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Federal Judge Blocks Biden’s COVID Vaccine Mandate for Head Start Program
President Biden cannot require teachers in the Head Start early-education program to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Saturday, handing a victory to 24 states that had sued the federal government.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty wrote that the Biden administration unlawfully bypassed Congress when ordering that workers in Head Start programs be vaccinated by Jan. 31 and that students 2 years or older be masked when indoors or when in close contact with others outdoors.
Saturday’s ruling affects Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming and West Virginia.
Doughty’s ruling is similar to one made Friday, in which a federal judge blocked the Head Start mandate in Texas.
COVID Vaccine Mandates for Student-Athletes Implemented in Several School Districts Across U.S.
Some school districts nationwide are implementing a vaccine mandate for student-athletes as COVID-19 cases surge across the country.
Fox News correspondent Molly Line reported the latest from Cambridge, Massachusetts, on “America’s Newsroom,” Monday, telling Dana Perino the mandate also affects extracurricular activities in some instances as well.
“For Cambridge Public Schools, CPS is requiring all students aged 12 plus to be fully vaccinated in order to participate in CPS-sponsored before and after school activities — including athletics clubs, visual and performing arts programs, and school-sponsored social events.”
Other locations implementing a vaccine mandate for athletes include Chicago, Cambridge, New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Fairfax, and Washington D.C.
The Marine Corps Has Now Discharged More Than 200 Service Members for Refusing to Follow COVID Vaccination Mandates
The U.S. Marine Corps has now discharged a total of 206 service members for refusing to adhere to a vaccination mandate, up from more than 100 troops who were first removed on Dec. 16.
Under the mandate, all active-duty Marines and Reserve members were required to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 14 and Dec. 14, respectively.
Jay Hernandez, spokesperson for Marine Corps Aviation, told Insider in a statement that members who fail to obtain a “pending or approved administrative exemption, medical exemption, or religious accommodation, or appeal, will be processed for administrative separation.”
Starbucks to Require Vaccine or Weekly Testing for U.S. Workers
Starbucks Corp. said its U.S. employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing by Feb. 9.
The new rules, which are in line with government standards for large employers, apply to staff in cafes, offices, plants and distribution centers, according to a message to employees dated Dec. 27 from Starbucks North America President John Culver. The company is also requiring U.S. workers to disclose their vaccination status by Jan. 10.
The Seattle-based chain is requiring workers to pay for their own tests, should they choose not to vaccinate.
Former FDA Commissioner Says Schools Should Not Mandate Boosters for Children
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Sunday that he doesn’t believe schools should require booster shots against COVID-19.
“I certainly don’t think schools should be mandating boosters. I think this should be left up to the discretion of parents and their physicians,” Gottlieb said in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“It’s going to depend on the individual circumstances: What is the risk that the child’s facing? Are they in a setting where they are more likely to come in contact with the infection? Do they have some underlying health conditions that put them at increased risk of bad outcomes?” Gottlieb continued.
Joe Rogan Leads Move to GETTR After Twitter Bans Dr. Robert Malone, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Podcast titan Joe Rogan opened a GETTR account Sunday and encouraged 7.8 million Twitter followers to join him on the alternative social media app.
Rogan’s move to GETTR came on the same day that Twitter permanently banned the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for spreading what the social media company deemed COVID-19 “misinformation.”
Last week, Twitter also banned Dr. Robert Malone days before he appeared on Rogan’s podcast to discuss the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines. Malone, a contributor to mRNA vaccine technology, also opened a GETTR account.
NYC Mayor Adams Weighs Mandated COVID Vaccine Boosters for City Workers
New York City may require its workers to get COVID vaccine booster shots, Mayor Adams said on Sunday, after the city set a new record for coronavirus cases.
The entire municipal workforce already has had to have the standard vaccinations since November, and the city will “examine the numbers” to decide if a booster mandate is needed for teachers, cops and other workers, Adams said on ABC’s “This Week.”
On Adams’ first day in office on Saturday, he signed an executive order extending his predecessor Bill de Blasio’s “Key to NYC” policies. Those include requirements for people to show proof of vaccination at most indoor settings and a controversial mandate for on-site employees at private businesses to get jabbed.
COVID Vaccine Mandate Starts Monday, but How Will Chicago Restaurants Enforce It? Here’s What to Know.
Chicago’s vaccine mandate arrives Monday as COVID-19 cases skyrocket yet again, near and far.
Do most restaurant owners prefer a vaccine mandate to another industrywide shutdown or reduced capacities? Undoubtedly.
“Indoor closures were super painful,” said Dan Raskin, fourth-generation owner of Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen. “It wasn’t good for anybody. Our economy needs people to be going out and doing life.”
But a degree of dread over carrying out the mandate is clearly on the minds of several restaurateurs who spoke with the Tribune in the days leading up to its enforcement.
Thousands Gather to Oppose Dutch Virus Measures Despite Ban
Thousands of people in the Netherlands defied a ban on assembling and demonstrated Sunday against the Dutch government’s coronavirus lockdown measures, gathering on a central square before marching toward a park in Amsterdam.
A small group of demonstrators briefly clashed with riot police as officers worked to clear the crowd from Museum Square based on an order from Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema. Reporters at the scene saw at least one person being detained.
There was a heavy police presence on the square and in nearby streets. The municipality designated the area as a security risk region, giving police the authority to frisk people preventatively.
Unvaccinated U.S. Travelers Added to French Quarantine List
France has put the United States on its COVID-19 travel “red list”, meaning unvaccinated people coming into the country will have to quarantine for 10 days.
The rules will not change for fully vaccinated people coming into France from the United States: they still have to show proof of a negative test before boarding their flight.
The move puts the United States, where new infections are topping 300,000 a day due to the Omicron variant, on the same list as countries such as Russia, Afghanistan, Belarus and Serbia.
United Arab Emirates to Ban Non-Vaccinated Citizens From Traveling Abroad From Jan. 10
The United Arab Emirates will ban non-vaccinated citizens from traveling abroad from Jan. 10, the state news agency WAM reported on Saturday, citing the foreign ministry and the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority.
The report said that fully vaccinated citizens would also require a booster shot to be eligible to travel. The ban would not apply to those with medical or humanitarian exemptions.
The Creepy TikTok Algorithm Doesn’t Know You
No algorithm seems closer to omniscience than TikTok’s, which is reportedly helping users discover their sexuality and unpack their childhood trauma.
Whereas Facebook asks you to set up a profile, and hand over a treasure trove of personal information in the process, TikTok simply notices — or seems to. The results can feel magical, writes Jess Joho in Mashable, as if TikTok is “reading your soul like some sort of divine digital oracle, prying open layers of your being never before known to your own conscious mind.”
While recommendation algorithms from Amazon to Netflix are designed to guess what you’d like to see next, TikTok can feel as if it’s showing you who you’ve always been. In the process, we are opening ourselves to the peril and promise of “outsourcing self-awareness to AI.”
In case it wasn’t clear, TikTok’s real motivation isn’t psychoanalysis, it’s profit.
