NextGov notes in a recent report.
The researchers hope one day this text “fingerprint,” could play a significant role in identifying individuals behind disinformation campaigns and fighting back against human trafficking.