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Joe Rogan Responds to Neil Young and Spotify’s New Advisory for Podcasts That Discuss COVID + More
Joe Rogan Responds to Neil Young and Spotify’s New Advisory for Podcasts That Discuss COVID
Joe Rogan has responded to criticism of his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” after Neil Young said he wanted to leave Spotify because of Rogan’s contributions to spreading “false information about vaccines” on the platform.
Rogan took to Instagram to talk about how his “podcast has been accused of spreading dangerous information,” mentioning two episodes in particular that included controversial guests. He said he books the guests himself, and one thing he could change is having experts with differing opinions on directly after people with “controversial” opinions.
After Young and fellow musician Joni Mitchell removed their music in protest, calling on Spotify to prevent the spread of misinformation on their platform, the company said it will add an advisory to podcasts that discuss COVID-19.
The new Spotify advisory for podcasts will direct listeners to its “COVID-19 Hub” — a resource that “provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources,” CEO Daniel Ek wrote in a statement. The advisory is set to be implemented globally “in the coming days.”
Canadian Truckers Say They Have Enough Money to Keep Protesting for 4 Years
Organizers of a demonstration protesting vaccine mandates outside Canada’s Parliament have reportedly said they have enough money to keep trucks there for up to four years.
Thousands of protesters converged on Parliament Hill in Ottawa over the weekend, joined by truckers who had traveled across Canada as part of a “Freedom Convoy.”
Although initially organized to oppose vaccine mandates for truck drivers crossing the Canada-U.S. border, it has grown in recent days into a movement against COVID-19 restrictions in general, and Justin Trudeau‘s government.
A GoFundMe campaign called “Freedom Convoy 2022” surpassed more than $7.1 million ($9.1 million CAD) in donations. The page was launched earlier this month by Tamara Lich, the secretary of the Maverick Party, to help truckers with the cost of gas and other expenses for the demonstration.
‘This Is Creating More Loneliness’: The Metaverse Could Be a Serious Problem for Kids, Experts Say
If there’s one thing that tech companies, retailers, content creators and investors can agree on, it’s this: There’s plenty of money to be made from the metaverse.
But as CEOs try to elbow past their rivals to gain a foothold in the still nascent digital space, some psychologists and mental health experts say the race to turn a profit is taking attention away from a crucial question: Will the metaverse be a safe place, especially for kids and teens?
The answer isn’t encouraging. Recent research has shown myriad negative effects of social media on the psyches of children and adolescents, from the prevalence of bullying and harassment to self-esteem and body image issues. Those same pitfalls could be just as prevalent — if not worse — in the wide-open metaverse, with its series of vast virtual worlds intended for both work and play.
Taylor Swift Fans Call on Her to Pull Music From Spotify Over Joe Rogan
Fans of Taylor Swift are calling on the pop superstar to pull her music from Spotify in solidarity with other musicians over the Joe Rogan podcast furor.
Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, has been the focus of much controversy in recent weeks over his move to welcome guests onto the show who shared controversial and some say misinformative takes on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As a growing number of stars share their collective stance in no uncertain terms, eyes have now turned to “Shake It Off” singer Swift.
T-Mobile to Terminate Corporate Employees Who Aren’t Vaccinated by April
T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) will fire corporate employees who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Apr. 2, according to an internal company memo posted on the blog The T-MO Report.
The blog said T-Mobile’s new policy was announced on Friday in an email from its human resource chief to all staff. It follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Jan. 13 that blocked President Joe Biden‘s COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses.
“Employees who have not yet taken action to receive their first dose and upload proof by Feb. 21 will be placed on unpaid leave,” the blog quoted the memo as saying. “Affected employees who do not become fully vaccinated…by Apr. 2 will be separated from T-Mobile.”
Musk Mocks Trudeau, Says ‘Freedom’ Truckers Protest Proves ‘Small Fringe Minority’ Is the Government
Tesla CEO Elon Musk mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government over a comment downplaying the massive protests that have formed over the country’s vaccine mandates.
“It would appear that the so-called ‘fringe minority’ is actually the government,” Musk tweeted on Sunday afternoon.
Trudeau attempted to downplay the Freedom Convoy of truckers who drove from Vancouver to Ottawa last week to protest the government’s vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers. He said the group was composed of a “small fringe minority” of people who hold “unacceptable views.”
The protests, however, have been anything but “small” in Ottawa. Thousands of people were seen on the streets of the nation’s capital supporting the truckers and denouncing Canada’s stringent restrictions and mandates surrounding the coronavirus.
England Plans to Revoke Mandatory COVID Jabs for Health Workers
The British government said on Monday it planned to revoke mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for health workers in England after warnings that an already-stretched service could face crippling staff shortages.
Health minister Sajid Javid said the government would launch a consulation into whether the policy announced in November was still needed.
Austria Lifts ‘Lockdown of the Unvaccinated’ as Europe Slowly Opens Up
Austria has lifted its “lockdown of the unvaccinated”, Switzerland is gearing up for a “turbo” reopening and Germany’s finance minister has demanded an end date for COVID curbs as more countries prepare to ease pandemic controls.
It follows the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and France, who last week began to take steps to return to a semblance of normal life, with the Danish government declaring COVID-19 “should no longer be categorised as a socially critical disease” after Jan. 31.
Thousands of Czechs Protest Against COVID Curbs
Thousands of Czechs massed in Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Sunday, waving flags and chanting slogans against COVID-19 restrictions, even as infections surge.
Protesters mainly objected to harsher restrictions for the unvaccinated, including a ban on eating in restaurants.
Despite the soaring numbers, the government scrapped a decree last week making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for key professionals and over-60s to avoid “deepening fissures” in society.
From Kabul, Pregnant Reporter Fights New Zealand Government to Come Home
She reported on the difficult conditions mothers and babies face just to survive in desperate Afghanistan. Now, a pregnant New Zealand reporter has chosen Kabul as a temporary base for her uphill fight to return home because of her country’s strict COVID-19 entry rules.
Charlotte Bellis, 35, is expecting her first child with her partner, freelance photographer Jim Huylebroek, a Belgium native who has lived in Afghanistan for two years.
She said she has been vaccinated three times and is ready to isolate herself upon her return to New Zealand. “This is ridiculous. It is my legal right to go to New Zealand, where I have healthcare, where I have family. All my support is there,” she said.
Thousands of New Zealand citizens wanting to return home have faced delays due to a bottleneck of people in the country’s border quarantine system.
Your GPU Could Be Used to Track You Online
Experts have revealed that a computer’s Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) can be used to track users across the web.
A group of 10 researchers from universities in France, Israel, and Australia have published a report on a new “remote GPU fingerprinting” technique dubbed DrawnApart.
Explained as plainly as possible, this uses a cross-platform API for rendering 3D graphics in the browser, called WebGL. When combined with the GPU’s operations, it creates a unique fingerprint of the device.
Treasury Reconsiders IRS Use of ID.me Facial Recognition Amid Privacy Concerns
The Treasury Department is reconsidering the Internal Revenue Service’s use of ID.me for access to its website, according to Bloomberg. A department official said the agencies are exploring alternatives to the controversial facial recognition software, though that official didn’t specifically cite the privacy concerns around ID.me for the decision.
The Treasury Department’s decision to reevaluate its use of ID.me comes in the same week that the company disclosed its use of one-to-many facial matching.
Privacy advocates have criticized both approaches. Research indicates most facial recognition systems struggle to identify people with darker skin tones. Experts have also voiced concerns about the security risks of storing biometric data.
What Your Smart TV Knows About You — and How to Stop It Harvesting Data
Watching TV feels like a benign pastime, but as all TVs become “smart” — connected to the internet via your router — they are gaining the ability to watch you too.
As soon as you switch them on, smart TVs made by the likes of LG, Samsung and Sony are gathering data from the TV itself, as well as from the operating system and apps. Then there are the devices you plug into your TV, such as Google’s Chromecast, Apple TV and Amazon’s Fire Stick.
A TV is no longer just a device for showing you content — it has become a two-way mirror allowing you to be observed in real-time by a network of advertisers and data brokers, says Rowenna Fielding, director of data protection consultancy Miss IG Geek. “The purpose of this is to gather as much information as possible about your behaviour, interests, preferences and demographics so it can be monetized, mainly through targeted advertising.”
Trucker Convoy to Shut Down Ottawa in Protest of Vaccine Mandates + More
Trucker Convoy to Shut Down Ottawa in Protest of Vaccine Mandates
Hundreds of Canadian truckers plan to descend on the nation’s capital of Ottawa on Friday in an attempt to shut down the city in protest of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The mandate, initially enacted by the Canadian federal government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, went into effect on Jan. 15. The mandate requires any truck driver crossing into Canada from the United States to provide proof of vaccination. A similar mandate, which went into effect on Jan. 22, requires the same proof of vaccination for truckers driving from Canada into the United States.
Despite outcry from unvaccinated truck drivers, the Canadian federal government has refused to change its stance on the mandate. In a statement sent to Newsweek in early January, the Canadian Ministry of Transportation did not say that it would make any exceptions for those who had not received the shot.
Virginia State Colleges and Universities Can’t Require Coronavirus Vaccine, New GOP Attorney General Finds
Virginia’s state colleges and universities cannot require students to get a coronavirus vaccine to enroll or attend in-person classes, the state’s new attorney general Jason Miyares found in his first opinion since taking office earlier this month.
Miyares, a Republican, concluded that the schools don’t have the authority to issue a coronavirus vaccine mandate for students without state lawmakers passing legislation allowing such a step, which has not happened.
A number of major Virginia universities and colleges require students to have the COVID-19 vaccination, including the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University, James Madison University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University, Norfolk State, College of William & Mary and the University of Mary Washington.
It’s Not Just the IRS — the U.S. Government Wants Your Selfies
In November, the Internal Revenue Service launched an online security system that uses face recognition to confirm a person’s identity. Public attention to the project last week triggered an outcry. The ACLU called the project “deeply troubling,” saying face recognition “has been shown to be less accurate for people of color.”
Some IRS functions, like scheduling payments — but not filing taxes — now require first-time users to verify their identity with Virginia startup ID.me, which also works with 27 state employment agencies and the Veterans Administration. The process involves photographing a government-issued ID and uploading a video selfie so algorithms can match face and document.
The company’s CEO stoked distrust Wednesday when he said the company uses face recognition more widely than previously disclosed. One certainty amid the dispute: Submitting selfies to access online government services is set to stay — and spread.
For Many COVID Vaccine Opponents, No Jab Means No Job
For eight years, Mike Miller has patrolled the grounds of the Snake River Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in east Oregon.
But next week, he’ll face his bosses at a “pre-dismissal hearing” for violating the terms of his job. Miller expects to be fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Miller’s application for a medical exemption from the vaccine mandate, based on him contracting COVID-19 last year and testing positive for antibodies, was denied. So was his request for a religious exemption, which the prison said he filed past the deadline. Today, he is on paid home leave, he said, and required to be on-call even though he has no remote work to do.
Boston Risks Losing ‘Disproportionate’ Number of Educators of Color With City’s Vaccine Mandate
There’s growing concern among union leaders in Boston that a “disproportionate” number of educators of color may leave their jobs because of a vaccine mandate for city employees.
City employees who refuse to comply will be placed on unpaid leave.
But with the vaccination policy set to go into effect next week, the Massachusetts Appeals Court on Thursday issued a temporary pause of Boston’s requirement for city workers after serious pushback from unions.
In a statement released Thursday, the Boston Teachers Union said it will not enforce Boston’s mandate by putting teachers on leave — at least until there’s a decision on the appeal.
Wisconsin Assembly Approves Bill Banning Vaccine Passports for Employers
The Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill Tuesday that would obligate employers to treat previous COVID-19 infections as an alternative to vaccines in addition to banning vaccine passports.
Republican supporters endorse the bill with the assertion that a previous COVID-19 infection provides comparable protection to full vaccination. The bill is likely to be vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers.
Marines Make It Easier for Those Kicked out Over Vaccines to Come Back
In the weeks since the military began separating troops for failing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the Marine Corps has consistently been the most aggressive branch, having removed 399 from the service.
Meanwhile, the Marine Corps quietly made a subtle change to how it deals with vaccine-refusing service members, making it easier for them to return.
In late December, the Corps released a message announcing it would discharge Marines with the reentry code RE-3P instead of RE-4. The distinction is significant. A discharge with an RE-4 code is typically a bar on reenlisting in any service, while RE-3 codes would allow someone to reenlist with a waiver.
Despite the continued pressure by the Marine Corps to remove troops who have failed to meet the vaccine mandate, the service also announced Thursday that it had granted another religious exemption to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, bringing the total to three.
Elon Musk Offers Support to Canadian Truckers Amid COVID Vaccine Mandate
Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered support to Canadian truckers protesting the federal government’s vaccine mandate on Thursday in a series of tweets. “Canadian truckers rule,” Musk wrote to his nearly 72 million followers, adding “CB radios are free from govt/media control.”
Anti-vaccine mandate truckers in Ottawa have participated in a protest convoy demonstrating against the Jan. 15 mandate for cross-border drivers. The Freedom Convoy left from Vancouver for Ottawa on Sunday.
In the past, Musk had questioned the vaccine and downplayed the pandemic. He also defied California’s 2020 stay-at-home order to keep Tesla factories open, eventually opting to move to Texas.
Mississippi Bill Sets Religious Exemption on COVID Vaccine
Mississippi government entities could not withhold services or refuse jobs to people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 under a bill that passed the Republican-controlled state House on Thursday.
That prohibition includes state agencies, city and county governments and schools, community colleges and universities.
House Bill 1509 also says private businesses and government entities could not require a COVID-19 vaccination for any employee who has a “sincerely held religious objection.”
Arkansas Panel OKs Agencies Enforcing Vaccine Requirement
Arkansas lawmakers on Friday cleared the way for state-run healthcare facilities to require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine after officials warned that blocking the move would jeopardize more than $700 million in federal funding.
The Arkansas Legislative Council effectively approved the request by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs to comply with the federal vaccine requirement.
Apple to Finally Let EU Residents Add COVID Certificates to Wallet App
In the European Union, digital COVID-19 certificates are currently near-unavoidable, required for air travel, at border crossings, and often at events, restaurants and sports venues.
And while Apple‘s iPhone comes with a Wallet app that holds digital versions of credit cards, boarding passes, and various tickets, it currently doesn’t support the EU COVID-19 certificate.
This will change soon. According to MacRumors, the latest beta version of iOS 15.4 will give EU citizens the option to add a COVID-19 certificate to their Wallet app.
Messenger Calls and Chats Are Now Fully Encrypted — if You Want Them to Be
Meta-owned Messenger has announced the launch of end-to-end (E2E) encryption across its platform, meaning chats and calls should be safe from snooping.
Users can now choose whether to have their messages, group chats and calls fully encrypted when logged into the service. One option is to use vanish mode, which can be activated by swiping up on an existing chat to activate a new option where messages automatically disappear when the chat window is closed.
The launch is a slight surprise, given that Meta said in November 2021 that it would delay the roll out of E2E encryption by default on Messenger and Instagram until 2023 as it examined the effect such a move would have on users.
Almost 500 Service Members Discharged for Refusing COVID Vaccine + More
Almost 500 Service Members Discharged for Refusing COVID Vaccine
Almost 500 U.S. service members have been discharged so far for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. But that number is likely to climb as the various military branches continue the process of dealing with those who are refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, or have requested exemptions.
The Navy said on Tuesday that it has discharged 23 active-duty sailors for refusing the coronavirus vaccine. The Air Force, as of January 21, has discharged 111 active-duty airmen for refusing to get the shots.
As of January 20, the Marine Corps had discharged 334 Marines. The Army is the only service that has not yet initiated separations for active-duty personnel for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
But in a news release earlier this month, the Army said it had relieved six active-duty leaders, including two battalion commanders, from their positions for refusing the vaccine. The Army also said it had issued almost 3,000 general officer written reprimands to soldiers for vaccine refusal.
Vaccine Mandate to Kick in for First Wave of Health Workers
Healthcare workers in about half the states face a Thursday deadline to get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine under a Biden administration mandate that will be rolled out across the rest of the country in the coming weeks.
While the requirement is welcomed by some, others fear it will worsen already serious staff shortages if employees quit rather than comply.
The mandate ultimately will cover 10.4 million healthcare workers at 76,000 facilities.
It is taking effect first in jurisdictions that didn’t challenge the requirement in court. The states affected on Thursday are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, along with the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
State Appeals Court Pauses Vaccination Mandate for Boston City Workforce
A judge with the Massachusetts Appeals Court has temporarily paused Boston’s vaccination mandate for its city workforce that was set to go into effect Monday.
In a Thursday order, the judge issued a temporary stay, pending review of a judicial decision made earlier this month that denied a request from three unions for a preliminary injunction.
That order is the latest turn in a clash that has pitted Mayor Michelle Wu’s new administration against municipal unions over her attempt to require the city’s 18,000-plus workers be vaccinated in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 and protect the public.
It comes a day after three public safety unions filed an appeal of a judge’s decision that rejected their push to block enforcement of the vaccination mandate, which does away with the option for city workers to get regular COVID tests in lieu of jabs.
Alaska, Texas Governors Sue Over National Guard Vaccine Rule
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in seeking to block the U.S. Department of Defense from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for National Guard members who are under state command. The Pentagon has required COVID-19 vaccination for all service members, including the National Guard and Reserve.
Attorneys for the two governors, in an amended lawsuit dated Tuesday, say that when National Guard members are serving the state, the federal government has no command authority. The lawsuit said the mandate is an unconstitutional overstepping of bounds.
The case dealing with Alaska and Texas guard members is an amended version of the challenge filed by Texas earlier this month.
South Carolina Bill Would Outlaw Asking About COVID Vaccination Status
Republican lawmakers in South Carolina have introduced a bill that would make it a criminal offense for anyone, including employers, to ask about a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status. The legislation, H. 4848, was introduced on Jan. 20.
“Any employee, officer, agent, or other representative of a public, nonprofit, or private entity who inquires about the COVID-19 vaccination status of any student, employee, member, or anyone else seeking admission on the entity’s premises is guilty of a misdemeanor,” the proposed bill states.
California Lawmaker Blasts ‘Unconscionable’ Potential Vaccine Mandate for All Students
A bill introduced earlier this week by a California senator requiring the state’s students to be immunized for COVID-19 despite objections from parents based on their personal beliefs has some conservative legislators pushing back in a big way.
Introduced by state Senator Richard Pan, a Democrat from Sacramento, “The Keep Schools Open and Safe Act” would not only prohibit families from claiming a personal belief exemption concerning California’s COVID-19 student vaccine requirement, but it would also add these vaccines to the state’s list of required inoculations for those attending K-12 schools.
“Now it is clear. The government doesn’t want your family to have a choice. Government is in control. Either get vaccinated or get kicked out of school,” tweeted California Assemblyman James Gallagher Monday.
“I am absolutely going to oppose removing COVID vaccine exemptions for school children. This is wrong and an unconscionable overreach into the family over a virus that poses very minimal threat to young children.”
Montana Republicans Seek Leniency on Vaccine Mandates
Montana’s governor and its two Republican members of Congress are asking the Biden administration to grant exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate to federally funded healthcare facilities where losing unvaccinated staff might jeopardize access to medical care.
Gov. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale made the request Wednesday in a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“Some Montana facilities cannot afford to lose another healthcare professional, especially when alternative measures can be implemented, such as masking and testing, to protect the safety and health of employees, patients and visitors from COVID-19,” they wrote.
Is a COVID Vaccine Mandate on the Way for Chicago Public Schools Students? ‘We Need to Keep Talking About This,’ Board of Ed Member Says
With just over a third of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a member of the Chicago Board of Education said Wednesday she doesn’t “see a world in which we start school next year without a vaccine mandate.”
The discussion arose during Wednesday’s monthly board meeting after CPS’ chief health officer, Dr. Kenneth Fox, noted the challenge in persuading parents who are hesitant about the vaccine. Around 116,000 of the 330,000 students enrolled in CPS are fully vaccinated, while about 148,000 students have received at least one dose, according to the district.
Vaccine Mandate for Minor-League Baseball Players Scrapped as MLB Reverses Course
Major League Baseball will not require minor-league players to be vaccinated in the upcoming season, a reversal from plans originally reported by Yahoo Sports in October.
Since then, vaccine mandates have come under legal fire across the country.
The legal complications that have arisen around vaccine mandates were among many considerations for the league in changing course. MLB conferred with medical experts, outside counsel and the other sports leagues before issuing a memo Thursday.
England Lifts COVID Restrictions as Omicron Threat Recedes
Most coronavirus restrictions, including mandatory face masks, were lifted in England on Thursday after Britain’s government said its vaccine booster rollout successfully reduced serious illness and COVID-19 hospitalizations.
From Thursday, face coverings are no longer required by law anywhere in England, and a legal requirement for COVID-19 passes for entry into nightclubs and other large venues has been scrapped.
The government last week dropped its advice for people to work from home, as well as guidance for face coverings in classrooms. From next week, restrictions on the number of visitors to nursing homes will also be lifted.
YouTube Permanently Bans Fox News Host Dan Bongino for Posting COVID Misinformation
Google-owned YouTube said it had permanently banned prominent conservative media figure Don Bongino from its site after he repeatedly broke its rules on posting coronavirus misinformation.
Bongino had around 870,000 subscribers on YouTube but has over 2 million on Rumble, a video platform popular with right-wing figures who say Big Tech is censoring them. He had threatened to leave YouTube before the ban.
Bongino is one of a small handful of conservative figures who have been handed permanent suspensions from the big social media companies.
Investigating the Digital Wealth Gap Between Users and the Tech Giants in Control
Imagine social media as a giant factory where the foremen are billionaires. A handful of workers are getting a respectable living wage. Some are scraping together a living only if they hustle hard enough and tolerate a lot of uncertainty and risk. But by far the vast majority are simply working for free.
And OK, a factory is an imperfect analogy for the social media apps and sites we like to call “the attention economy,” because, in theory, we’re using them for fun, but that’s been getting less and less true for years, and it feels more like we’re just stuck with them.
Meanwhile, the companies own what we produce there: our data. And they make vast sums of money off that data by selling targeted ads and otherwise eroding our privacy. It’s becoming more apparent every day that this tradeoff isn’t working out for one of the parties involved.
FTC: U.S. Consumers Lost $770 Million in Social Media Scams in 2021, up 18x From 2017
A growing number of U.S. consumers are getting scammed on social media according to a new report by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which revealed that consumers lost $770 million to social media scams in 2021 — a figure that accounted for about one-fourth of all fraud losses for the year.
That number has also increased 18 times from the $42 million in social media fraud reported in 2017, the FTC said, as new types of scams involving cryptocurrency and online shopping became more popular.
This has also led to many younger consumers getting scammed, as now adults ages 18 to 39 reported fraud losses at a rate that’s 2.4 times higher than adults 40 and over. Scammers have clearly found that social media is one of the most profitable places to commit fraud.
United Airlines Pilot Blocked From Finding Job or Accessing 401k for Refusing Vaccine + More
United Airlines Pilot Says She’s Blocked From Finding Job or Accessing 401k for Refusing Vaccine
A United Airlines captain who is on unpaid leave for not complying with her company’s vaccine mandate says she has been locked out of her 401(k) and is prohibited from finding another job.
“I am out on unpaid leave. I am prohibited from getting another job. I’m prohibited from accessing my 401(k). I have no medical benefits, and I’m leading the charge in this fight, so my days are consumed,” United pilot Sherry Walker, co-founder of Airline Employees 4 Health Freedom, told the Daily Signal while attending the “Defeat the Mandates” march in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.
Walker told Fox Digital on Monday that she is considered an “active employee” after being put on unpaid leave for not complying with the airline’s vaccine mandate in November. “That means that they can call us back with two weeks’ notice at any given time, they can just grab us and pull us back. But because we’re active, we haven’t had a qualified lifestyle change. So Schwab, which owns our 401(k) accounts, refuses to let anyone access them,” Walker told Fox.
Most Major Employers Are Keeping Vaccine Mandate for Workers, Despite Supreme Court Ruling
Many major employers are going ahead with policies to require employees to take steps to combat COVID-19, even if the Supreme Court says they don’t have to do so.
A survey by management consultant Gartner of more than 200 major employers last week found 30% still are requiring or will require their employees to get vaccines. Another 50% have policies in place or in the works to give employees a choice between vaccine or weekly tests. Only 20% are dropping all policies that would require action by their employees.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the rule on the larger employers on Jan. 13, and the Biden administration formally dropped the rule Wednesday. Lower federal courts have put the federal contractor mandate on hold. Still, employers are moving ahead with their own policies, as they are free to do even if they can’t be required to do so.
From Amex to Walmart, Here Are the Companies Mandating the COVID Vaccines for Employees
As the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus struck communities nationwide last summer and fall, many companies stepped up their vaccination requirements, mandating that some or all employees get vaccinated or provide proof of vaccination, many doing so even before President Joe Biden announced the government’s own mandates for workers in the U.S.
The Biden administration’s vaccination mandate for federal contractors is on hold, while another for certain healthcare workers remains in place. The government’s mandate for large businesses with 100 or more employees was blocked by the Supreme Court in early January and formally withdrawn by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Jan. 25.
Here is the latest on the list of the companies that have already announced their vaccination plans:
New York State Mask Mandate Back in Effect as Judge Grants Stay in Appeal
An appeals court judge on Tuesday granted a stay in an appeal over mask mandates in New York, keeping the rule in effect during the legal process, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
A day earlier, a judge had struck down the state’s mask mandate, one week before it was due to expire. The state attorney general had filed a motion to stay the ruling in an attempt to put it on hold while the state filed a formal appeal.
Justice Robert Miller of the state appeals court temporarily blocked the lower-court ruling, siding with the state.
Thousands of Truckers Are Driving to the Canadian Capital to Protest Federal Vaccine Mandates Some Say Are ‘Destroying’ Their Businesses
Thousands of truckers have been driving to the Canadian capital since Sunday in protest of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for truckers. Multiple convoys of truckers across Canada are headed to Ottawa with plans to converge at Parliament Hill for a rally on Saturday against vaccination requirements.
As of Wednesday, The Freedom Convoy has raised more than $5.2 million Canadian dollars ($4.1 million US) and gathered over 67,000 donations. However, GoFundMe said on Tuesday that it has frozen the funds until organizers of the effort can provide a detailed spending plan, per their fundraising policies, according to a report from a Vancouver news station.
Canada’s vaccine mandate for truckers was imposed on Jan. 15. The new rules require U.S. truckers to present proof of vaccination in order to cross the border, while Canadian truckers without a vaccine passport are required to quarantine and take a COVID-19 test when they reenter from the U.S. The U.S. imposed a similar mandate on Jan. 22.
Restaurant Reservations in Cities With Vaccine Mandates Tank Compared to Cities Without: OpenTable
Restaurant reservations have plunged in cities with vaccine mandates so far this year compared to pre-pandemic data.
New York City saw a 68% drop in reservations on Jan. 24 compared to 2019 data, OpenTable reported based on online, phone and walk-in reservations. Restaurants in San Francisco have also been battered by sinking reservations, with a 68% decline on Jan. 24.
Both cities have implemented vaccine mandates for anyone dining inside restaurants. Restaurant owners in New York City slammed the mandate when it was rolled out during former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration last year, with one saying they are leading to restaurants “getting killed.”
Missouri GOP, Businesses Divided Over Vaccine Rules
Missouri Republicans and business groups clashed during a Tuesday state House hearing over more than a dozen bills to limit COVID-19 vaccine mandates by employers.
Republican Missouri lawmakers are typically closely aligned with business interests. But business groups, including the influential Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, chafed at GOP proposals to forbid employers from making their workers get vaccinated or risk getting fired.
The legislation highlights Republican divisions over whether to prioritize individual liberties or business freedoms in Missouri, where state laws allow employers to fire staff for almost any reason.
COVID Digest: Austria Lifts Lockdown for the Unvaccinated
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Wednesday announced that a lockdown specifically for unvaccinated people is to come to an end next week.
Nehammer said people without a vaccination against the coronavirus can leave their homes from Monday without a good reason. However, they will still be barred from large parts of public life, including restaurants and non-essential retail.
Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein told a news conference that experts had concluded that the lockdown on the unvaccinated was no longer necessary even as cases soar.
Netherlands Lifts Toughest COVID Curbs With Denmark and France Set to Follow
The Netherlands has lifted its toughest COVID controls, Denmark is to remove all restrictions within days and France will begin easing curbs next week, as many — but not all — EU countries opt to reopen despite record infection numbers.
The moves come as data shows hospital and intensive care admissions are not surging in line with cases, and after the World Health Organization suggested the Omicron variant — which studies show is more contagious but usually less severe for vaccinated people — may signal a new, more manageable phase in the pandemic.
German Lawmakers Debate Possible COVID Vaccine Mandate
Germany’s parliament on Wednesday began a debate on a possible wide-ranging coronavirus vaccine mandate, with three main options on the table so far: obligatory vaccinations for all adults, just for everyone 50 and above, or no mandate at all.
German politicians of all stripes long insisted there would be no vaccine mandate. But the tide turned late last year amid frustration that a large number of holdouts was hampering the country’s fight against COVID-19.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s new coalition government is leaving it up to lawmakers to come up with cross-party vaccination proposals and then vote according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
Google Proposes a New Way to Track People Around the Web. Again.
Google floated a new set of ideas Tuesday for changing how advertising on the Web should work, scrapping and replacing a previous plan that had triggered anger and concern from privacy advocates and government competition regulators alike.
The new system, called Topics, will track users on Google’s Chrome browser and assign them a set of advertising categories, like travel or fitness, based on the sites they visit.
The proposals are part of Google’s master plan to get rid of third-party cookies, the little bits of code that websites drop into people’s browsers that let them follow them around the Web, building detailed profiles of their behavior and continuing to advertise to them long after they leave the site.
Google Drive Is Locking Some People’s Files for No Reason
Issues with the policing of a new Google Drive policy are leading to the suspension of some people’s files without due cause, user complaints suggest.
As we reported last month, Google recently introduced an updated policy for its cloud storage service, whereby files will be automatically flagged and restricted if they are deemed to be in violation of the company’s abuse policies.
Google says the goal is to shield against cybercriminal activity (malware hosting, phishing etc.), copyright abuses, hate speech and more. However, it appears the AI system charged with identifying abuses of the platform is producing false positives that prevent people from sharing their files.