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Joe Rogan Blows up on People Who Call for Censorship on Social Media
Joe Rogan said nothing drives him more crazy than people who are calling for censorship on social media, arguing that when people insist on removing thoughts they disagreed with that’s “not discourse, that’s propaganda.”
During “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast Tuesday, the host spoke with playwright and filmmaker David Mamet, and the two talked about what can be done to stop censorship on sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The two also discussed how people calling for censoring of things they disagree with are pushing toward an “authoritarian dictatorship.” It starts at the 44:24 minute mark of the show here.
The host and Mamet talked about how people celebrated “certain people” getting removed from Twitter — like Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopoulos. Rogan said that even back then he had warned people where this kind of thing would lead.
“Do you understand that once they start censoring for what they believe is something that’s objectionable … it’s going to keep going further and further,” Rogan shared. “And they are going to keep moving the goal post.”
More Than 100 New York Court Employees Face the Boot for Refusing to Get COVID Vaccine
More than 100 New York state court employees — including the Appeals Court’s longest-serving justice — will soon be fired for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Court of Appeals Judge Jenny Rivera is among the 102 workers who refused to abide by the state vaccine mandate, the Office of Court Administration said Wednesday. One employee chose to resign, 11 decided to retire and 41 got vaccinated, said OCA spokesman Lucian Chalfen.
“All four of the judges who were not in compliance with the vaccine mandate, two in New York City and two outside New York City, remain so and they continue to be barred from entering any court facility and must work from home,” said Chalfen.
Nominated to sit on the state’s highest court by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013, Rivera has been working from home since October. She did not immediately return a call seeking comment. OCA will refer her to the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates judges and has the power to unseat them.
Philly’s Indoor Mask Mandate Likely to Return Next Week, as City COVID Cases Creep Upward
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
Philadelphia is poised to reinstate its indoor mask mandate next week as COVID-19 cases climb again.
An Inquirer analysis showed the most current COVID case counts and the percent increase of cases both meet the city’s benchmarks that would trigger the return of the mask mandate for public indoor spaces. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health agreed with the analysis.
The COVID data are not alarming enough to warrant an immediate change in the city’s mask policies, though, he said. The city has said it would announce changes to its COVID safety requirements on Mondays, and an announcement on whether mask requirements would return would likely come then, said James Garrow, a spokesperson for the department.
SC Senate Passes Scaled-Down Vaccine Mandate Ban Bill
Certain employers in South Carolina would be banned from requiring workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in a bill approved by the state Senate on Wednesday. In a 29-12 vote along party lines, the Senate passed the anti-vaccine mandate legislation, which the House of Representatives passed last December.
The bill prohibits state and local governments, including public school districts, from requiring their employees, contracted workers, vendors or students to get the COVID shot as a condition of employment or attendance. The legislation would prevent vaccine mandates from being imposed on the state’s first responders, defined as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, EMT, or paramedic who is paid from public funds.
In order muster up enough support for the bill to bring about a debate in the Senate, its backers had to drop its most controversial provision: fines for private businesses that impose vaccine requirements on their workers.
German Lawmakers Reject Mandatory COVID Shots for Over 60s
German lawmakers on Thursday rejected a bill requiring all people 60 and over in the country to be vaccinated against coronavirus — a compromise solution the government had hoped would get a parliamentary majority.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his health minister originally called for a vaccine mandate to apply to all adults in Germany, but some government lawmakers and most of the opposition had balked at the idea.
The bill was put forward by a cross-party group after months of haggling. It envisaged requiring older people to get the shot, but for there to be compulsory counseling for all adults to help them weigh the advantages and risks of vaccination against COVID-19.
In the end, 378 lawmakers voted against the bill, 296 were in favor and nine abstained.
Stopped Trucks, Foldable Beds for Workers: What European Businesses Face With China’s COVID Surge
China’s COVID controls have disrupted supply chains and stressed the daily life of workers, primarily in Shanghai and Shenyang, according to a slew of anecdotes from the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.
Shanghai, home to the world’s largest container shipping port, began a two-part lockdown on March 28 and has yet to announce when restrictions will lift.
EU Chamber members estimate Shanghai port volumes are down by about 40% week-on-week, Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, Shanghai chapter chair and a chamber vice president, said Wednesday.
“Shanghai is in a kind of state of exception,” said Schoen-Behanzin. “There’s a strong sense of uncertainty throughout the city. It’s fueled by supply shortages, endless lockdowns and a really big fear of being sent to those quarantine camps.”
A U.S. Lawyer Who Flew to China in January Says He Ended up in Government-Mandated Quarantines and Isolation for 3 Straight Months Before He Flew Home
Xue Liangquan, a Los Angeles-based lawyer, arrived in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Jan. 4. His plan was to spend the next few weeks visiting family in Shandong province in eastern China, and to spend Lunar New Year, an important traditional holiday for the Chinese, with them.
His hopes did not come to pass.
Instead, Xue, 37, says he went through three consecutive months of quarantine and isolation in Guangzhou and Shanghai from Jan. 2 to April 1. He said he ended his trip by flying back to Los Angeles on April 1, without having seen his family in China.
As Queensland’s COVID Vaccine Mandates Ease in Social Settings, They Still Apply to Many Workers
Mary Cullinane loved her job working with people with disabilities, but she left it when vaccine mandates were introduced.
The Lockyer Valley resident was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) more than 20 years ago. In 2017, she traveled to Russia to undergo a treatment called autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) which Ms. Cullinane said successfully halted the progression of her condition.
At the end of the treatment, doctors in Moscow told her not to be vaccinated against anything, including influenza, due to the risk of reactivating her MS.
Ms. Cullinane applied for a COVID-19 vaccination exemption but was unsuccessful. Her doctor told her he could not give her one as it was not one of the listed conditions.
Fortnite-Developer Epic Games and Lego Partner to Build a Metaverse Aimed at Kids
Fortnite-developer Epic Games announced today that it’s partnering with Lego to build a metaverse aimed at kids. The companies say they are going to shape the future of the metaverse to make it safe and fun for children while building an immersive digital experience for kids to play in.
While the companies didn’t go into detail about their plans for this virtual world, they outlined three principles that they say will ensure the digital spaces they develop are safe. The two will work together to make children’s safety and well-being a priority, safeguard children’s privacy and equip children and adults with tools that give them control over their digital experience.
Epic CEO and founder Tim Sweeney has previously said he sees the metaverse as a kind of online playground where users could play games, such as Fortnite, and watch movies on Netflix together.
Project ‘Zuck Bucks’: Meta Plans Virtual Coin After Cryptocurrency Flop
Meta has drawn up plans to introduce virtual coins, tokens and lending services to its apps, as Facebook’s parent company pursues its finance ambitions despite the collapse of a project to launch a cryptocurrency.
The company, led by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, is seeking alternative revenue streams and new features that can attract and retain users, as popularity falls for its main social networking products such as Facebook and Instagram — a trend that threatens its $118 billion-a-year ad-based business model.
Facebook’s financial arm, Meta Financial Technologies, has been exploring the creation of a virtual currency for the metaverse, which employees internally have dubbed “Zuck Bucks,” according to several people familiar with the efforts.
Google Play Pulls Dozens of Apps That Collected Personal Data From Millions of Android Users
Google has removed dozens of malicious apps from its mobile app marketplace, all of which allegedly contained code tied to a contractor employed by U.S. national security agencies.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the company that wrote the code is called Measurement Systems. The firm is said to have paid developers around the world to embed its software development kit (SDK) in their apps.
The precise number of Android apps that carried the malware is unclear (there were at least 12), but according to the researchers responsible for the discovery, the apps were downloaded at least 60 million times in total.
Google has now removed the compromised apps from the Play Store, but they remain active and are still gathering data. The apps include a number of Muslim prayer apps (with more than 10 million downloads), highway-speed-trap detection apps, QR-code reading apps and other “popular consumer apps.”
The Senate Bill That Has Big Tech Scared
If you want to know how worried an industry is about a piece of pending legislation, a decent metric is how apocalyptic its predictions are about what the bill would do. By that standard, Big Tech is deeply troubled by the American Innovation and Choice Online Act.
The infelicitously named bill is designed to prevent dominant online platforms — like Apple and Facebook and, especially, Google and Amazon — from giving themselves an advantage over other businesses that must go through them to reach customers.
As one of two antitrust bills voted out of committee by a strong bipartisan vote (the other would regulate app stores), it may be this Congress’ best, even only, shot to stop the biggest tech companies from abusing their gatekeeper status.
Are Microsoft’s Days as the ‘Friendly’ Tech Giant Over?
Over the past decade, Microsoft has pulled off a remarkable transformation of its public image in Europe — from bad boy to the most Brussels-friendly of tech giants?
But that shine may now be coming off. In Brussels and across Europe, the Seattle-based giant faces a flurry of antitrust complaints about its cloud business as well as fresh claims that the company is not living up to its word on paying press publishers for their content.
A new onslaught is picking away at Microsoft’s image in Europe as the “friendly one” among Big Tech companies — a position that was painstakingly cultivated under the leadership of Microsoft’s veteran lawyer-president, Brad Smith, during the past seven years.
