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Biden Says Police Officers, First Responders Should Be Fired for Refusing Jab

Fox News reported:

President Biden on Thursday said police officers and first responders who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine should stay home and be fired.

Speaking during a presidential CNN town hall, moderator Anderson Cooper noted that as many as one in three emergency responders in some major cities are refusing to comply with city vaccine mandates.

Biden went on to say that those who oppose vaccine mandates are attempting to make vaccines “a political issue.” The president also scoffed at those who oppose vaccine mandates on the basis of “freedom.”

Dozens of General Electric Workers Walkout to Protest Vaccine Mandate

The Hill reported:

Dozens of General Electric (GE) workers staged a walkout in Greenville, S.C., over the company’s vaccine mandate.

There were around 150 to 200 mostly GE workers outside the facility on Thursday protesting against the vaccine mandate, Greenville News reported.

“We worked as an essential employee through the entire COVID pandemic,” Shannon Harrill, an employee at the company for 20 years, told the local outlet. “We were required to be here or lose our job. Now you’re requiring me to take it to stay here.”

NASA Engineer of 37 Years Prepared to Retire Over Vaccine Mandate if Religious Exemption Isn’t Granted

Fox News reported:

A NASA engineer of 37 years is prepared to retire over President Biden’s vaccine mandate, arguing it is her “First Amendment right” to refuse the shot for religious reasons. Sophia Smith appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday to discuss the mandate and why she has requested a religious exemption from the vaccine.

“So I’m stand[ing] firm, particularly in fighting for the constitutional right…our First Amendment right. That’s our rally. We call it the constitutional rally,” Smith explained, referring to a group of fellow NASA employees who are assembling in protest of the mandate.

Smith made it clear she does oppose vaccines in general but believes the decision to get the shot should not have an impact on her employment.

More Than 130 Chicago Municipal Employees File Lawsuit Challenging Vaccine Mandates

CNN reported:

More than 130 Chicago municipal workers filed a lawsuit on Thursday, claiming the city and state’s vaccine mandates are unconstitutional. The workers, mostly from the fire, water and transportation departments, are challenging an executive order by Gov. J.B. Pritzker which requires state employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

The mandate “far exceeds the power of the governor granted to him by Illinois statute,” the lawsuit argues.

The lawsuit also argues against a mandate put in place by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, which required that all city employees disclose their vaccination status by October 15 or undergo twice-weekly tests for COVID-19.

U.S. Intel Warns China Could Dominate Advanced Technologies

Associated Press reported:

U.S. officials are issuing new warnings about China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence and a range of advanced technologies that could eventually give Beijing a decisive military edge and possible dominance over healthcare and other essential sectors in America.

The warnings include a renewed effort to inform business executives, academics and local and state government officials about the risks of accepting Chinese investment or expertise in key industries, officials at the National Counterintelligence and Security Center said Thursday. While the center does not intend to tell officials to reject Chinese investment, it will encourage efforts to control intellectual property and implement security measures.

Massachusetts Hospital Workers Lose Bid on Vaccine Mandate

Associated Press reported:

A federal judge denied a request by several employees at the largest hospital system in Massachusetts for an injunction to block the company from placing them on unpaid leave for violating the system’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

But the judge on Wednesday did not rule on the issue of whether the workers at Mass General Brigham were the victims of discrimination for being denied medical or religious vaccination exemptions. “This is a tentative decision based on an incomplete factual record and legal analysis,” U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Saylor said. Another hearing was tentatively scheduled for Nov. 2.

Eight employees filed the federal lawsuit on Sunday, saying disability and religious exemptions had been wrongly denied without explanation. The suit does not question the legality of the vaccine mandate.

Business Group Warns of Mass Layoffs and ‘Catastrophic’ Supply Chain Disruptions From Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

CNN Business reported:

President Joe Biden‘s vaccine order will force employers to lay off thousands of workers, making the supply-chain crisis much worse, a major business group warned the White House this week.

The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, an influential trade group that represents an industry with nearly 6 million workers, is pleading with the administration to delay a December 8 deadline for employees of federal contractors to get vaccinated.

“If tens or hundreds of thousands of employees are terminated just two weeks before Christmas…the result could be nothing short of catastrophic for the newly unemployed and their families and for the U.S. economy,” Eric Hoplin, the NAW’s president and CEO, wrote in a Wednesday letter to Biden. To avoid a “calamity,” the NAW urged Biden to provide alternatives, including testing, and to consider a “short-term delay” to avoid further disruption to supply chains.

Big Tech Insists They’re Protecting Americans From China While Importing Chinese-Style Social Controls

The Federalist reported:

If you need evidence that Big Tech firms are starting to worry about the growing movement to diffuse their immense market power, look no further than their newest scare tactic: using China as an excuse to avoid antitrust scrutiny.

They’ve suggested that antitrust action might result in the loss of the free services we’ve come to depend upon. But how do they call their services “free” when we pay for them by giving them all of our personal data, which they store and monetize, and when they rely on our content to make their platforms valuable in the first place?

COVID Authoritarians Are Wrecking America, Not the Unvaccinated

Technocracy News reported:

​​It’s an odd dynamic. One would think that if the COVID vaccines were a generally benevolent program that actually “followed the science” then there would be no need to pile drive the public with an endless barrage of vax propaganda.

After all, if science and morality are on the side of the COVID cult then the rest would naturally take care of itself and the overwhelming majority of Americans would have already voluntarily taken the experimental mRNA cocktail without any threats required.

And, if some people still refused, then the science would dictate that it doesn’t matter, because if the vax actually works then those people present no threat whatsoever to the rest of society. It is highly revealing that this is not the case, and the more resistance the establishment encounters on mandates the more aggressive they become and the more they lie about the facts and evidence.

Parents Were Fine With Sweeping School Vaccination Mandates Five Decades Ago — But COVID May Be a Different Story

The Conversation reported:

The ongoing battles over COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S. are likely to get more heated when the Food and Drug Administration authorizes emergency use of a vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, expected later this fall.

California has announced it will require the vaccine for elementary school attendance once it receives full FDA approval after emergency use authorization, and other states may follow suit.

As a public health historian who studies the evolution of vaccination policies, I see stark differences between the current debates over COVID-19 vaccination and the public response to previous mandates.

Canada’s COVID Travel Vaccine Passport: Canadian Government Reveals Standardized, National Proof of Vaccination

Yahoo!News reported:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday that provincial and territorial governments across Canada will move forward with a standardized proof of COVID-19 vaccination certificate.

He added that the federal government will be “picking up the tab” for this standardized certificate. Canadians will not be able to board a plane for foreign or domestic travel without a certificate starting on November 30.