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San Francisco Will Require Children Ages 5 to 11 to Show Proof of Vaccine to Access Businesses

Fox News reported:

Children of San Francisco: Prepare to keep your vaccination cards close by. The California city has announced that kids ages 5 to 11 will soon need to show proof they have received the coronavirus vaccine in order to gain access to indoor businesses and activities such as restaurants and gyms.

We definitely want to wait and make sure that children have an opportunity to get vaccinated,” San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Susan Phillip said Tuesday during a virtual town hall on the city’s YouTube channel.

Truck Drivers, Facing Shortages, Expect More to Quit Over Biden Vaccine Mandate

Newsweek reported:

President Joe Biden‘s directive requiring businesses employing more than 100 workers to implement vaccine mandates or have unvaccinated workers be tested weekly will go into effect Jan. 4, the administration said Thursday. And that mandate does not include an exemption for the nation’s truckers.

Tom Bevan, the president of Real Clear Politics, said: “So all the biggest trucking companies in America, who already face major driver shortages, will see a percentage of their workforce quit,” Bevan wrote. “[The] supply chain crisis is going to get much worse, very soon.”

With many truckers unvaccinated, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) warned that the industry could lose as much as 37% of its workforce. The ATA said trucks haul more than 72% of U.S. freight. If the trucking industry lost a significant percentage of drivers, it could put an additional strain on the supply chain.

Ford to Impose COVID Vaccine Mandate On Most of Its 32,000 Salaried Workers

CNBC reported:

Ford Motor will require U.S. salaried employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 8 or face unpaid leave, CNBC has learned.

The automaker on Tuesday sent out a message to Ford’s roughly 32,000 salaried employees about the mandate. Ford will consider religious and medical exemptions for employees who can’t get the vaccines, according to company spokeswoman Monique Brentley.

At this time, employees who refuse to get vaccinated and do not have an approved medical or religious accommodation will be put on unpaid leave with job protection for up to 30 days, the company said in an emailed statement. It was immediately unclear what happens after those 30 days.

Key Takeaways as U.S. Sets Jan. 4 Vaccine Mandate Deadline

Associated Press reported:

Millions of U.S. workers now have a Jan 4. deadline to get a COVID vaccine.

The federal government on Thursday announced new vaccine requirements for workers at companies with more than 100 employees as well as for workers at healthcare facilities that treat Medicare and Medicaid patients. It also extended a deadline for federal contractors.

The Biden administration says 70% of all adult Americans are now fully vaccinated. The new rules are aimed at the tens of millions who remain unvaccinated. Here are the key takeaways:

Kaiser Permanente Nurse Escorted Out After Religious Exemption for COVID Vaccine Denied

CBS 8 reported:

California’s vaccination for healthcare workers took effect Sept. 30 which allows religious or medical exemptions, however, nurse Tori Jenson’s religious beliefs didn’t make the cut at Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center in Kearny Mesa.

“I am being escorted out of Kaiser Permanente Hospital for my religious beliefs because I don’t want to get the jab,” said Jensen in an Instagram video. Jensen is no longer a nurse at Kaiser Permanente.

“‘It has been determined that your request is not based on a sincerely held belief in a religious doctrine, or teaching that prevents you from obtaining any COVID-19 vaccine, therefore your request has been denied,'” Jensen reads as she is looking at an email from Kaiser Permanente.

Nets Would Welcome Kyrie Irving Back if New Mayor Lifts Vaccine Mandate

New York Post reported:

Could a mayoral victory for Eric Adams also be a huge win for the Nets and Kyrie Irving?

New York’s newly minted mayor-elect said Wednesday that he plans to revisit the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate once he takes office in January. It’s Irving’s refusal to adhere to that mandate that got him effectively banished.

We need to revisit how we are going to address the vaccine mandates,” Adams said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” If revisiting them ends up being removing them, it sounds like the prodigal point guard could return.

The Big Questions We Need to Ask About Vaccine Passports

Forbes reported:

As governments, companies and individuals navigate the rules and norms of this new phase of the pandemic — where part of the population is vaccinated and part is unvaccinated — technology will play a pivotal role

And a growing number of governments, airlines and other organizations are experimenting with digital vaccination certificates, or “vaccine passports,” to allow people to participate in activities like indoor dining or international travel.

Some people may have legitimate privacy or security concerns about digital certificates but still want to use them to get back to a semblance of normal life. Others may be adamantly opposed to any imposition of authority in their lives, whether that’s coming from the government or their employer.

Chicago Police Union Head Renews Call for Thousands of Officers to Disobey Vaccine Reporting Mandate

Chicago Tribune reported:

As the share of Chicago police officers following Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s vaccine reporting mandate grows, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police president John Catanzara said Wednesday he wants more than 1,000 officers to disobey direct orders to comply in the hopes of jamming the Police Department with a flood of paperwork.

“Our position on the portal is the same: Do not comply with the portal,” Catanzara said about the city platform for reporting vaccination status. “The goal now is to have over a thousand or 2,000 officers subject themselves to disobeying a direct order. They can never process that many.”

U.S. Blacklisting of NSO Group Shows View of Major Technology Company as a Grave Threat

The Guardian reported:

The U.S. commerce department’s blacklist is usually reserved for America’s worst enemies, such as Chinese companies that have been accused of aiding human right abuses, and Russians who proliferate biological and chemical weapons programmes.

But on Wednesday, Israel’s NSO Group joined their ranks, marking a rare decision by the Biden administration to include a major technology company that is closely regulated by the Israeli government on its list of entities that threaten U.S. national security.

Also included on the list was another Israeli surveillance company, Candiru, whose technology was recently alleged by researchers at Citizen Lab, working in conjunction with Microsoft, to have been used by its foreign government clients to target members of civil society with “untraceable” spyware.

Baltimore City Teachers Could Soon Be Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine. Here’s When.

Fox Baltimore reported:

The disciplinary process has begun for Baltimore City School teachers who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine. Those teachers who do not get vaccinated could be fired in December.

Baltimore City Schools announced in September that all employees, including teachers, are required to receive the COVID-19 vaccination by Nov. 1, or face being fired. That deadline has now passed.

City Schools has about 10,000 employees, half of which are teachers. According to these numbers, about 1,300 employees, around 500 of which are teachers, are not vaccinated and may soon lose their jobs.

Vaccine Mandates Are Surging in Job Listings

CNBC reported:

Job listings are requiring applicants get vaccinated in increasing numbers, and the trend appears poised to continue.

The number of job postings mandating candidates have a COVID-19 vaccine doubled since the end of September, according to an analysis published Tuesday by Ladders, a career site for higher earners.

The share of listings requiring a vaccine remains low relative to the overall number, however. About 10,000 job posts — 5% of the total — required a COVID-19 vaccine as of Oct. 31, according to the analysis.

Google Wants to Work With the Pentagon Again, Despite Employee Concerns

Press News Agency reported:

Three years after an employee revolt forced Google to abandon work on a Pentagon program that used artificial intelligence (AI), the company is aggressively pursuing a major contract to provide its technology to the military.

The company’s plan to land the potentially lucrative contract, known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, could raise a furor among its outspoken work force and test the resolve of management to resist employee demands.

Now, as Google positions cloud computing as a key part of its future, the bid for the new Pentagon contract could test the boundaries of those AI principles, which have set it apart from other tech giants that routinely seek military and intelligence work.

Democratizing the New Data Economy: How Big Tech Is Taking Our Data and How We’re Going to Take It Back

BITCOINIST reported:

A few short years ago, the Economist made a rather bold statement — that the world’s most valuable resource is data, not oil. At the time, few realized how true this statement was, but Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Oracle have clearly known about the tremendous value of data for decades.

In the last 20 years, these companies have been working in the shadows to collect, harness, and control the near-limitless power of data. Today, they dominate the global digital advertising market, which is expected to reach $179.77 billion in value by the end of 2021. But it’s not just about advertising — nearly every single industry in the world depends on the information technology systems these companies provide.

Indiana Governor Working to Challenge Federal COVID Vaccine Mandate

NBC 5 Chicago reported:

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb directed state officials on Thursday to work on a lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden‘s federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate, calling it an “outreach of the government’s role.”

Holcomb released a statement Thursday instructing the Indiana Department of Labor to join forces with the Attorney General, working on a lawsuit that would put to question the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency temporary standard mandating tens of millions of workers to receive the COVID vaccine or submit to weekly testing.