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L.A. to Become First Major U.S. School District to Require COVID Vaccine for Students + More
L.A. Is Set to Become the First Major U.S. School District to Require Vaccinations for Students
Los Angeles is poised to become the first major school district in the United States to mandate coronavirus vaccines for students 12 and older who are attending class in person.
The district’s elected Board of Education will meet Thursday afternoon to vote on the measure, which is expected to pass with broad support. The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest in the nation, serving over 600,000 students, and the mandate could set an important national precedent.
Students would need their first vaccine dose by Nov. 21 and their second by Dec. 19 to begin the next semester fully inoculated. Those who turn 12 after those dates will have 30 days after their birthday to receive their first shot.
United Airlines Staff With Vaccine Religious Exemptions Face Unpaid Leave
United Airlines staffers who are granted religious exemptions for the company’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate will be placed on temporary unpaid leave starting Oct. 2, the airline told employees in a memo.
Driving the news: United last month became the first major U.S. airline to institute a vaccine mandate for employees, and acknowledged then it would consider exemptions for religious, personal or medical exemptions.
Details: The unpaid leave rule applies to all employees who get an exemption, regardless of their role in the company, per the statement. It is in effect until “specific safety measures for unvaccinated employees are instituted,” the airline wrote.
Even in Red States, Colleges Gravitate to Requiring Vaccines and Masks
As students head to college this fall, hundreds of schools are requiring employees and students to be vaccinated against COVID, wear masks on campus or both.
But at some schools, partisan politics have bolstered efforts to stymie public health protections.
Events at the University of South Carolina, in a deeply conservative state, demonstrate the limits of political pressure in some cases, even though “South Carolina is a red state and its voters generally eschew mandates,” said Jeffrey Stensland, a spokesperson for the school.
Los Angeles Firefighters, Cops Pushing Back on ‘Unconstitutional’ COVID Vaccine Mandate
Hundreds of Los Angeles firefighters and police officers are pushing back on a coronavirus vaccine mandate.
“It’s not necessarily whether I want to get vaccinated or not. The point that we are bringing to the table here is that we should have a choice in the matter,” “Firefighters 4 Freedom” leader John Knox told “Fox & Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt.
Firefighters 4 Freedom was launched by a group of Los Angeles city firefighters “to stop the mandated vaccinations for all city employees as well as the citizens of this great country,” their website states.
COVID, Vaccine Misinformation Spread by Hundreds of Websites, Analysis Finds
More than 500 websites have promoted misinformation about the coronavirus – including debunked claims about vaccines, according to a firm that rates the credibility of websites.
NewsGuard announced Wednesday that of the more than 6,700 websites it has analyzed, 519 have published false information about COVID-19. Some of the sites publish dubious health information or political conspiracy theories, while others were “created specifically to spread misinformation about COVID-19,” the company says on its website.
NY Delays State Worker Office Return and Vaccine Mandate
The Associated Press reported:
New York has delayed its requirement that state employees get vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo weekly tests by more than a month to Oct. 12, the same day telecommuting workers are now scheduled to return to their offices.
In-person state workplace rules were scheduled to restart this past Tuesday, and the vaccinate-or-test mandate was to go into effect this week for about 130,000 state workers.
But Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office of employee relations quietly outlined the changes in an internal memo sent Friday.
The memo also broadens mask mandates for vaccinated workers. Masks must now be worn in state facilities located in places with local mask mandates or in areas with high or substantial transmission of COVID-19 as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
‘Religious’ Exemptions Add Legal Thorns to Looming Vaccine Mandates
In Northern California, the pastor of a megachurch hands out religious exemption forms to the faithful. A New Mexico state senator will “help you articulate a religious exemption” by pointing to the decades-old use of aborted fetal cells in the development of some vaccines. And a Texas-based evangelist offers exemption letters to anyone — for a suggested “donation” starting at $25.
With workplace vaccine mandates in the offing, opponents are turning to a tried-and-true recourse for avoiding a COVID-19 shot: the claim that vaccination interferes with religious beliefs.
No major denomination opposes vaccination. Even the Christian Science Church, whose adherents rely largely on prayer rather than medicine, does not impose an official policy. It counsels “respect for public health authorities and conscientious obedience to the laws of the land, including those requiring vaccination.”
Project Maven: Amazon and Microsoft Scored $50 Million in Pentagon Surveillance Contracts After Google Quit
After Google decided to quit working on Project Maven in 2018 thanks to staff protests, rivals Amazon and Microsoft quietly took on Department of Defense contracts worth $50 million to help the military identify objects from drone and other aerial footage, according to a new analysis of federal government contract records.
Contracts discovered by Jack Poulson, founder of big tech monitor Tech Inquiry and a former Google AI researcher, show Microsoft scored $30 million and Amazon Web Services $20 million in subcontract awards that were part of three overall deals between the Pentagon and ECS Federal, Google’s partner and reseller for Project Maven.
Big Tech Censors
When you last worried — if, indeed, you are such a worrier — about the loss of basic freedoms in our nation and culture, were you concerned most about outside forces bringing that about (China, Russia, radical Islam, etc.) or forces within (socialism in government or public schools, leftism in the media, etc.)?
There is a third possibility. More and more dominant in the news in recent years has been the bullying role of “corporate America.” Some of that perhaps predictably involves the strong-arm actions of giant corporate newcomers like Amazon, Facebook, or Apple. More ominously, it includes historic companies like Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and Delta Airlines.
The irony in all this, of course, is that these huge corporate entities — both old and new — owe their birth, their growth, and their robust history to our core freedoms. Our Bill of Rights has liberated the entrepreneurial spirit throughout our history and throughout the nation.
But that same Bill of Rights is now being gnawed away by the leaders and executives of many of the megacorporations that have benefited from its freedoms. By censoring their opponents’ products and boycotting their rivals’ services, they “cancel” their enemies where marketplace competition used to prevail.
Scotland to Launch Vaccine Passports October 1
People in Scotland will need proof they have been fully vaccinated before they can enter nightclubs and many large events from 1 October.
The vaccine passport plan was formally approved by Holyrood after the SNP and Greens voted in favor.
Japan Eyes Use of Vaccine Passports for Commercial Activities
Japan is considering a wide usage of so-called vaccine passports for commercial purposes as part of efforts to regularize domestic social and economic activities that have long been stagnant due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a draft government plan.
Such certificates will allow users entry and usage at stores and sites for entry, with business operators free to decide what kind of services they will offer and to whom to provide such services, the draft says.
ACLU Reverses Course, Supports Vaccine Mandates + More
The ACLU, Prior to COVID, Denounced Mandates and Coercive Measures to Fight Pandemics
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) surprised even many of its harshest critics this week when it strongly defended coercive programs and other mandates from the state in the name of fighting COVID.
“Far from compromising them, vaccine mandates actually further civil liberties,” its Twitter account announced, adding that “vaccine requirements also safeguard those whose work involves regular exposure to the public.”
If you were surprised to see the ACLU heralding the civil liberties imperatives of “vaccine mandates” and “vaccine requirements” — whereby the government coerces adults to inject medicine into their own bodies that they do not want — the New York Times op-ed which the group promoted, written by two of its senior lawyers, was even more extreme.
Detroit Hospital System Employees File Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
Around 50 health care employees are suing a Detroit hospital system over its requirement for all workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, arguing that the mandate unconstitutionally infringes on a person’s bodily autonomy.
The complaint, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, said that the vaccine mandate from the Henry Ford Health System, which is scheduled to officially take effect Friday, violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection of “personal autonomy and bodily integrity.”
Apple Watch to Introduce More Extensive Biometric Health Data-Tracking
Apple is currently working on new biometric features for the Apple Watch, including a tool for blood pressure measurement and a thermometer to help with fertility planning, The Wall Street Journal writes.
The Apple Watch is already capable of measuring heartbeats to scan for health conditions, and in 2018 was officially classed as a medical device. While this can be insightful information for users, measuring heartbeats is also used as a means of biometric user identification.
Last year for example, NASA began commercially licensing a new heartbeat biometric patent to enable developers and solutions integrators to offer the technology for applications like device or bank account access.
Get Vaccinated or Else: Colleges Roll Out New Punishments for Holdouts
After months of coaxing students with thousands of dollars in prizes — everything from gift cards to sports tickets and free parking — to get shots, colleges are starting to punish the unvaccinated.
At the beginning of the summer, institutions started to wave the prospect of scholarships, laptops, game consoles and more to students who got a COVID-19 shot.
Now, as thousands of young people move back to campus, hundreds of schools are mandating vaccines and penalizing students who resist without a medical or religious reason.
Rutgers Freezes Accounts of Several Non-Vaccinated Students
According to Rutgers University, more than 98 percent of undergrads have complied with its mandate that students upload their coronavirus vaccine card in order to return to dorms and classes this fall. But the few students who chose not to get the vaccine are now finding themselves locked out of fall classes, even classes they had planned to take online only.
Adriana Pinto, 22, is one of those students. Pinto is represented by Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that is already suing Rutgers over its vaccine mandate, and Julio Gomez, the Scotch Plains lawyer who filed the lawsuit.
According to Gomez, Pinto decided not to get the COVID-19 vaccine. She only has one class left to graduate, Quantitative Methods for her psychology degree, which was offered to students either in person or over Zoom this fall.
Arizona Attorney General: Vaccine Mandate for Tucson City Employees Is Illegal
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) said that Tucson’s vaccine mandate for city employees is illegal.
In a news release Tuesday, Brnovich’s office announced that the city of Tucson violated a state law approved this summer prohibiting local governments from implementing vaccine mandates for their employees.
Tucson’s new legislation requires employees to be vaccinated or face a five-day suspension without pay, according to The Associated Press.
Why Apple’s iCloud+ Provides a Future Unlocking for Authoritarian Government Data Surveillance
InfoSecurity Magazine reported:
Earlier this year, Apple announced a new feature to roll out on certain devices in the U.S. that will automatically scan personal devices in a bid to tackle child abuse. NeuralHash technology is a perceptual hashing function creating fingerprints in a different way to traditional cryptographic hashing …
But a backlash has circulated online with notable tech leaders raising concerns about what this means for individuals’ privacy and consumer rights, led by WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart. He described it as a “step back for people’s privacy all over the world.”
Australia to Have Vaccine Passport System Ready Within Weeks for International Travel
The Morrison government will have a system in place within weeks to support the resumption of international travel as vaccination rates rise, the trade minister, Dan Tehan, says.
With senior federal ministers meeting on Wednesday to continue work around vaccine passports, Tehan told reporters the resumption of international travel would require “a system that can enable recognition of vaccination — a vaccination certification scheme.”
The Harms of Masking Young Students Are Real + More
The Harms of Masking Young Students Are Real
Scientists have an obligation to strive for honesty. And on the question of whether kids should wear masks in schools—particularly preschools and elementary school s— here is what I conclude: The potential educational harms of mandatory-masking policies are much more firmly established, at least at this point, than their possible benefits in stopping the spread of COVID-19 in schools.
To justify continued masking of schoolkids — with no end date in sight — we have to prove that masks benefit kids, and at what ages. States and communities that are considering masking policies just to be safe should recognize that being overly cautious has a cost, while the benefits are uncertain.
First Responders Nationwide Resist COVID Vaccine Mandates
The Associated Press reported:
March 11, 2021. It was supposed to be a turning point in the coronavirus pandemic for Erin Tokley, a longtime Philadelphia police officer, Baptist minister and 47-year-old father of three. It was supposed to be the day of his vaccine appointment.
Instead it was the date of his funeral.
Tokley — “Toke” to his friends and family — died on March 3, becoming the Philadelphia Police Department’s sixth confirmed COVID-19 death.
Philadelphia officers first became eligible for their shots in late January and Tokley was eager to get it as soon as he could. But he fell ill in early February, before it was his turn to roll up his sleeve.
Seattle Could Lose Over 200 Cops Due to COVID Vaccine Mandate, Report Says
Over 200 Seattle police officers could lose their jobs over the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate because they’ve either not received the jab or would refuse to hand over their private medical data, according to a report Monday.
The Jason Rantz Show on the city’s KTTH said the number represents about 20% of the department’s deployable staff. The department and Mayor Jenny A. Durkan’s office did not immediately respond to after-hour emails from Fox News.
The Officer Down Memorial Page said 132 members of law enforcement have died of COVID-19 this year. Last year, the total figure was 241—making the virus the leading cause of law enforcement line-of-duty deaths.
Florida to Start Issuing $5,000 Fine for Requiring Proof of Coronavirus Vaccine
Beginning on September 16 the state of Florida will start issuing a $5,000 fine to businesses, schools, and even government agencies that require people to show proof of having a coronavirus vaccine.
“Promises made, promises kept,” DeSantis spokesperson Taryn Fenske said Wednesday, according to the Orlando Sentinel:
“The fines, however, will not apply to cruise lines because of a federal court order that at least temporarily blocked enforcement of the law for that industry, according to an earlier statement from the governor’s office. DeSantis is appealing that decision.”
Vaccine Passports Linked to COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy – Study
There’s a link between COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and a perceived lack of free will over vaccine passports, according to a new study from Imperial College London.
A survey of 1,358 people was taken from across the UK and Israel and it was found that people who feel their sense of free will is stifled by government incentives such as vaccine passports are less likely to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Vaccines, the study highlights that public health incentives such as domestic vaccine passports may affect people’s vaccination decisions in unintended and undesirable ways.
Australia Traded Away Too Much Liberty
In a bid to keep the coronavirus out of the country, Australia’s federal and state governments imposed draconian restrictions on its citizens. Prime Minister Scott Morrison knows that the burden is too heavy. “This is not a sustainable way to live in this country,” he recently declared. One prominent civil libertarian summed up the rules by lamenting, “We’ve never seen anything like this in our lifetimes.”
Up to now one of Earth’s freest societies, Australia has become a hermit continent. How long can a country maintain emergency restrictions on its citizens’ lives while still calling itself a liberal democracy?
Australia has been testing the limits.
Man Sentenced to Five Years in Vietnam Jail for Breaking Quarantine and Spreading COVID
A Vietnamese man was sentenced to jail for five years after he disobeyed a 21-day quarantine mandate and spread COVID-19, according to a local media reports.
Le Van Tri was found by a court in Vietnam as guilty for “transmitting dangerous infectious diseases” to eight people – including one person who later died, according to the Vietnamese News Agency (VNA).
Van Tri, 28, traveled by motorcycle from Ca Mau to Ho Chi Minh City, breaking his quarantine back in July. It was discovered that Van Tri also lied on a health declaration form.
Candidates Bash Big Tech While Owning Their Stock
When it comes to how he feels about big tech, Jeff Bartos didn’t mince his words.
“From shadow-banning conservatives, censoring content online, biased fact-checking, and now funneling millions of dollars into our elections it’s become clearer than ever: Big Tech must be reined in,” Bartos, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, wrote on Twitter on July 1.
But even as the suburban Philadelphia businessman parroted a popular Republican talking point, he and his wife also were enjoying the financial benefits that come with investing in such big tech titans as Alphabet Inc., which owns Google, and Apple.
Tech Giants Are Rushing to Develop Their Own Chips — Here’s Why
Not content with relying on standard chips that are in high demand, some of the world’s biggest tech firms are developing their own semiconductors.
Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and Baidu are all shunning established chip firms and bringing certain aspects of chip development in-house, according to company announcements and media reports.
“Increasingly, these companies want custom-made chips fitting their applications’ specific requirements rather than use the same generic chips as their competitors,” Syed Alam, global semiconductor lead at Accenture, told CNBC.
“This gives them more control over the integration of software and hardware while differentiating them from their competition,” Alam added.
Professor Sues Over CA School’s Vaccine Mandate, Says He’s ‘Naturally Immune’ to COVID + More
Professor Sues Over CA School’s Vaccine Mandate, Says He’s ‘Naturally Immune’ to COVID
A California professor is suing his school’s officials over a COVID-19 mandate, saying that he already contracted the virus and is “naturally immune.”
Aaron Kheriaty, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine, filed a lawsuit Aug. 18, saying he got sick with COVID-19 in July 2020.
The University of California said in July 2021 that all faculty, staff and students will be required to be vaccinated against COVID two weeks before they’re expected to be on campus for the fall semester.
Reddit Bans COVID Misinformation Forum After ‘Go Dark’ Protest
Reddit has banned a discussion forum that spreads misinformation about coronavirus and vaccines after a user rebellion over the site’s failure to tackle COVID sceptics.
The online discussion site acted after 135 Reddit communities, or subreddits, announced they had “gone dark”, a move that blocks non-members from reading or joining the page, in protest at the site’s refusal to limit discussions that propagate misleading theories about the pandemic.
Reddit initially refused to ban subreddits identified as spreading misinformation. But it bowed to pressure on Wednesday, announcing that it had kicked out r/NoNewNormal – which has 124,000 subscribers and contains posts warning against taking COVID vaccines – for breaking rules related to interfering with or harassing other subreddits. The site said r/NoNewNormal was guilty of a practice known as “brigading,” where members of one subreddit are incited to target a rival discussion group.
Majority of Companies Plan to Have COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate, Survey Finds
Once a touchy subject in the private sector, a new survey indicates that most firms are now planning on having COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their workforce.
The number of companies requiring workers to get the shot is expected to surge over the next several months, according to data released by Wednesday by Willis Towers Watson, a multinational advisory and insurance firm.
Over half of the employers surveyed (52%) said that by the fourth quarter of 2021, they could have one or more vaccine mandate requirements in the workplace.
The Push for Vaccine Passports Ignores the Arguments Raging Around Them
Vaccinations are the high point of human reason. Devised under clinical conditions by scientists interested only in what works, they represent the mastery of the rational world over chaotic nature; and also, of course, they save lives. Vaccine passports, then, should in theory be no more than the rubber stamp of reason. So why does the policy, not to mention the discussion surrounding it, look so irrational?
In late July, shortly after nightclubs had reopened for the first time in over a year, Boris Johnson appeared to go against his previous approach – let’s call it, for brevity, “loosey goosey” – and announced a plan to make “full vaccination the condition of entry” to nightclubs and other crowded indoor events. The prime minister didn’t have the experience of Boardmasters, the Cornish festival in mid-August, which seeded so many COVID infections that the county, had it been abroad, would have been placed on the red list. Yet he did have that data by this week, when he restated this intention.
Washington Nationals VP Bob Boone Resigns Over Team’s COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement, Source Says
Washington Nationals vice president Bob Boone has informed the team that he will resign instead of complying with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all non-uniformed employees, a source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.
Boone, 73, has been with the organization since 2005 and serves as a senior adviser to general manager Mike Rizzo. Boone was assistant GM and vice president of player development from 2006 to 2013.
UK Children’s Digital Privacy Code Comes Into Effect
A sweeping set of regulations governing how online services should treat children’s data have been welcomed by campaigners as they come into effect.
The Age Appropriate Design Code — which was written into law as part of the 2018 Data Protection Act, which also implemented GDPR in the UK — mandates websites and apps from Thursday to take the “best interests” of their child users into account, or face fines of up to 4% of annual global turnover.
Candace Owens Says She Was Refused COVID Test Because of Her Anti-Vaccination Stance
Last month, the right-wing conservative firebrand dubbed the vaccine as “purely evil,” tweeting that it “will never enter my arm.” She had earlier said that she was proud” to not be vaccinated against COVID-19.
However, in an Instagram Live on Wednesday, she said as an unvaccinated person, she was still prepared to be tested for COVID if an event she attended required it, although she opposed showing documentation to enter businesses.
During her video, she said that she was in Aspen, Colorado and had had “50 plus COVID tests” since the start of the pandemic and that her travel schedule meant that she had to be tested at least once every two weeks.